Wikinews interviews Tom Millican, independent candidate for US President

February 19, 2008

While nearly all cover of the 2008 Presidential election has focused on the Democratic and Republican candidates, the race for the White House also includes independents and third party candidates. These parties represent a variety of views that may not be acknowledged by the major party platforms.

As a non-partisan news source, Wikinews has impartially reached out to these candidates, throughout the campaign. The most recent of our interviews is North Carolina, Tom Millican, an independent corporate manager and Vietnam veteran.

Interview
Why do you want to be President?
 * Why do I want to be President?


 * I want to be president because I want to put America back on the path to its destined leadership in the world. I want to free the American people from the burden of a big intrusive government. I want to return America to the real “rule of law.” I want to make government more responsive to the American people by returning to the states its rightful ownership of the control of government, thus giving the American people easier access to their elected representatives.


 * I want to help the American people stave off the on coming bankruptcy that the democrats and republicans have taken America to the brink of. The American worker has been abused, misused and thrown away in favor of cheaper labor from abroad. The democrats and republicans have failed to protect the American worker and I want to bring back manufacturing jobs to the American people.


 * I am firmly convinced that my leadership talents will instill in the American people the desire to want America to be better but not necessarily bigger. Only a stronger person can help a weaker person. America has to be strong financially as well as militarily. My economic package will rebuild America’s manufacturing base and create an entrepreneurial climate so that jobs increase and dependency on government assistance decreases.


 * I am not one that believes that “cheap” labor or prices are the best avenue to follow. I believe in quality over price and labor. If you have a high quality product it is because it was produced by a high quality minded employee who was paid a high quality wage. I cannot understand why America lost the “build a better mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door” mentality. I am convinced that our quality went out the door with the lessoning of our morals.


 * Christianity was the foundation of our founding fathers. If anyone says different then they are not well versed in the lives of all of our founding fathers. Yet out leadership has allowed the blurring of this fact. The very documents that framed how our government was to operate were based on the teachings of Christianity. Our founding fathers felt that a government over a Christian nation would have very little trouble operating and require very little if any intrusion into the peoples lives. Part of my inheritance from my founding fathers was the Christian faith.


 * My presidency will make every American proud of its presidency. Our current leadership, from the White House to the Congress and the Senate, has allowed their approval rating to drop to the lowest level in the history of our great nation. The most powerful office in the world should be above reproach and exhibit the highest degree of dignity. My presidency will do just that.


 * America deserves better leadership than it has had and I will be a better leader than it has had.

'''Have you ever run for political office before? Have you ever been a member of a political party, other than the one you're currently in?'''
 * When I was around 30 years of age and married with two children I ran for the State House in North Carolina. I came close but was not elected. I ran as a democrat as that was the party of my parents. I would like to say that we were good ole southern democrats. A good ole southern democrat believes in God, family and country. A good ole southern democrat believes in conservation in all things; nature, finance and business.


 * I soon found that the democrat party at that time was moving away from us ole southern democrats. So, just as Reagan did I did and went republican. I have never worked on the campaign of another political candidate. After my foray into politics I settled down to running my business interest and raise my family. I voted republican until just recently when I registered as an independent voter.

What is your current job?
 * I am a publisher of a monthly golf magazine that is circulated in the four counties around my home. Self employment requires one to learn to be very good at deductive reasoning. The office of the presidency as well as any CEO position requires a person to know how to obtain the necessary information so that a sound decision can be formed and made. No one person commands the necessary knowledge to form and make decisions without input.

What skills or ideas do you bring from this position, or previous positions, that will benefit the Oval Office?
 * My decision making process in the White House will be absent of what I feel has been a burden to all of my predecessors – politics! I am not looking to have a library built after me; I am not looking to be the grand ole man of the party. I want to save this country from its impending peril. So all of my decisions will have that goal in mind and not whether my decisions will cause a political disturbance.

