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With a focus on God, the Constitution and limited government, Air Force veteran and alternative medicine practitioner Jon Barrie says he wants to "restore America to the glorious nation she once was" if his independent run for a US Senate seat proves successful.
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Of course, any independent candidate has an immediate disadvantage in funding and public exposure. Barrie, the first independent to announce a candidacy to replace Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-NM, says he has so far put his $2,000 savings account into the campaign.
Barrie's running under the Independent American Party banner, which endorses the "fair tax," returning the economy to the gold standard and keeping the military strong, among other libertarian-leaning positions.
Barrie is also for strongly reducing the size of federal government.
We have been told what kind of lightbulbs, toilets, dishwashers, washing machines and vehicles to use, his website reads. The government is involved in all aspects of education, transportation, energy, food, farming and so on. None of these are constitutional, more importantly, most are morally wrong. I will introduce legislation to repeal these and other archaic federal laws.
He bemoans President Obama's recent signing of the National Defense Authorization Act, which, with the support of Bingaman and Sen. Tom Udall, D-NM, gives the military the authority to conduct anti-terrorist operations upon US citizens within US soil.
"We do not have as free of a country as we used to," Barrie tells SFR. "[Congress] keeps passing bills that take freedoms away."
Like Ron Paul, Barrie supports ending the war in Afghanistan and bringing troops in military bases throughout the world back home. A Vietnam War veteran, Barrie says the US hasn't been in a just war since World War II. He uses this position to argue for strengthening the military.
"Our military's getting stretched so thin, it's making us more vulnerable," he says.
He's also upfront about his Christian beliefs and says he'll act to restore things like school prayer but also protect the freedom to practice other religions.
"I believe in Jesus Christ as my personal savior," he says, "but if someone else wants to do something else, that's fine."
Barrie needs 3,000 signatures by April 3 to get the Independent American Party on the ballot then 6,000 signatures by June 5 to get his name on the November general election ballot.
Barrie, a tea party activist, will be present at a 10 am tea party rally at the Roundhouse on Jan. 17, the first day of the general legislative session.
Photo courtesy www.thebarrieblog.blogspot.com
Santa Fe Reporter