Friday, April 02, 2004

Gary Nolan to Visit Fishers

Libertarian presidential hopeful Gary Nolan will be the first from any party to make a specific Hamilton County or Fishers IN visit when his campaign stops Monday, April 12.

Nolan will appear at Sahm's Restaurant for a fundraising dinner and will speak after the meal. Sahm's is located at 11590 Allisonville Road (southwest corner of Allisonville & 116th Street), and is easily accessible from I-69/SR 37. Seating for this event begins at 5:30pm. Dinner is at 6:00pm. Nolan to speak at 7:00pm. Cost for the dinner is $21, paid in cash only.

RSVPs are greatly appreciated as space is limited. We will probably have a standing room only situation. Contact Mike Kole to RSVP at mikekole@msn.com. The public is welcome! You don't have to be a Libertarian to attend.

Nolan's visit is exciting stuff for many reasons. Any time a presidential candidate comes to town, I am interested in seeing him, if at all feasible. I would eagerly see George Bush or John Kerry, or even Ralph Nader, if the opportunity presented itself. I would especially love to be able to introduce myself on a face-to-face basis, and to ask a question of the candidate. The last time Bush was here, he was at the Murat for a $2,000-per-plate event. That was a tad out of my price range. Kerry hasn't even been here that I am aware of, and Nader isn't even on the ballot in Indiana yet, making an appearance unlikely. With Nolan, all in attendance will get to ask a question of him after dinner in the Q&A, and he always sticks around to talk and have a picture taken with you. I like that kind of personability and accessability.

But this is my candidate. I'll be voting for Nolan at the LP's National Convention in May, and I'm rather certain that Nolan will win the nomination, so I'll vote for him again in November.

I like that he is paying so much attention to Indiana. This will be at least his fifth visit, which I know from having attended three previous events. The other LP hopefuls- Michael Badnarik and Aaron Russo- haven't even visited the state yet.

I like that Nolan is meeting the voters from a variety of places that do not usually host presidential candidates, such as LaPorte and Hagerstown, and now Fishers. Sure, Indianapolis is the state capitol and the home of the greatest population bases, but I like a presidential candidate who reaches out to the less obvious cities and towns. There is no good reason for an active, campaigning candidate to ignore them, especially the more well-heeled candidates from the other parties who could if they felt it was important enough to do so.

I especially like that Nolan is so normal and reasonable. Too often our national candidates are so dogmatic, so out-of-touch, that they do more to alienate the curious than to win them over. Nolan shows how libertarian policies would improve people's lives. People want to know what a politician can give them, and this has always confounded LP candidates. Nolan gets that our policies will give people their money, their time, heck- their lives, back. From what little I've been able to review from Badnarik and Russo, it appears that they take the old, failed "this is what I'll take away" approach via the same old "you're wrong, you're stupid, vote for me" approach that wins very few converts and repels many that would join us.

See you Monday, April 12!

No comments: