DEL.ICIO.USMiracles happen: Buckley faces uphill Senate run
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Monday, October 20, 2008
Libertarian Allen Buckley shares the stage these days with Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Democrat Jim Martin. But he often seems to reside in a separate political universe from his two U.S. Senate opponents.
In a series of public debates, Chambliss and Martin have argued over the current $700 billion financial rescue plan, and they talk a lot about who has allegedly done what in the not-so-distant political past.
File photo
Allen Buckley says the federal debt is the primary problem on the country’s economic horizon.
But Buckley, a metro Atlanta CPA and attorney, always tries to steer the conversation back to just one topic — the mushrooming federal debt. It is, he says, the only thing that really matters.
“The federal government’s financial problems are insurmountable unless we cut spending substantially,” Buckley said during a recent interview. “This (current financial crisis) is just the tip of the iceberg.”
An under-funded candidate in a state that has never elected a Libertarian to statewide office, Buckley said the $10 trillion federal debt — about four times annual federal tax revenue — will continue to spiral out of control under Democrats or Republicans. Neither party, he said, is willing to take the politically unpopular path of cutting spending, and benefits.
That, he said, could eventually spell doom for the nation, just as an individual’s spiraling credit card debt can lead to financial ruin.
“If deficits spiral out of control, the dollar will become worthless, we won’t be able to defend ourselves, and the stock market and businesses will collapse,” he said.
Buckley’s solution: Cut federal spending by a whopping 25 percent, eliminate most foreign military bases, cut all farm subsidies, cut all pork projects and eliminate the U.S. Department of Education. He would cut Medicare and Medicaid spending by a third within a decade and raise the Social Security retirement age to 68. He also proposes a national referendum so voters can decide whether the Social Security tax should be increased or benefits reduced.
It’s all distasteful medicine, Buckley concedes. But he thinks the voters just might be listening in an election year when the conversation centers on the economy.
“It’s an education campaign with the objective of winning the election,” the 47-year-old father of two young children said of his campaign. He has little money for ads of any kind, but at debates directs viewers to his Web site (buckleyforsenate.com), which has extensive details of his economic proposals.
Most polls on the Senate race show a tightening battle between Chambliss and Martin, but they rarely mention Buckley. He 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 was warmly received recently when he showed up at a political forum in John’s Creek armed with an armful of charts outlining what he sees as the looming financial storm. But he got a less-than-friendly reception at a raucous Georgia State Fair debate in Perry when he tried to explain — in detail — his opposition to the so-called “fair tax,” a national sales tax backed by many conservatives, including Chambliss. Buckley continued to engage the jeering audience, at one point telling them he had detailed his fair tax position on a recent appearance on CNN. They were not impressed.
“Why don’t you get on I-75, and go back to Atlanta and get back on CNN,” one man in the audience yelled.
Buckley’s uphill run doesn’t bother Joe McCutchen of Ellijay, a Republican who has sided with the Libertarian this election cycle.
“If you’re a fiscal conservative, I don’t see how you can vote for anyone but Allen,” said McCutchen, a grandfather of six, who hosts a local talk show on cable television. “I’ve heard a lot of Democrats that have told me they will vote for him too. He’s the only one talking about doing something about this debt.”
Asked if he thought Buckley really has a chance this year, McCutchen shot back:
“David beat Goliath. Miracles happen.”
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