Marine Corps veteran Stuart Bain of Salem is the Libertarian Party’s nominee for Congress in Virginia’s Sixth District. He is challenging Republican incumbent Bob Goodlatte, who was first elected in 1992, in the November general election. An independent candidate, Jeff Vanke, is also in the race.

Bain spoke to the Charlottesville Libertarian Examiner on June 26, when the Libertarian Party of Virginia (LPVA) held its state central committee meeting in Charlottesville.

Fair Tax
“I’m a huge Fair Tax proponent,” Bain said, arguing that it is superior to other tax reform proposals, such as the flat tax.

“Most of the tax reform proposals still institute an income tax,” he explained, and that “punishes what goes into our economy instead of taxing what comes out of it..” Those other proposals “don’t do much in the way of creating wealth [and] encouraging production, investment, and saving.”

Asked what it means to be a libertarian, Bain replied:

Fiscal Conservatism and Civil Liberties
“The way I would sum it up would be that we support fiscal conservatism but we also promote civil liberties. Of course, having to sign the official statement not to initiate force or use force to achieve political or social goals is pretty big, too.”

Bain was referring to the “non-aggression principle,” which is incorporated in the Libertarian Party’s bylaws as “Members of the Party shall be those persons who have certified in writing that they oppose the initiation of force to achieve political or social goals.”

Constitutional Legislation
Bain believes that both the President and Congress have a responsibility to determine the constitutionality of legislation before approving it.

“They’re telling congressmen right now not to worry about the constitutionality of what it is that they’re passing into law. Tom Perriello even said that at a town hall meeting,” that Members of the House of Representatives are “being told not to worry about whether or not [proposed legislation is] constitutional.”

Bain stated that “there’s got to be a check and balance somewhere and I think that [constitutionality] is something that the president should take into consideration,” before he signs a bill into law.

Congress, too, has the same responsibility to ascertain the constitutionality of bills before they are passed into law, “because they took an oath to uphold and defend the constitution,” said Bain.

“If they’re going to take that oath and turn right around and just pass legislation after legislation after legislation that they know is to be unconstitutional, that is a violation of their oath,” he continued.

Bain tempered his remarks with an acknowledgment of how political differences might affect views of the constitutionality of legislation.

“Where we run into problems is, people are interpreting the constitution differently,” he said. “You’ve got people on the right, people on the left.” There are people who want to take certain sections of the constitution such as the Commerce Clause or the General Welfare Clause,” and apply those sections in such a way that “they can say, ‘Ah, see it is a constitutional bill!’ Of course, that’s where pretty important decisions come into play.”

The legislative, executive, and judicial branches have equal responsibility when it comes to determining whether their actions are authorized by the Constitution, Bain asserted.

“I think everyone in D.C., regardless of whether they’re an elected official or not, needs to seriously consider the constitutionality of everything they do.”

Do you like this article? Do you want to see more like it? Be sure to click on the "subscribe" button at the top of the page.

If you would like to become an Examiner on Examiner.com, click on the "write for us" button on the upper right corner of this page.