The Choice: Liberty vs. Serfdom

Josiah Schmidt of Rightosphere has an interview with Stephen Baily, candidate for US Congress - Colorado CD 2. He is running for the GOP nomination. If he's successful, in the fall, he'll face Democrat incumbent Rep. Jared Polis.

During the interview Baily first talked of his reasons for running, and evokes a Hayekian ideal, from "The Road to Serfdom":

At the national level, the election of Obama and strong majorities of progressive Democrats in Congress has created a direct and immediate threat to our liberties and the U.S. Constitution. I received great personal motivation from the numbers and principles of Tea Party and 9-12 participants who also value freedom and constitutionally-limited government.

At the level of our congressional district, we are represented by a progressive socialist — Jared Polis. The objectives that Mr. Polis seeks are detrimental to our country and our freedoms. The people of the 2nd Congressional District deserve a choice between Mr. Polis who will use the power of the government to initiate force against its citizens and someone who reserves governmental power for use in retaliation against those who initiate force and violate the rights of others. That is, a choice between Liberty and Serfdom.

Randian Hero fighting against the Statist Machine

Later in the interview he gives a lengthy list of free market economists and philosophers as his inspirations:

I am the only candidate in this race that understands that the proper and moral purpose of government is the protection of our individual rights as Thomas Jefferson stated in the Declaration of Independence. In support of moral government and our rights, I will work to restore constitutionally limited government, reduce government spending to functions that protect our rights, reduce taxes to the minimum necessary to support these government functions and eliminate the regulatory state...

I subsequently refined my political ideology through reading the works of Ayn Rand and free-market oriented and classic liberal academics such as Milton Friedman, von Mises, Hazlett, Ridpath, Reisman, Binswanger and Peikoff in the areas of economics, philosophy and politics. I subscribed to the Wall Street Journal while taking an economics class in my early 20’s and have been a continuous subscriber since.

Baily is a Veteran of the US Air Force and an Engineer.