Libertarians hope candidates will file to seek state office

Mar. 25—Filing for state offices opens April 3, and the chair of Oklahoma Libertarians is hoping some in his party may step forward to run campaigns.

Chris Powell took over as chair for the Libertarian party last year. He said the party's platform is based in individual liberty.

Libertarians are like Democrats and Republicans in that they all have different issues, but Libertarians prioritize personal liberty, Powell said.

Many Libertarian candidates focus on tax policy, and reducing the tax burden wherever they can, Powell said. He believes in reducing restrictions on businesses, as long as no harm is inflicted.

The Second Amendment and property rights are important to Libertarians, and as a member of the party, Powell believes people have the right to live, work, play, and pray as they see fit — as long as it doesn't hurt others.

Powell is a city council member in Bethany, Oklahoma, and his term ends in 2025.

"My view on the part of government is much more moderate than some. I'm not trying to get Libertarian utopia by next Tuesday," Powell said. "I'm looking at where we are now, and how we can take steps toward increasing individual liberty and live up to my responsibilities to the people in my ward on the council."

A city has to make sure water comes out the tap, and when a toilet is flushed, the waste is disposed of properly, Powell said.

He said some members of his party want to get rid of almost all government, but Powell said he isn't here to argue with them.

"But if I'm going to convince people who don't already think we can have more liberty than we have now, I have to do a good job both as a city council person and presenting the ideas that we can move in the right direction without having to get rid of everything all at once," Powell said.

Powell believes government can be trimmed back a little at a time to improve people's lives.

"The more that we do that — the more we show freedom can work — then the more people will want it, and if it's what people want, we can continue to grow in that direction," Powell said.

The first time the Libertarians were recognized as a party was 1980, when Ed Clark ran as the party's presidential candidate. The party was on the presidential ballot every four years through 2000.

"We could get the signatures to run, but we couldn't get 10% vote total to stay on the ballot," Powell said. "The Legislature changed the law to 2.5% for any statewide office."

Victoria Lawhorn has declared her candidacy for Oklahoma House of Representatives, District 1, which encompasses municipalities in LeFlore and McCurtain counties.

"[My intense desire for personal freedom] has driven me to want to serve my community in the best way possible — provide a voice for Oklahomans," Lawhorn said.

Libertarians simply want a seat at the table to oppose the initiation of force to achieve personal, political or personal objectives, Lawhorn said.

"We really think the government's role should be limited to arbitrating disputes and dealing with things like theft, fraud and injury," Lawhorn said. "So we are advocating for a smaller government, as we love our rights to life, liberty and property."

Although Lawhorn has not been elected to any position, she served as first deputy assessor for LeFlore County. There was no "tipping point" for her in making the decision to run.

"But when I started to build my homestead in LeFlore County, I became more familiar with tax law. That's when I ended up in the assessor's office... and I had more introduction into property tax law in Oklahoma," Lawhorn said. "I became very aware of the fact that the state of Oklahoma, on the whole, is not applying our property tax laws fairly and equitably."

In her work with the assessor's office, she made sure things were done fairly and equitably, and tried to educate taxpayers.

"Our homestead exemption in Oklahoma — the value of that — has not changed since statehood," Lawhorn said. "The property exemption was $1,000 value off of the fair market value, which is what we base our taxes on. At the time, that $1,000 was meant to encompass the entire taxable value for a property, and it's currently still only a $1,000."

A homestead 100 years ago was $800-$1,000 taxable value, and that $1,000 would have exempted property owners from taxes. Values have increased and overall, the difference in the tax bill is about $75-$100. That was not the original intention, Lawhorn said.

"My focus will center on taxes, economic liberty and property rights," Lawhorn said.

Kenneth Blevins is running for Oklahoma House of Representatives, District 66, which encompasses west Tulsa, Sand Springs, Sperry and Skiatook. In 2020, he ran for president, but didn't make the ticket. In 2022, he ran for state Senate but lost in the general election. Both runs were on the Libertarian ticket.

"I am running on 'defending the guard,' which is legislation that would prevent the Oklahoma National Guard from being deployed overseas unless there was an actual declaration of war from Congress," Blevins said.

Blevins doesn't believe it is right to take money from U.S. citizens to fund conflicts in other countries. He would like to see a "national GoFundMe" wherein people could donate money if they wanted to support a country's efforts to defend itself.

"Before 1913, most of the debt we had incurred was from the previous wars, but we didn't have an income tax, so if we went to war, we bought war bonds," Blevins said. "That's a voluntary action, not forced."

Another topic of concern for Blevins is government's intrusion into women's health care.

"It's not the government's responsibility,to fund or deny," Blevins said.