praise be to Blake Ashby

[liberalcapitalist]

He is a Repub from the Pre-Reagan days when they need not be feared so much. A Repub, yes. Wrong, yes. Evil, no.

Business entrepreneur Blake Ashby, 39, achieved his first professional goal: he became a self-made multi-millionaire before age 40. That's why he figures he's got nothing to lose by making a run for President in 2004. Ashby -- who has already qualified for the Missouri and New Hampshire primary ballots -- vows he will spend what it takes to get on additional state ballots and get his message out about where the GOP needs to go. And -- since he's worth tens of millions -- he has the ability to do just that. Ashby earned his million by co-founding an independent communications provider in the mid-1990s and then selling the company to a wealthy competitor. He is running for President because he believes President Bush has ignored the party's traditional commitment to fiscal responsibility by running up a $400 billion deficit. "Deficits are stealing from our children, and not a way to run a government ... We're historically the party of a balanced budget, small government and a free market," said Ashby. He also takes issue with the increasing role social conservatives have been playing in the GOP: "It's time for freedom-loving moderates to take back." He explains that he is not running to defeat Bush -- whom he says he respects -- but is ultimately running "because the Republican primaries are our one chance to let the party know how important our traditional Republican values are." He supports medical marijuana, opposed unfunded mandates "such as the current 'no child left behind' rhetoric", advocates federal tax reform, supports strengthening environmental protection laws, opposes deficit budgets, believes "our first and best line of national defense has always been democratic capitalism free trade", and wants to return nearly all control over education to the state/local levels.