Danny Panzella,
Candidate for NYS 63rd Assembly District
Staten Island
9/30/2010
Danny Panzella,
Candidate for NYS 63rd Assembly District
Staten Island
9/30/2010
Compiled from a recent unpublished interview.
Conservatives have not been properly educated on what a Libertarian is. During the course of this campaign I have been called a liberal or an anarchist. I am far from both, it is a matter of misinformation. The truth is that the libertarian political philosophy is actually more conservative than the Conservative Party. The founding fathers understood that morality is subjective in the minds of men. For them the bottom line was keeping the government from seizing the power to become a tyrannical monarchy that might impose it’s own brand of morality, whatever that might have been.
That is why our form of government was forbidden to legislate morality (aside from prohibition of force against another human being) Nor was the government ever intended to educate the people. Education, and morality were meant to be left up to the community. When the community is free to determine it’s own set of standards it is the people on the ground that make the decisions. (Not some removed, elite making decrees.) No one else should have the right to say what I do in my own home, short of hurting another person. My neighbors do have a say in regard to what I do in public in my neighborhood where it affects them. They can’t tell me what color to paint my house, but they can tell me that I cant drive my car 90 MPH on the communal roadways.
I would much rather have a discussion with my neighbors when an issue of conflict arises than to depend on government to settle the dispute. I am describing ground up, self determined rule.
Over the years progressive forces at work in both the Republicans and the Democrats have eroded both the desire and the ability for we the people to rule ourselves.
They have created an increasingly powerful centralized system of government and the ultimate expression of progressivism is totalitarianism. This is why a lot of our progressive leaders idolize Mao, for his “organizing”; why do they forget that Mao believed in violent class overthrow and murdered between 60 and 80 million people to “organize” China.
George Washington rightly predicted “political parties …are likely to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government..” I consider myself Post-Partisan. The time for loyalty to political parties has passed. Conservative, libertarian IDEALS however, can offer a return to the fundamentals of the Constitution, freedom and prosperity.
We the people need to take back control of our elected officials through becoming an informed electorate, staying engaged with our representatives, and by running for office ourselves. I got involved with the tea party movement both locally and nationally, but the next logical step after attending rallies and waving signs is to run for office. We can reclaim our Republic from the ground up, starting with local offices like city council and the state legislatures, and right on until we the people own Washington DC again.
My opponent runs on the Conservative party line, this is indicative of the corrupt corporatist influence on Staten Island. The Conservative Party of New York State rated Mike Cusick in the 30% percentile of representing conservative values. So why does the Staten Island Conservative Party back Cusick who was mentored by Chuck Shumer? Who knows, I could speculate. They also backed Nancy Pelosi’s rubber stamp Mike McMahon. There obviously must be some quid pro quo.
I should mention that while the GOP refused to back me because I wouldn’t make a political deal, the Constitution Party of New York State as well as several tea party groups HAVE endorsed me. At this point with the train wreck the Staten Island GOP has become I’m not sure if a GOP nod would help or hurt my campaign. It almost seems that they are intentionally throwing the congressional race to the Democrats. Both the SI Conservative Party and GOP have destroyed any credibility they had.
Voters are educating themselves more as a result of the tea party movement, they are beginning to see the difference between true grassroots candidates and establishment controllers.
I am confident that Staten Islanders will vote for my conservative principles over the progressive politics of my Democratic establishment opponent. There is a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do it. I wont be very popular with my colleagues in Albany when I start to blow the whistle on the corruption. I am prepared for the attacks.
My plan is to be the eyes and ears of my district in Albany. I will come back and tell them the truth about what is going on, fully inform them so then we can then discuss the solutions. I am not running to rule, but to be a servant. When they ask for something I will determine through research and legal counsel if it is Constitutional, and if it is I will work towards achieving it on their behalf. If their requests are unconstitutional I will do my best to educate them as to why and show them a Constitutional solution. My term in office will be about a transparent conversation between the people of Staten Island and the Legislature in Albany.
The most important issue on my agenda is state sovereignty. We need to put up a blockade so the federal government can not violate the Constitution and violate our state rights.
