Robert Sarvis, a Libertarian candidate for governor, speaks during a candidate forum on Monday at Christopher Newport University.

NEWPORT NEWS Robert Sarvis, the Libertarian Party candidate for governor, told attendees at a public forum Monday he's the "only candidate who's talking about increasing freedom in our economic and private laws."

Sarvis, 37, addressed a sweeping range of issues including tax reform, health care, same-sex marriage, and reforming the state's drug laws at the forum held on the campus of Christopher Newport University.

"The reason I got into this race is I think there's a sense we all have that something has gone terribly wrong with the relationship between us and our government," Sarvis said. He said his opponents in the race, Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Ken Cuccinelli, "embody the worst of their respective parties."

Sarvis, who lives in Fairfax County, said he largely wants to eliminate the state income tax in favor of taxes on consumption.

"The best thing we can do is make labor markets more open and competitve, and get rid of the gap between what an employer pays to an employee and what an employee takes home at the end of the day," Sarvis said. "By reducing that gap you can jump-start employment."

Sarvis said he opposes expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Obamacare. "I think the last thing we want to do is further federalize our health care policy," Sarvis said. But he conceded that "the Affordable Care Act is the law of the landnow we should focus on the many ways we as a state shoot ourselves in the foot where state regulation is hampering our ability to meet the health needs of our system."

Sarvis would like to reform the health care licensure system in Virginia to make it easier for doctors and nurses to enter the market.

He is in favor of repealing state bans on same-sex marriage. He pointed to his own interracial marriage as an example that times have changed.

"I find that a lot of people don't even know that interracial marriages were illegal once in the state. It just goes to show those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it. A lot of the arguments against same-sex marriages are the same ones that were made 50 years ago," Sarvis said.

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Libertarian candidate Sarvis discusses tax reform, marriage equality at CNU forum | Video