Former Birmingham City Councilman Dr. Jimmy Blake addressed the Greater Birmingham Libertarian Club on Tuesday at the Mountain Brook public library about his campaign for governor. Blake is the Alabama Libertarian Party nominee for governor.
“Republicans get very upset when Twitter kicks President Trump off of Twitter, but they have no problem at all in keeping any persons other than Republicans and Democrats off the ballot,” Blake said. “Alabama is controlling the ballot and it is no wonder that we have so few choices on the ballot and I blame Republicans for most of that.
“I was a Libertarian since it started in the 1970s. We have over 60 candidates on the ballot. The most important thing for me is to make sure that we can keep ballot access. I am hoping that we have an excellent opportunity to get the 20% we need.”
Blake then discussed his platform.
“My platform is derived directly from the Alabama State Constitution Section 35: ‘That the sole object and only legitimate end of government is to protect the citizen in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property and when the government assumes other functions it is usurpation and oppression,’" Blake said. "This concept, which comes from our Declaration of Independence, is the essential and unique idea which accounts for American exceptionalism!”
“I pledge that this concept will inform my position on every issue that confronts the people of Alabama. It's time to rekindle the spirit of the American Revolution and reclaim our heritage. ‘We dare defend our rights.’”
Blake then highlighted the oaths that elected officials must take.
“Elected officials take an oath to follow the American and Alabama Constitutions, but one of the first things that they do, after they take that oath, is to violate those oaths,” Blake said. “It is not just the Supreme Court that defends our Constitution.
“America is very unique. It is the very first country that said you own your own life.”
Blake went on to declare the Libertarian view of the function of government.
“If somebody is attacking me and trying to take my rights, the government needs to come to my aid,” Blake said. “We need a police force to intervene in domestic disputes and we need a military to fight off foreign adversaries.”
Blake said that the state should do little beyond that though.
“America was the first country to adopt a free market,” Blake said, “The free market is why we became the most prosperous nation on earth.
“Our founders would roll over in their graves if the government they founded would be seen as a democracy. It was founded as a Republic. Our rights are not subject to the whims of the majority.”
Blake criticized spending during the Ivey administration.
“We are not going to get back to where we started, by increasing spending 30% during the Ivey administration,” Blake said. “There is not any tax we do not have in Alabama.”
“It is time to move in another direction. Initiative and referendum would go a long way to empower the people of Alabama. It is the only way we will ever get term limits. Would you have liked to have been able to vote on the gas tax?”
Blake is a doctor and he said disagrees with how the state handled the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I am almost embarrassed to be part of that special interest,” Blake said. “The lockdowns, the mask mandates, the forced vaccinations, the refusal to allow alternate treatments. I think it was horrible what the Public Health Officer and the Alabama Medical Association did.
“We have medical marijuana legalized now. It will benefit very few people. Why not reinvigorate farming by giving them a new crop to grow? Should we give it to a few people or should we let everybody participate? That is why the lottery got voted down because it was set up to benefit special people.”
Blake said that he proposed school choice in Birmingham in 1992, “To bring market forces to education. The market works for restaurants; it works for all sorts of things.
“The two parts of our society in the worst shape is where the government is most involved and that is education and healthcare. If we really cared about our children, why would we not put it in the sphere that is most successful and that is the marketplace.”
1819 News asked if as governor he would enforce the Constitutional ban on abortion that was passed by a vote of the people in 2018. It was blocked by the courts due to Roe v. Wade, but now is in force following the overturning of Roe by the Dobbs v. Jackson decision?
“As governor, I would take an oath to follow the laws and constitution of the state of Alabama and this [is] what I would do,” Blake said. “That is the only issue where my oath to protect the rights of individuals gets a little blurred. That is one of the few areas where you find libertarians on all sides of the issue. I describe myself as anti-abortion. but as a Libertarian, I am pro-choice on all sorts of issues.”
“We have a right to defend ourselves. The Second Amendment right to bear arms is not a right to hunt. It is a right to defend ourselves from the government.”
Blake served eight years as a Birmingham City Councilman and served in the U.S. Air Force as a flight surgeon with an F-4 squadron deployed to Great Britain during the Cold War.
Blake will face Ivey and Democrat Yolanda Flowers in the Nov. 8 general election.
To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandon.moseley@1819News.com.
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