Interview with Barry Hess Libertarian Candidate for Arizona Governor
Barry Hess, Libertarian Candidate for Arizona Governor
Mr. Barry Hess Thank you for this interview. My readers do not know you. Could you tell us about yourself, and your campaign to become Arizona’s Governor?
I think the first thing I should say is that it is a daunting task to get all the pieces of a campaign together, and time goes at a premium. I say this because I want to encourage others, maybe YOU, to throw your hat in the ring, to do good for others.
For those who are sincerely interested in bettering the plight of all Arizonans, I hope you would visit my campaign site (* www.HessForGovernor.com) my biography is there for the folks who want to know.
I’m just not terribly comfortable talking about ‘me’; my focus is on my ideas, and how we really can pull Arizona out of this perpetual mess; but we should all be aware that if you cast your vote for a Republican, or Democrat, the only thing you will have accomplished is insuring that half of the People hate the winner. That results in distractions from the real issues facing Arizona’s Citizens, and nothing ever gets ‘done’ to benefit them in any meaningful way.
And specifically your run for Governor of Arizona as a follow up:
This is not the first time I have endured the rigors of an actual campaign. I was very thoughtful when I first decided to involve myself in the political process back in 1999. I had to be honest with myself to figure out where my talents would be effective and benefit all Arizonans. Given the current ‘political sports-team’ mentality that guarantees the People lose with a Republican or a Democrat, I am the only choice people who want to return to stability and put government back into the confines of the constitution. I will make the choices they wouldn’t dare out of fear of reprisal from their own party. I have no such fear because I am a libertarian; just like the ones that wrote the Declaration of Independence, most of the constitution and all of the Bill of Rights. I fully understand that the sole purpose and authority of the government is to protect the Natural Rights of every individual. And that is how I will make my decisions in regard to legislation.
Mr. Hess, what made you go into politics?
That’s a difficult question to answer. I’ve never been able to adequately describe what it is that I can feel swelling in my chest that compelled me to put myself on the line. I just couldn’t not be part of the solution.
One of my Minor Studies at university was Political Science, and that led me question a lot of what was said to be ‘common knowledge’. Ultimately, while in law school in New Hampshire, I was fortunate enough to get involved in Ronald Reagan’s first successful Presidential run. I credit him with making me a libertarian, he fancied himself one. It took a while, but as a parent, I had to set the right example, and the Republican Party had become the Democrat-lite party, so I left. I was a libertarian all along, and I am grateful there is a libertarian platform from which to offer a sound alternative to the never-ending cycle of political abuse we have all endured as we watch our incredible country collapse under its own weight.
As Governor, I offer an incredible opportunity for Arizonans to lead the way to political stability. I am the only candidate who can and has successfully brought together political extremists from all sides to do something ‘good’ for the People (*Sinema/Pearce/Chris Bliss—Bill of Rights monument), and in 2013 I was a leading spokesman for the first successful ballot referendum in over 30 years, and over 30 attempts). We brought together every faction of every political party, along with almost all those registered as Independents. Ranging from the Green Party, the Democrat Party, most of the Republican Party members, libertarians, Independents, Constitutionalists and more, to remove the sneaky Republic trick to keep others off the ballot (*SB2305). Facing humiliation at the polls, those same Republicans said ‘they had heard the voice of the People’ and repealed SB2305 to keep the referendum off the ballot. They had claimed was ‘urgently needed’ when they passed it in the dead of night with just a skeleton vote. Incidentally, SB2305 had many provisions. Shortly after that election, those same Republicans who said they had heard the voice of the People, very deviously split up its parts, and put every provision in place as riders on other unrelated bills.
As Governor, I will treat every individual Arizonan as an absolute equal with all others, and I will work to make the political process open to all who seriously offer good ideas, and accuracy in our elections. We’ve had enough fraud.
My goals are listed on my campaign site, for those interested in how we can have a better Arizona, by eliminating the current impediments to real opportunities for all. I hope you will come visit.
Mr. Hess, what distinguishes your campaign, or policies, from your opponent?
I don’t think that it would be appropriate to refer to my competitors as opponents. An opponent is somebody you identify as someone you want to beat at something. My campaign is not about beating any other candidate, it is to beat every other candidate in the race. My campaign is about letting the people of Arizona when an election for once. That is just one of the many distinctions that differentiates me from other people in the race.
I think is the race goes on what we will see is what we always see the Republicans and the Democrats will try to tear each other apart, using the network media propaganda mill to sway the public. My campaign is not about tearing down anybody else’s building, it’s about building my building taller by bringing better ideas and offer serious solutions to challenges that face Arizonans.
I am the only candidate in the race who comes without a political agenda, my agenda is purely philosophical. It is about reminding people that our government is here to protect our rights as individuals, not to run or engineer our lives. I’m sure I am the only candidate who believes in the People to be able to overcome any challenges that might arise.
On specific issues, I think you’ll find that the principles that I will make my decisions on our sound and completely enshrined in our Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. I hope the doubt what I think is just impossible to answer thousands of inquiries like this individually when the reason I put them on my website was to make them available to all.
