Candidate wants to limit government

Gretchen Hoffman

For Libertarian Randall Weissbuch, it isn’t whether he wins or

loses -- his main goal of running for congress in November is to get

his message across.

Voters in the 26th Congressional District, which includes La

Crescenta, Montrose and La Canada Flintridge -- will choose between

Weissbuch, who is a physician; incumbent Rep. David Dreier

(R-Covina); and Democrat Marjorie Musser Mikels, a constitutional

attorney from Upland.

Weissbuch, 59, said his philosophy is aligned closely with that of

the Libertarian platform.

“I feel strongly about reducing the size of government back to its

constitutional level,” the Arcadia resident said. “The basic role of

government is to protect lives and property and to enforce contracts.

Most of what the government does is not allowed by the constitution.”

Weissbuch said the government’s war on drugs has been a disaster

that has increased the rate of alcoholism in the country.

“I believe that all drugs should be legalized and this will take

away our government’s reading our e-mails, listening in on our

telephone conversations, investigating our bank accounts in order to

see if you’re laundering money,” he said. “Basically, our government

is spying on us in the name of drugs and in the name of terrorism.”

Weissbuch -- who hasn’t raised or spent any money during his

campaign -- is in the race to get his ideas out there, he said.

“We don’t have any delusions about getting elected,” he said.

“We’re still in the stage of trying to disseminate these incredible

ideas which our country was originally founded on.”

Other issues he feels passionately about include doing away with

election contribution rules, the social-security system and the

public-education system, which he says is riddled with bureaucracy.

Weissbuch ran and lost in the last congressional election.