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Libertarian Nick Coons speaks at W for freedom - 05/22/2009

Reprinted from: http://www.examiner.com/x-9377-Phoenix-Libertarian-Examiner~y2009m5d19-Libertarian-Nick-Coons-speaks-at-W-for-freedom

by Dan Heller

Last Thursday, May 14^th, Libertarian Congressional candidate Nick Coons spoke at The W Hotel in Scottsdale for the “Politics on the Rocks” monthly social. Formerly known as “The Republican Professionals,” “Politics on the Rocks” exists to bring together like-minded professionals who share Republican or Libertarian beliefs to socialize and exchange ideas over cocktails (or one five-dollar Budweiser if you’re a struggling writer covering the event). Those like-minded professionals cheered with Obama-fan vigor when Coons, after briefly introducing himself, opened his speech with: “I’m a capitalist, and I believe in free markets.”

Coons, an Arizona native from Tempe, owns and operates Red Seven, a computer sales and service company, and was also involved with Ron Paul’s Presidential campaign from ’07 to ’08. On Arizona’s political climate, Coons stated after his speech defending free market capitalism that Arizona is “certainly more libertarian-leaning than many other places. We have the right to work without joining a union, and those who wish to home-school can do so without too much government interference. But we’re slowly eroding away anything that would attract industry here, and that needs to change if we want to rebuild the economy in Arizona.” On why he’s running for Congress, unlike most members of Congress, he has a simple, straight-forward, clear-cut answer: “I want to minimize the role of government in our everyday lives.” Imagine that. 

“Whether Republican or Democrat, they (other politicians) believe that they need to control the inner-workings of everyone’s life because they are the ‘smart people,’ and in applying that control they can make life better for all,” Coons said, following up with this example to demonstrate the point: “Congress just passed a bill to regulate how the credit card companies handle their interest rate changes, implying that you are not smart enough to reject a credit card offer you don’t like. Various state legislatures also require that your health insurance covers alcoholism, marital counseling and infertility—meaning whether or not you drink, get married or want children, because they assume you’re not smart enough to decide a la carte what you health insurance should cover. Libertarians are different. We believe such choices should be left to the individual because each person is best qualified to decide how to live his or her life and pursue his or her own goals.” 

The first thing on Nick’s agenda were he elected—introduce DownsizeDC’s “Read the Bills Act.” “What a novel idea, that every member of Congress should read and understand every bill they vote to pass.”

He’s not sure, however, which political issue, from socialized medicine to whatever college hippies are protesting these days, he considers to carry the most import over all the others. “Government dictates what we can buy, what we can’t buy, how we educate our children, what we can put into our own bodies, and so many other things that it’s really hard to answer the question, ‘which is most important.’ Because all of these stem from the fundamental flaw that government somehow has a right to do any of these things to us.”

Nick Coons launched his Congressional campaign for District 5 this March. Readers can listen to him co-host the Libertarian Solution, a radio program that airs Thursday nights at 8 pm on 1100 KFNX. Coons also said that one of his favorite quotes is by former Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater: “I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Nick Coons now has a chance to carry the torch of liberty for the people of Arizona, that is, if Arizona wants to, once again, give liberty a chance.

Photo by Dan Heller:

Nick Coons speaking at Politics on the Rocks