'''Obviously, the next American President and his or her administration will face many diverse issues. But if you were to narrow identify the three most important issues, what would they be? How will you address these issues?'''
 * I have a two tier action plan to turn America back towards excellence. Once enacted, they will have repercussions that will affect much of the other problems facing America and effect causes of change.


 * Tier One
 * My administration will effect the complete removal of all illegal aliens from our country.
 * My administration will secure both our southern and northern boarders.
 * My administration will secure all of our seaports.
 * My administration will search out and defeat the international terrorist.


 * My administration will expedite the creation and distribution of an alternative fuel that is not a competitor of our food chain. This will speed up our emancipation from foreign oil imports and dramatically improve our home security.


 * Tier Two
 * My administration will enact the “Fair Tax.”
 * My administration will bring back to America manufacturing jobs.
 * My administration will put a impenetrable pad lock on all future Social Security collections.
 * My administration will begin to resolve the looming Medicare debacle.

As a young boy I use to lie on my back outside at night and look up at the stars and wonder if there really was someone else out there. Along with that thinking I would ponder why God choose this orb called earth to put his creation upon. As I pondered that I came upon this thought. First, I believe that I was created by God. Fortified with that realization I further believe that when God created us he originally meant for each of us to live forever but as man has often done throughout time man thought he should be as big as God and the rest is history.


 * God does not make any junk. We are only using a small portion of what God has given us. What makes me believe that man is unstoppable in all of his endeavors is what I use to lie on my back and observe in wonderment – Space. I believe that space is ours for the taking and the subduing. For that reason my administration will vigorously reignite space exploration. From that exploration America will reap huge rewards that will create greater expansion of economic opportunities for all Americans and will invigorate our math and science education.


 * My two tier action plan is designed to first secure America and then set America back on its financial track. As the financial situation stabilizes I will begin to attack America’s indebtedness and the coming financial crisis brought on by Social Security and Medicare.

'''Campaigning for the American presidency is one of the most expensive exercises in the world. How do you deal with the cost and fundraising?'''
 * There is no doubt that running for the presidency is very expensive, even more so for a non mainstream party candidate. The hardship that faces third party and independent candidates were put there by the mainstream parties. They fear that an unknown will jump in the race and take their coveted jobs away from them. There are no bases for their fear. It is done more out of the lust for the power and control that parties have. At the current price an independent candidate has to pay someone to collect names on petitions runs about $7 million dollars. This is why so many good potential candidates do not run.


 * I have chosen to rely on contributions for my campaign. If I am able to raise the necessary funds then I will be successful.

'''Do you have a running mate yet? Who are they? What are you looking for in a running mate?'''
 * I have not solicited a running mate as of yet. It will do no good to do so until I have something to offer a running mate. My desire is to pick someone who is very knowledgeable about the legislation process and would be willing to help me get my initiatives enacted.

'''Can you win the 2008 Presidential election? Can any third party or independent candidate ever win?'''
 * Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? Which comes first, the candidate or the news of the candidate? If I am successful at getting the mainstream news to talk about me as they do the democrats and republicans I can win the presidency. Once people hear what I have to say and how I will accomplish what I say there is no doubt in my mind. It’s like the ole saying, “what sound does a tree make when it falls in the forest?’ If there is no one there to hear the tree fall it falls in silence. For this reason I go up on the internet and give talks on it in the hopes that people will talk about what I have said and want to get involved.

If you can't make it into the Oval Office, who would you prefer seeing taking the presidency?
 * I do not care for any of the mainstream candidates. I truly fear what America will suffer if any of them get elected. On the third party and independent candidates I have not seen or heard of one that I can get behind.


 * No one is talking about the potential disastrous problems facing America like I am. The war in Iraq will become mute when we do not have enough money to feed, cloth and arm our soldiers. All other candidates fear talking about the facts and the truth, I do not!

What should the American people keep in mind, when heading to the polls this November?
 * I'm sorry I cannot be the placated defeated candidate. America is in some deep dodo. The American people need to hear and act on the truth. They need to have the courage that our founding fathers had and rise up against the mainstream parties and the strangle hold that they have on the election process. I will fight for the future of America and not globalization.