Libertarian presidential candidate Michael Badnarik strongly criticized the U.S. government for rescinding Constitutional freedoms during a speech Wednesday at the Red Gym.
\If you vote for the Democrats or the Republicans, you are committing political suicide,"" he said.
Badnarik said Libertarians support both economic and personal freedom. If you think you can make decisions in your life without the aid of the government, then you are a Libertarian, he said.
Badnarik focused a majority of his criticism on the USA Patriot Act.
""The Patriot Act is the most egregious, unconstitutional piece of paper to leave the government since the Alien and Sedition Acts,"" he said, adding Americans should be outraged at the legislation.
In addition, he said if he becomes president, he will remove all American troops from Iraq immediately.
Although audience members in attendance questioned the effectiveness of voting for a candidate who has no chance of beating Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry or President Bush, Badnarik said Americans should vote their conscience.
""Eventually the Libertarians are going to win,"" he said. ""If they don't I just don't want to be here anyway, because I don't want to live as a slave.""
Badnarik added Republicans and Democrats have tried to convince Libertarians they have no hope in 2004. He said voting for personal freedom is favorable to voting for Kerry or Bush, an action he compared to choosing between arsenic and strychnine.
