Prepare to Vote: Libertarian Candidate for Governor John Tatar Joins Detroit Today
Libertarian gubernatorial candidate John Tatar discusses his priorities on Detroit Today.
This election season the Libertarian Party will have a primary ballot in a statewide election for the first time in Michigan’s history. That’s because Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson captured a large enough segment of the voting population in 2016 to earn Libertarians a primary ballot in the next statewide race.
There are two Libertarian candidates in the gubernatorial primary election: Grand Rapids businessman Bill Gelineau, and retired construction and carpentry teacher John Tatar.
Tatar thinks it’s time for a big change in the political landscape at the state Capitol.
“I’m really tired of the Republican, Democrat paradigm,” he said. “They get bigger staff, they get more people working for them, but they’re not taking care of the functions they’re required to do.”
Tatar spoke with Detroit Today host Stephen Henderson about his objectives and interests in running for governor.
Size of government
“[Lawmakers] end up in Lansing and they stay there. They haven’t been in the real world, and working in the real world.”
“We’ve grown to a monstrous size in Lansing… I would like to see the Senate go away.”
income tax
“We have to eliminate the income tax. The problem we have is we’re being taxed to death in Michigan.”
“We need to put more money in the pockets of the citizens of Michigan.”
Civil infractions
“[No one should face] a situation where you are being tried for any kind of civil infraction unless you’ve hurt somebody or damaged somebody’s property. Outside of that, the civil infraction action that the court systems have set up have brought people in just for extracting money from them.”
“Civil action infraction is really a usurpation of that original intent of the republican Constitution.”
libertarian philosophy
“Libertarian means smaller constitutional government and more liberty for the people. And the Republicans, although they tout that over the years, are not following that philosophy. In most cases, the Republicans are trying to come up with regulations to control how people behave, live and act. That’s not what Libertarians are all about.”
To hear more from Tatar on Detroit Today, click on the audio player above.
