Libertarian candidates explain their goals

Libertarian candidates Mike Munger and Phil Rhodes shed light on the fundamentals of their party for UNC students Wednesday night.

Gubernatorial candidate Munger and lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Rhodes who were hosted by the UNC College Libertarians charged students with bolstering support for the party in the current and future elections.

The ultimate goal of the party is to limit the size and scope of the government they said" and Rhodes said the only purpose of the government is to uphold the individual rights of citizens.

""The government exists on the foundation of force" which is okay when exerting its proper role — to protect people's rights not to be an institution that we use to collectively achieve ends he said.

Munger said it is a problem that people are relying on the government to fulfill personal obligations.

People want things to get done but rather than ‘fix the school or the well' people go to the streets with signs he said. We're a constitutional republic and that means that we have the responsibility of taking care of ourselves" our families and our community.""

Munger said the extensive intervention the government is exerting in the N.C. educational and health care systems is preventing growth and resulting in massive deficits in each program.

Munger said it is parents' responsibility to oversee education" not the governor's" and said he supported charter schools because they provide choices to parents.

""Parents are dissatisfied with what the state monopoly of public schools is providing" but there is a ceiling on charter schools because that same monopoly is afraid that there will be an outbreak of choices for parents Munger said.

He also said that government spending has driven the state budget to near-bankruptcy.

We're not going to be able to pay our pension obligations and for budget problems that we can do something about we can't raise taxes fast enough to help" he said.

The first thing I would be doing as governor right now is finding a time machine to go back in time two years and kick myself in the a-- for not setting a surplus aside.""

Munger and Rhodes both said they thought it was just as important to inform the public of libertarian ideals as was to be elected.

""A lot more people are going to be exposed to Libertarian philosophy" Munger said. Getting people to understand our message" and getting major political parties to adopt our platforms is just as important as winning an election.""



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