WEMU offered the opportunity for any candidate appearing on a ballot in Washtenaw County in the 2018 general election to submit a campaign message directly to our audience. Lisa Gioia is running for Attorney General as a Libertarian. What follows are the audio and remarks the candidate wanted to share with you.
Hi, my name is Lisa Lane Gioia, and I’m the Libertarian Party candidate for Attorney General.
Maybe you’ve heard of us Libertarians, but you don’t know much about us. What’s a Libertarian?
Libertarians are different than Republicans and Democrats in that we believe in both: economic liberty like lowering and eliminating taxes, and getting rid of bureaucratic regulations, and we believe in charitable welfare instead of government welfare; and we also believe in personal liberty – that each person should be free to make their own choices as long as they don’t infringe on other peoples’ rights, and that no one should be making laws to control other people’s personal choices.
Libertarianism is way of thinking, a way of living, a way of treating others that is based on basic principles of “don’t hurt people and don’t take their stuff”, and “live and let live”.
We all can see that the political situation is not good right now, with politicians veering off toward the extreme left or the extreme right. They’re working for the special interests who paid to get them elected, and they’re working to maintain their hold on power - which means their ability to take away more of our rights and more of our money.
So if politicians aren’t looking out for us and aren’t protecting us, who is? What is?
THE LAW.
The law is the line that protects us, our lives, our property, our rights against abuses and violations, and that includes dangers from government and overzealous law enforcement officials who have forgotten what the Constitution means.
We need to have an Attorney General who’s not biased, who’s not paid for by special interests, and who can lead the team of investigators and attorneys at the Office of the Attorney General to work to prioritize citizens’ rights.
We need an Attorney General who can run that Office less like “politics as usual” and more like a business that will serve citizens, and not rule over them.
We need an Attorney General who believes in individual rights and freedoms – who believes in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
We need an Attorney General who is going to be applying the law in defense of our rights and not in taking them away.
And that’s what I would do as Attorney General.
One of my favorite quotes about freedom is from Nelson Mandela who said,
“For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”
I hope that you’ll work with me in enhancing the freedom of Michiganders. I hope that that you’ll work with me in promoting liberty here in our state. I hope that you’ll see that the best way of achieving this goal of more freedom for all – all of your freedoms, all of the time – is by voting Libertarian this fall.
If you’ve got the time, please check out my website at lisaforliberty.com.
My name is Lisa Lane Gioia, and I’m the Libertarian Party Candidate for Attorney General. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to me today.
Campaign website: lisaforliberty.com
Email: lisa.lane.liberty@gmail.com