Interview: Andrew Horning (L) for 7th U.S. House District for the State of Indiana

By: Ky Starr 

1. What distinguishes you from your opponents?
I believe in the Constitution, as written; and I believe it’s a contract
intended to restrain the federal government, not citizens.  I also believe
in the rule of law, even when opposed to democracy (“Democracy is two wolves
and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.  Liberty is a well-armed lamb
contesting the vote.  - Benjamin Franklin). The others do not believe in those things, and prefer to make stuff up as they go. So, I believe that government now does things it shouldn’t do, while sacrificing the protections that we need from government; the others do not believe this.

The others ask citizens to put great trust in their personal wisdom,
judgment and incorruptibility with all the new, more centralized and
socialist powers they propose.  I ask citizens to restore what works, and
reject what never has worked.  I also ask citizens to consider that power
tends to corrupt, and that power without limits has always been a very bad
thing indeed.

Laws should be simple, so that everyone can understand them.  They should
be few, so that everyone can understand them.  And laws should make sense,
so that everyone will obey them.  ...Everyone.  I’m the only candidate in
this race who believes this.


2.   How long have you been involved in politics?
We’re all involved in politics when we walk on the correct side of the
road, or stay on our side of the fence.  But I’ve been formally fighting
what we think of as politics since about 1994.


3.   What is the greatest challenge of public service?
Explaining the difference between public service and public office.  Public
service varies from organizing a street cleanup, protesting a new strip
mall, or being a good father, to being an unusual, exemplary public
official.  Public office, for many, is a great gig in the expansion and
abuse of power.


4.   What is the most important issue facing the 7th District?
What is the proper role of government in our daily lives?  What should
citizens do for themselves, and what is the limit of their freedom to do it?
  Should government protect us from external threats (criminals, terrorists,
corporate abusers), or from our desires for junk food and cigarettes?


5.   What advice would you give someone thinking of running for public
office?
First, question whether you’re doing it to win, or whether you’re doing it
as a public service.  If it’s the former, I have no advice for you; in fact
I have nothing to say to such a person.  If it’s the latter -be strong, chin
up, and do what’s right, you noble patriot.


6.   What is your favorite political book?
The Bible.


7.   What was your favorite political TV program?
   I don’t watch TV.


8.   How did you become involved in the (L) Party?
Long story.  The summary is that after years of thinking Libertarians to be
fringe zealot and wild-eyed, and sad examples of humanity, I found that such
a description fit those we think of as the “status quo” instead.  I found
that Libertarians are dead-on correct in their view of proper, just and
sustainable government.


9.   Who are your political mentors?  What are some of your favorite
political quotes?
Mentor doesn’t exactly apply, but I do have heroes.  Other than Moses,
Christ, the protestant reformers and the founding fathers (and to make my
list seem a little more up-to-date), a hero list could include living folk
like Ron Paul of Texas, Richard Lugar of Indiana and P.J. O’Roarke (who
provides lots of colorful quotes like:).

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to
teenage boys.  – P.J.O'Roarke

A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to
take it all away.  – Barry Goldwater

It is your moral duty and obligation to disobey an unjust law! – Dr Martin
Luther King Jr

I’ve got too many more; I could go on forever.  But I’ll add one of my own
quotes: “Liberty -it’s not just a good idea, it’s the law.”


10.  Will the U.S. invade Iraq by December 2002?    Should they invade?
Actually, we invaded their country quite a while ago, and never left.  
We’ve been warring against them continually ever since.

The Iraqi armed forces are 1/5 the strength they were 12 years ago.  Most
of the 9/11 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia, and most of their leaders are
now in the nuclear nation of Pakistan.  North Korea defied our 1994 nuclear
agreements, and is now a nuclear threat with ICBMs and large conventional
forces.  Russia is a threat of nuclear accidents, theft, and general weapons
security. We have lots of terrifying threats around the world, and Iraq is not one of
them, really.

However, if the real reason we’re to pummel Iraq is so that we can leave it
alone and concentrate on real threats ...OK, let’s do it.  But I just wish
our leaders would tell the truth on this important issue.


11.  If you were in Congress today, what would be your first bill to
sponsor?
A resolution affirming the contractual, literal nature of the U.S.
Constitution.  I’d follow it with a plan to restore the force of that
contract.  What would follow is a sunset law to review and gradually
dismantle all unconstitutional agencies and powers.


12. What should Congress do about SSI/Medicare?
Of course we should ultimately eliminate them.  It will take time, however,
and I’d not take the dismantling/sunset process lightly.


13. What are three legislative bills in the U.S. House that you support and
why?
Resolutions like H.CON.RES.489, asking that we not rejoin UNESCO;
H.J.RES.27, affirming that Congress, and not the President, has the power to
declare war, because these resolutions affirm the rule of law.  H.R.4789
would repeal the 1993 increase in taxes on Social Security benefits, and
this is only sensible


14. What is your view on the recent Enron debacle? Will the new federal law
be effective?
Corporations are government entities (created by many levels of corporate
law) meant to protect personal property and liability from free-market
accountability.  I’m not surprised that with all the nepotism and
cross-pollination between politicians/campaigns and their corporate spawn
that abuses are almost as prevalent in corporations as they are within
government proper.

No, the new federal laws will not be effective. Corporate laws should be decentralized to allow for more local accountability, competition and innovation.


15. What type of Health Care reform is needed in the U.S. today?
Total.  Government should get entirely out of it.  Healthcare has been my
business for over twenty years (research, clinical, education and
engineering/product management), and I know something about this subject.  
Please check out my website at www.andyhorning.org, and ask me as many
questions as you’d like. Healthcare is too important for corrupt and bickering partisan bureaucrats.


16. How do you improve education in Indiana and around the U.S.?
Pretty much the same answer as the previous.  The more government gets
involved, the worse the situation.  Robert Owen and the socialists were/are
wrong.  Kids are not assembly-line products.


17. How do we stimulate the U.S. economy?
Decentralize corporate law, dismantle corporate subsidies, reduce
government costs, and let business people attend to their business.