Three 2018 Libertarian candidates appearing on “Kennedy”; from left: Larry Sharpe, Matt Waters, Tim Silfies, with host, Lisa “Kennedy” Montgomery (Fox Business; Oct. 30, 2018)
Lisa “Kennedy” Montgomery interviewed three Libertarian candidates on her eponymous show on the Fox Business network: Larry Sharpe, running for governor of New York, Tim Silfies, running for U.S. house in Pennsylvania’s 7th district, and Matt Waters of Virginia, running for U.S. senate.
After Kennedy congenially encouraged them to work together to “defeat the establishment,” she asked the trio for their Libertarian solutions to the problem of Obamacare.
Silfies said that the “establishment parties are both just fighting over the narrow point of preexisting conditions,” yet have no answers for voters about the skyrocketing cost of a healthcare system which, together, they have centralized in Washington—and while Medicare is forecast to be insolvent by 2026. He is finding that honesty about these facts is resonating with voters.
Waters described that one of his Libertarian solutions to the ineffectiveness of centralized healthcare — a solution his family has already adopted — is for people to cooperate through nonprofit groups to “share each other’s medical expenses. The cost last year…with my family of seven, we paid $21,000; this year, we’re under $6,000,” he said. “It’s truly a miracle when people can take ownership of their health insurance.…then costs come down and options open up.”
Sharpe indicated that if elected, he would work to reform what he calls New York’s “Cuomo-care,” cartel system of health care (not health insurance), in which the promise of developing medical technology is suppressed, while “we get horrible care unless [patients] pay out of pocket.”
Kennedy asked the candidates about the 2018 federal deficit of $779 billion, which, she pointed out, demonstrates Republicans’ failure to cut spending in conjunction with their having cut taxes.
Silfies, a former business reporter for a local station in Pennsylvania, said that business owners he has talked to have done well from the tax cut, but that we must both decrease taxation and “live within our means and cut spending.” In spite of “their total control of Washington,” he said, “the Republicans have…blown it on that, so we [Libertarians] have to step in and be the responsible ones, who are actually going to be fiscally responsible.”
Waters advocated gradual privatization of more and more public services, citing as one practical model British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s success with transitioning through public-private partnerships, his aim being to limit the federal government to its constitutionally authorized powers.
“It goes back to, ‘What is the proper role of government?’ ” Waters asserted. “If it’s to protect our rights — life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, our property — and it’s extending beyond that, at this point, I think — we need to…reign it in, and re-educate people” about the promise of private solutions.
Sharpe said that when voters become afraid, as when faced with drastic changes, they make bad decisions, so he’s committed to showing how New York leadership could raise revenue without taxation — in order for the phasing out of services to be done smoothly. His practical ideas for alternative fundraising include “leasing naming rights to infrastructure to raise money, [and] the idea of using the MTA as freight lines in the evenings.”
Kennedy gave the candidates the opportunity to address the notion that alternative-party candidates “are ‘spoilers’ and that they only give the election to one side or the other.”
Silfies paid tribute to so-called spoilers by saying that “this is a quintessentially American idea, to take on a seemingly insurmountable foe, and beat ’em. That’s how the county was literally formed.” He added that from a pragmatic standpoint, if elected he would hold significant power in congress, with both parties courting him for his vote, and his operating as a check on both the Pelosi and Trump camps.
Pointing out that 70 percent of his fellow New Yorkers don’t go to the polls, Sharpe said, “The biggest…voting bloc [is] those who don’t vote. So the concept that I’m taking votes from someone else is not accurate. I’m getting people who didn’t care, to actually vote.”
Tim Silfies, the 2018 Libertarian candidate for U.S. Congress in Pennsylvania’s 7th district, appearing on “Kennedy” with host Lisa “Kennedy” Montgomery (Fox Business; Oct. 2, 2018)
Waters turned the argument around by saying that the Democrats and Republicans are the spoilers: “They’re ‘Thelma and Louise,’ and they’ve driven over the cliff and they’re bankrupting the country.”
Click here to watch the trio’s Oct. 30 interview, “Libertarian candidates take on health care, tax reform” (running time: 8:13 minutes).
Silfies, a former Fox Business producer, had appeared on “Kennedy” earlier in the month, as well. He explained how seeing business owners being hamstrung by government regulations motivated his run, how his old-school campaign tactics are going, and he shared a telling interchange he had when working with John Stossel.
Click here to watch Tim Silfies’s individual interview from Oct. 2, “Ex-Fox producer seeks Pennsylvania congressional seat” (running time: 3:49 minutes).
Learn more about Larry Sharpe’s campaign for New York governor at LarrySharpe.com.
Learn more about Tim Silfies’s campaign for U.S. house in Pennsylvania’s 7th district at TimSilfies.com.
Learn more about Matt Waters’s U.S. senate campaign in Virginia at MattWaters.com.
Nationwide, more than 800 Libertarians are running for office this fall, to provide Libertarian solutions, shrink big government, eliminate its deficits, and grow individual freedom. Learn about these candidates at LP.org/2018 candidates.
