Libertarian candidate Mark Tippetts talks about his campaign for Texas governor

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - Libertarian candidate Mark Tippetts explained his perspective on the major issues for the upcoming election.

“I am basically running to try to return the power to the people,” he said. “I was born and raised Libertarian; I was a Libertarian before the Libertarian party even existed.”

When asked how his stance compares or contrasts with the Republican party, he said, “There are a lot of conservative issues that they like to stand on, but they never move on them.” He mentioned school choice and finding a way to prevent school shootings as examples.

“If we give parents school choice, then the parents can choose where they send their students, where they send their children, based on not only the school’s performance, their curriculum, but also their safety...and that will give more safety and more control to the people,” he said.

When asked how he compared or contrasted with the Democratic candidate Beto O’Rourke, he said, “Everything that he proposed, number one, he could not do. And, number two, he proposed violating the constitution every time he opened his mouth.”

The conversation then turned to abortion laws in Texas.

“My stance is very simple,” Tippetts said. “I am a father of six and a grandfather of seven. To me, obviously, there is absolutely nothing more precious than life. However, four of my children are women, and no government should be allowed to tell women what they can and cannot do with their body.”

Tippetts also discussed his perspective on gun laws.

“I’ve always said I would support any gun legislation that did not violate the second amendment,” he said. “You can take pretty much any gun law that you were to pass—it will not hold up scrutiny in the Supreme Court.”

Bringing in the related topic of gun violence, Tippetts said, “It’s not a gun problem. We cannot blame the tools for the damage created by the user. If it wasn’t for a gun, if it wasn’t for any kind of a weapon—they will find other kinds of weapons. We have to combat really the root of the problem, which is not the guns themselves. Those are the tools. It is the mental state of the individual.”

Similarly, he said of border control, “It is an issue, but once again, we are fighting the result. We need to get to the bottom of it. 99% of the peole coming across the border are looking for a better life for themselves, for their children—you’re here because of immigration; I’m here because of immigration. We need comprehensive immigration reform.”

Lastly, Tippetts addressed health care and social programs.

“Libertarians believe that we have a better way of doing things. However, we do have—we’re not starting from zero. We’re starting from where we are now,” he said.

“For instance social security, CHIP, medicare—those are programs that, if we as Libertarians want our solutions to be respected and honored when we get in office...we have to respect what’s instituted now, and phase it out....We believe in social programs more than the government. We want more social programs. We want the government out of them. We want them to be privatized social programs.”

To learn more about Mark Tippetts, you can visit his website.

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