My campaign is working with several other groups that have produced draft resolutions for sovereignty that have been submitted to several other state candidates, as well as incumbents. We have met with these candidates and have their full support. They have pledged sponsorship and agreed to introduce the measure should they become elected. We possess 2 versions of our sovereignty resolutions. One version, based on Jeffersonian principles, is arguably one of the most comprehensive in the country. The other, equally worthy, is a more generalized declaration based on constitutional principles, and influenced by James Madison. These draft resolutions took over a year of research, debate, reconciliation, and scholarly review.
The next crucial issue is to slash state spending and lower taxation. As a small business owner I know it is crucial to leave money in the pockets of small businesses so they can invest that money in expanding and creating jobs. That is the ONLY way we can improve the current economic situation in our State.
There are many other issues that are important to the tea party movement, and violations of the Constitution that need to be dealt with.
To learn more about Danny Panzella and his campaign for the 63rd Assembly District you can visit his website www.DontTreadOnStatenIsland.com
This comment was posted by a reader, but was accidently deleted, here is the comment again in its entirety, I will respond to the comment as well:
ReplyDeleteOleg Dulin: There are holes in your reasoning. Let me go over them.
You say: "After Obama continued the same fascist agenda of the Bush administration it became obvious that both parties although they use different rhetoric in the end have the same agenda."
and yet from what I understand you are running primary on the Republican ticket and I've heard you say many times something about tax-and-spend Democrats. So you are clearly in line with the GOP, even though you consistently try to distance yourself from it.
You say: "My campaign is working with several other groups that have produced draft resolutions for sovereignty that have been submitted to several other state candidates, as well as incumbents."
And yet you just accepted an endorsement of a Boston Tea Party. Are you representing out of state interests or are you representing residents of staten island ? The needs of Staten Island are vastly different and in conflict with the state and national needs (project funding being one). I suspect your commitments lie elsewhere.
You say: "The next crucial issue is to slash state spending and lower taxation. As a small business owner I know it is crucial to leave money in the pockets of small businesses so they can invest that money in expanding and creating jobs. That is the ONLY way we can improve the current economic situation in our State."
Ok. So, do you plan to improve the economic situation in the state or do you plan on doing your job representing Staten Island and catering to the needs of Staten Island residents ??
State spending provides for many things, including MTA. Now, having lived on Staten Island I admit MTA service there is awful and for the taxes SI residents pay they get nothing much in return relative to the other boroughs. So would it not be more logical to demand more funding for Staten Island projects rather than aim to cut spending and lower taxes state-wide ?
You are incorrect. I did not run a primary on the GOP, I am running on the Libertarian line. However I would not be opposed to running GOP. I do identify with much of the GOP ideology, it is the actions of the establishment GOP that I am critical of and distance myself from as does much of the tea party. For example McCain, Romney and Gingrich are progressives who pretend to be conservatives.
ReplyDeleteI am representing the Constitution and therefore the people of Staten Island. A tea party group from Boston came across my website, liked my platform and offered an endorsement along with many other candidates nationwide. I certainly dont represent the interests of people in Boston other than supporting the US Constitution, but again that would only benefit NYers as that is who i represent.
Maybe the wording of my statement was not clear. The "groups" I working with to produce the sovereignty resolution, and the candidates I mentioned are the 10th Amendment Center of NY as well as a few other NY based conservative think tanks, and the candidates are all running for NY state offices.
I have no commitments to anyone other than my district, I am not sure what you are getting at. Please clarify if there is an accusation in that comment.
Catering is an interesting word to use. I am not sure it is appropriate. I will be representing my district of Staten Island. Our state is in an untenable fiscal situation. The ONLY way to improve the situation for SI and NY'ers in general is to work to improve the economic conditions. The legislature needs to create an enviornment that will help small businesses grow and create Jobs. The ONLY way to accomplish that is to cut spending and lower taxes that are choking SI business.
The MTA should be operating in the black without taxpayer subsidies. There is no reason why a Staten Island business should be subsidizing the inefficiencies of the MTA system. Bottom line this state is spending more than it can afford. It is time to slash spending to give SI'ers more funds to spend/save/invest to grow the local and state economy.