John Pickerill

Libertarian | Indiana

Candidate Profile

Moderate

BIOGRAPHY

Name

John Pickerill


Party

Libertarian


Election Year

2016


Election

General


Race

State Rep., Dist. 41


Incumbent

No


Links

FacebookX

EDUCATION

Purdue University, West Lafayette, BS, 1991

WORK & MILITARY

U.S. Navy, Commander (O-5), 1991-2012

AFFILIATIONS

Republican Liberty Caucus, Indiana State Chairman, Republican Liberty Caucus

County Chairman, Veterans of Foreign Wars, member

American Legion, member, ASHRAE

member, Montgomery County Republican Party, Chairman

POLITICAL OFFICES HELD

(Candidate did not provide)

POLITICAL OFFICES SOUGHT

County Commissioner, 2014

County Council, 2016

Race

Previous Races

SELECTED CONTRIBUTIONS

CONSERVATIVE
GIVEN BY CANDIDATE (1)

Timothy Brown

RECEIVED BY CANDIDATE (0)

OTHER INFORMATION

QUESTIONNAIRE

OTHER IMPORTANT ISSUES

Congress should repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

Strongly Agree

Election of judges by the people for a definite term of office is the best way to select judges.

Agree

More restrictive gun control laws are needed to protect public safety.

Strongly Disagree

Government should enforce laws designed to protect the border and to prevent illegal entry into the country.

Neutral

People should be able to vote without photo identification.

Strongly Disagree

Religious liberty is at risk in the United States.

Agree

Human life begins at conception and deserves legal protection at every stage until natural death.

Strongly Agree

Free enterprise and the right to private property turn mankind's natural self-interest into the most productive economic system there is.

Strongly Agree

There should be a strict constitutional spending limit for state and local governments that would tie the rate of spending to the rate of population growth plus the rate of inflation.

Neutral

Marijuana should be legalized and regulated like tobacco and alcohol.

Agree

Judeo-Christian values established a framework of morality which permitted our system of limited government.

Agree

The founders established pure democracy in the Constitution because they believed that it is the best form of government to ensure the safety and equitable treatment of all citizens.

Strongly Disagree

Free-market competition for education dollars, rather than a government monopoly, would create a better education for all students.

Strongly Agree

Where minor children are involved, divorce laws should be reformed to include mutual consent of both parents and an increased waiting period, unless there is fault or abuse.

Neutral

The Ten Commandments should not be displayed in public school buildings.

Disagree

Business owners should be required by law to bake cakes, provide flower arrangements, etc., for same-sex weddings, even when these activities would infringe on their sincerely-held religious beliefs.

Strongly Disagree

Our state should participate in the nationwide Common Core standards for high-school graduation.

Strongly Disagree

Physician-assisted suicide should be legal.

Neutral

The more people live by Judeo-Christian values, the less government is needed.

Agree

Islamic law (Sharia) does not pose a threat to the United States and its Constitution.

Neutral

Governments should define marriage as between one man and one woman; no other definition of marriage should be legalized or supported with public funds.

Disagree

It is the government’s responsibility to be sure everyone has health care and a livable income.

Strongly Disagree

Planned Parenthood should not receive funds from federal, state, or local governments.

Strongly Agree

What in the nature of mankind caused America’s Founders to carefully define, separate, and limit powers in the Constitution?

Too much political power in the hands of one individual or one government branch leads tyrannical ambitions. When powers delegated from the people to the government are few, defined, and enumerated in writing, it enables people to limit their government to those limited powers. When powers are separated into different branches with designed checks and balances, it uses the ambitions of one branch to keep the ambitions of the other branch(es) in check.

Based on the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, please arrange the following entities, starting with the highest source of authority, and continue the list in descending order of authority, skipping any that do not apply: Academia, Congress, Constitution, God, Industry, Media, Professional Sports, Supreme Court, Voters.

God Voters Constitution Congress / Supreme Court / President

Under what circumstances should abortion be allowed?

None.

Briefly describe your spiritual beliefs and values.

The Roman Catholic Christian tradition. In other words, they are based on the concept of Christian (agape) love. We are first called by God to love God above all things, and second to love our neighbors above ourselves. Christian love is defined as "willing the good of the other without expecting anything from them in return." Do no harm. Give people the free will and liberty to lead their lives how they see best, as long as they aren't stopping someone else from doing the same.

Considering all issues (social, economic, national security, etc.), which of these best describes you?

Conservative

Please defend your answer to the previous question by referencing your publicly available track record.

Since the terms "Conservative" and "Liberal" aren't well defined, it's partly guesswork to answer this question. In reality the political spectrum isn't merely conservative-vs-liberal but is also libertarian-vs-authoritarian. A candidate who wants to limit your personal liberty tends to be called "conservative," and one who wants to limit your economic liberty tends to be called "liberal" by today's conventional wisdom. If they limit it a lot they are authoritarian. If they limit it very little they are libertarian. I, on the other hand, don't want to limit anyone's economic or personal liberty. I just want people to have their freedom. If anyone would like to check my record, I have written over a hundred newspaper articles defending this notion. The three newspapers in which I've been most frequently published are the Crawfordsville Journal Review, "The Paper of Montgomery County," and the Lafayette Journal & Courier.

E-mail address and phone number for voters to reach you.

electpickerill@gmail.com Facebook instant-message to "Elect Pickerill"

Additional comment from candidate:

If elected as State Representative my legislative agenda will take on the district’s most serious challenges, such as maintaining economic prosperity in the face of epidemic drug abuse and increasingly-intrusive federal dictates. It will also address property rights, education, political parties, competing currencies, and roads. But first and foremost it is about liberty. My vision is to restore the freedom to live the American dream. The term 'Freedom’ must once again be more than just a buzzword.

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