Dr. Kevin Barrett, Libertarian Party candidate for Congress in Wisconsin’s 3rd district, will be appearing on Air America’s “Clout,” Thursday, June 12. Joining him on the program will be potential Independence Party (or non-affiliated independent) candidate for U.S. Senate in Minnesota, Jesse Ventura.
The program will air from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., Central. The topic will be “the politics of conspiracy theories.”
The third guest on the program will be Dr. James Fetzer. Fetzer has a Ph.D. in the History and Philosophy of Science and has published 28 books, including books on artificial intelligence and the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
A press release issued by the Barrett campaign described Dr. Barrett as a “9/11 Truther.” He is a member of Scholars for 9/11 Truth and a founding member of the Muslim-Jewish-Christian Alliance, whose aim is to improve “interfaith dialogue, coexistence, and understanding” in light of the events of 9/11.
But it has been Barrett’s position on non-9/11-related events that have drawn the most ire of “purist” libertarians.
On Social Security, Barrett says, “One of the reasons Libertarians rarely win elections is Social Security. People think Libertarians are going to eliminate Social Security and let the old folks starve. I’m all in favor of Social Security. I think it is one of the rare government programs that has raised our quality of life.”
On anti-trust, he says, “There is nothing wrong with our free-market economy that antitrust enforcement, along with honest money and demilitarization, couldn’t fix. The problem with the free market is that it destroys itself. How? The winners get too big and collude to prevent competition.”
All of Dr. Barrett’s positions — most of which are more conventionally libertarian — can be viewed here.
But Barrett’s notoriety is attractive to Libertarians eager to see their party earn votes. Recently, the Barrett campaign issued a press release predicting they would “break the voting record” and score as much as 11% of the vote.
“The government actually needs to be strengthened in a certain way so it can go after the worst abuses of private power,” says Barrett.
Barrett cites big banks and corporate powers among these abusers. He considers himself in the tradition of “Fighting” Bob Lafollette, an early 20th century progressive Wisconsin politician who fought against large companies and their public policy influence.