Mr. Hess, what political accomplishments are you happiest with, and how will they influence your decisions as Governor?
My political accomplishments have been through tireless efforts to influence the actions taken by other politicians; for instance we pushed a Democrat governor, Janet Napolitano to include teaching gun safety in government schools—and she was an anti-gun governor. I’ve been involved in countless lawsuits (*and won all of them) in regard to election integrity to try to ensure accurate vote counts. The laws were still completely disregarded in the 2020 elections. I think my personal favorite was in being able to bring together the largest political effort in Arizona history (*see question 4 above) to fight back destructive legislation. We found common ground with all political groups in Arizona, and demonstrated that ONLY a libertarian can bring us together to make progress to the benefit of all Arizonans.
Mr. Hess, while you are a candidate for Governor of Arizona, what would change about the current policies from the current representative?
I think the current policies are destructive to the rights of the People because they are so deeply entrenched in political party agendas. I will re-focus the attentions of my administration to benefit the People, not any party. For instance, if I were governor when the COVID scare started; Arizona would never have had a shutdown, a lockdown or any other restrictions on the actions of people. I wrote the current governor an open letter describing the proper way to handle it. I will publish that letter on my campaign site. In hindsight, I was right; Arizona could have put the concern to rest, and it would already be behind us. I refer to Florida’s handling of their response. I would have first encouraged the People to learn how easy it is to strengthen their immune systems and to take whatever precautions they felt were necessary to protect themselves. And that is my policy; keep government out of anything it has no legitimate authority to be involved in.
What have you done for the state, city or county that would make people think of you as a Governor of Arizona candidate for your county?
As vice-chair of the Arizona Libertarian Party I have had the opportunity to push other parties to do the right thing. The deep-set corruption that is currently stagnating our progress as a society, and the overabundance of laws are killing our future, and I intend to turn that around by focusing on removing ½ of the laws currently on the books in Arizona—my first term, and pushing the cost of government down to its 2002 levels. The achievement I look forward to the most is eliminating ALL direct taxes on the earnings and personal property of Arizonans. Please see my website for more on this. At the same time I look forward to completely re-vamping Arizona’s education mandates to allow our students to excel, and will demand re-institution of critical thinking skills and civics in the curriculum, so our students will be prepared for success in their futures.
Mr. Hess, have you talked to other third party candidates to help each other coordinate both rallies, and potential voters?
No, I haven’t. It wouldn’t make sense to water down the philosophy that founded this incredible nation by attempting to incorporate the policies and wild notions we see in other parties.
I think it’s sad when I hear others referring to non-Democrat-Republican parties as “3rd” parties. It reveals a low level of thinking and is a term invented by the Republican-Democrats to attempt to diminish our very clear and honest attempts to free the American People. In fact, it was libertarians who wrote the Declaration of Independence, demanded the Bill of Rights be added as a condition to signing the constitution, and wrote 90% of the constitution itself. Rightfully, ‘we’ should be referred to as the First party; not ‘behind’ any other.
What policy outside those stated above do you think will help the most people?
None. I’ve stated or pointed your readers to the policies I think will help all Arizonans. I believe that the best policy, to keep government in check is; What government ‘gives’ to one; it must give to All. That’s a good, and sound policy, just as our Founders had envisioned. I will work tirelessly to completely eliminate all direct taxes on the individual and their property. Just this one change would eliminate at least 90% of all the problems we Arizonans have wrongfully suffered for all too long.
How would you do it? And how will you support another elected official in doing so?
As governor, I will have the ability to veto taxing legislation, and I know I will follow through. I don’t know of any other politician who will toe the line and leave their party behind them when in office, so I don’t believe there will be any ‘for the People’ opportunities to help move toward a goal of this magnitude. As far as releasing, and expunging the records of all current prisoners where their only crime was possession of wrongfully prohibited ‘drugs’, or possession of a firearm when there is no violence involved in their conviction; I will continue to work to this objective with anyone who will stand with me.
What outside of politics are you doing during the lockdown?
I’m a small business man, and I have done my best to not let the idiocy of the political response to COVID interfere with my life. I continue to write my novels, and work as a voice narrator for documentaries and other author’s books. I keep busy, and do what I would have done before COVID. The one major inconvenience is avoiding travel on restricted public transportation.
What long-term goal other than winning the Governor of Arizona are you looking to accomplish?
I have some great goals as Governor that include building the world’s largest solar array atop a raised bullet train system that follows our main freeways (*I-10, and I-17)—see my campaign website. My major focus will be to eliminate the direct taxation on individual earnings and personal property, followed by the elimination of unnecessary and rights-violating laws, regulation and restrictions that infringe on the rights of each individual.
Outside of the political arena, I intend to finish the 3 novels I am working on, and will undoubtedly go into broadcasting.
What question do you wish I had asked?
How can I help you to win the election, so Arizonans can know what it means to be a ‘free’ People again.
https://www.minds.com/Talon123/blog/interviews-with-an-infamous-clinton-r-siegle-1140340962022912000