Libertarian Senate candidate runs on debt platform

You could call him the ultimate long shot in Georgia’s U.S. Senate race.

Libertarian Allen Buckley doesn’t have a lot of money. Or statewide name recognition. Or political history that would indicate he has much of a chance against Democrat Jim Martin or incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss. But Buckley, a metro Atlanta attorney and CPA, believes he has an issue that’s a winner — if he can only get voters to pay attention.

Enlarge this image

RENEE' HANNANS HENRY / rhenry@ajc.com

Allen Buckley says the U.S. needs to trim Medicare and Social Security to save itself.

Recent headlines:

• Metro and state news

The United States, Buckley said, is burying itself in debt, creating a crushing financial burden for our children and grandchildren and — unless it’s reduced— assuring the demise of the nation. The only way out of the mess, he said, is to cut spending, and he has a heavy-handed plan to get that done.

“Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have the political will to make the cuts we have to make,” Buckley said in a recent interview in his 23rd-floor West Peachtree Road office overlooking the Atlanta skyline. “The reality is we’re heading for an economic catastrophe. We have to reduce spending. I’m the only candidate who will.”

Buckley, who has outlined his proposals on his Web site, buckleyforsenate.com, has accused Chambliss of bloating federal spending and the deficit with farm subsidies and tax breaks. And he said Martin wants to expand entitlement programs with things like guaranteed health care, assuring the sea of red ink will continue to rise.

“Not only does the expansion need to stop, we need to have a reversal of entitlements,” Buckley said. “If you’re not going to give people free food and free shelter, why should you give them free health care?”

He wants to trim back Medicare benefits expanded under Republican rule and hold a national referendum that would permit voters to either reduce Social Security benefits or — as a last resort — increase taxes to continue currently projected benefits.

He would close most overseas military bases, but he wants to maintain strong armed forces. He would force a balanced federal budget — primarily through reducing entitlement programs and eliminating some government agencies. And he wants to dump the U.S. Department of Education and replace it with educational governance at the local level.

Buckley considered himself an “independent” until the onset of the war in Iraq.

“It pushed me over the edge,” he said. “It was based on deception, and I think it will make our fiscal and terrorism problems worse.”

The 47-year-old father of two children, one 8 years old and one 19 months, admits his budget solutions are tough. But he said even more draconian measures will be needed if the country fails to address its current deficits with the tough choices he has outlined.

“My solutions work, and they involve sacrifice but not real pain,” Buckley said. “If we wait another five or 10 years, they will involve pain. The sooner we act, the better.”

Buckley faces an uphill battle. A Libertarian has never won statewide office in Georgia. Buckley ran for the U.S. Senate in 2004 and pulled only 2.1 percent of the vote. He made a run for lieutenant governor in 2006 and got 3.6 percent of the vote.

Buckley has raised about $15,300 for the 2008 race, including $5,000 the party gave him for the filing fee. In contrast, Chambliss has raised about $9 million, and Martin raised about $450,000 for his Democratic runoff. Martin has declined to say how much he has raised for the general election.

Buckley thinks the tide is turning as economic woes increase and the public grasps the nation’s debt problems. He said he is encouraged by support from Republicans, Democrats and young voters worried about the future of Social Security.

“I think I have a chance of winning,” he said. “In 2004, it was a real long shot. It’s less of a long shot now.”

The country’s current economic woes, Buckley said, give him an unprecedented stage to outline the nation’s debt problem and highlight his solutions. He also believes the debt problem is beginning to work its way into the campaign conversation — Buckley points out that the documentary “I.O.U.S.A.” just opened in theaters nationally.

“If you had gone back to 1928 and told people, things are going to get a lot worse in the next few years unless we act now, they would have said, ‘You’re crazy,’ ” he said. “But this is not like 1928 where you didn’t have the picture painted for you. It’s there. It’s just a matter of whether you want to look at the painting.”

A Libertarian win in the Georgia U.S. Senate race, Buckley said, would be a political shot across the bow of the old political order.

“We would begin to see a lot of change at that point,” he said. “A lot of people would copy what I did, and there would begin to be changes once they got in office. Otherwise, I believe the country will continue going downhill.”