Attorney and author Mark Grannis, the Libertarian candidate in Maryland’s 8th congressional district, has articulated detailed plans for downsizing Washington D.C.
Grannis is running against entrenched Democratic incumbent Chris Van Hollen, Republican Ken Timmerman and a Green Party candidate.
Mark Grannis’s top priority is to put the country’s fiscal house in order by eliminating federal programs that are unnecessary, unaffordable, ineffective or unconstitutional.
His proposal calls for over $900 billion in spending cuts through agency consolidation, elimination of many programs and an across-the-board 5% spending cut.
Slated for elimination under his plan are the Department of Education, Housing and Urban Development, NASA, the Environmental Protection Agency, Small Business Administration and National Science Foundation.
He also calls for privatizing the US Postal Service, the Federal Aviation Administration and Amtrak.
“I propose to eliminate many programs we would want to end even if they were free, such as agricultural price supports and the federal War on Drugs," Grannis explained.
He also advocates for elimination of corporate welfare and tax credits which, he says, Congress routinely uses to throw bones to politically-connected interest groups.
Grannis’s campaign has raised $7,500, and he spent about $2,500 of his own money.
Grannis took part in an October 11 debate sponsored by the Thurmont Lions Club and has been features by WMAR-TV in Baltimore, Politicit.com, and the Liberty Radio Network.
Mark Grannis has been endorsed by Liberty Candidates, a small-government pro-free market group.
Earlier this year Grannis published his first book, Less We Can: The Case for Less Government, More Liberty, More Prosperity, and More Security.
Mark Grannis is featured in several Libertarian Solution videos which he helped to write or edit, posted to the LP.org web site.
Grannis says he got insight into the inner workings of the Washington political machine when as a lawyer he handled regulatory and civil rights matters for his clients.
“Gradually I came to understand that our Democratic and Republican ‘leaders’ in Congress and the White House were addicted to coercion: addicted to taxing and spending — or borrowing and spending, which is in many ways worse — addicted to war, and addicted to the illusory security of the police state in domestic matters,” he said.
His worries grew in 2008 when Republican and Democratic politicians dished out bailout packages.
“I am running for Congress to make sure voters in Maryland have the chance to choose a better course: less government and more liberty, a combination that will make us and future generations safer and more prosperous,” Grannis said.
