The Best Candidate Series: Chuck Balwin

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Since I also want to encourage other voters to vote their conscience (instead of just blindly voting for a person based on the little letter after their name), I've also decided to check out all the candidates who will be on the Wisconsin ballot and I plan on writing articles here at Mylot on what I like and dislike about the candidates. I wasn't sure which candidate I should begin with, so I took one of the Candidate Calculator quizzes. I figured I'd start with whichever "other" party candidate scored highest. It turned out that the candidate that matched me most closely actually is from one of the "other" parties. So, I'll begin this series with: Chuck Baldwin, the nominee from the Constitution Party. We'll start with Chuch Balwin himself... Chuck Baldwin is married with 3 children. He has a Masters Degree in Theology from Liberty University, Lynchberg VA. He has two Honorary Doctorate Degrees, is an Honorary Deputy Sheriff in Escambia County, FL. He received the “National Medal of Patriotism” award from the American Police Hall of Fame and is a volunteer chaplain at the State Prison in Century, Florida. He is the founder and minister of Crossroad Baptist Church, Pensacola, FL. He also hosts a daily local conservative talk radio show. He also writes a syndicated conservative column. While I do like his Christian values and background, and from what I've read around the internet, he hasn't joined Huckabee and his anti Mormon rhetoric. In fact, I found a pretty interesting website called, "Latter-day Saints for Chuck Balwin". Seeing that other Mormons back him is comforting and all, but nothing to base my vote on. It does help that he isn't the kind of preacher who kicks Mormons out of the congregation though. Being Christian is a plus for me, but not a litmus test. The issues and a candidates ideas and plans as president are much more important to me, so let's move on to those. EDUCATION: I wholeheartedly agree with Chuch Balwin. The federal government has spent billions of dollars on failed "one size fits all" programs that have done nothing towards improving education of our kids. No Child Left Behind has forced public schools to spend more time teaching kids to pass tests than teaching them the subjects and critical thinking. Even when the Federal Government bases its programs on a successful local program, it botches it up. Education is a local issue and that is how it should stay. For communities that decide the that government schools are appropriate, the School Board should be the highest authority in the system. The state should have oversight authority, but even that should be limited to evaluation, statistics and employment issues. "Alternative" options such as school vouchers, private, charter, online and homeschooling are also community issues. The federal government should butt out. 2ND AMENDMENT RIGHTS: It's simple, people who are anti gun rights would rather see a person dead or in prison than have survive an attack because she was prepared to defend themselves. What more needs to be said? ABORTION: Balwin supports Rep. Ron Paul's "Sanctity of Life Act" which defines human life by biological facts instead of political whims and rhetoric. I agree. PROPERTY RIGHTS: Again, it's a matter of the 10th Amendment. The US Constitution does enumerate authority to the Federal Government for Interstate and International Commerce, but the government has stretched that to mean almost anything. Federal officials (elected or not) need to be reminded that government intervention should be the exception, not the rule. It isn't their place to impose restrictions when the need isn't there. Chuck Baldwin says it best: "That, therefore, it is essential to bind government with the chains of the Constitution and carefully divide and jealously limit government powers to those assigned by the consent of the governed..." There is a lot I like about Baldwin. There are somethings I don't like.. The biggest "don't like" is experience. While I agree with his stances on the issues, the President of the United States is first and foremost an administrator. He doesn't seem to have any experience in that department. That might make me decide not to vote for him right there. No political experience. This could be a plus, but politics is an industry just like any other. It comes with its own set of skills and experiences. Nothing about his background tells me that he could sit toe to toe with other heads of state and hold his own. Another drawback is, no military service. Again, this isn't a litmus test, but military experience would make up for the lack of administrative and political experience. He does pass my first and foremost litmus test which is: "Not a Marxist". ;~D ~~~~~ Chuck Balwin and his running mate Darrell Castle are the nominees from the Constitution Party. I was going to cover information about the Constitution party itself, but this article is long enough as it is. Click here to find out all you want to know about Chuck Baldwin: http://baldwin08.com/ the Constitution Party. http://www.constitutionparty.com/