Libertarian Shaun Crowell, who raised over $30,000 for his U.S. Senate campaign in Tennessee, says he is getting looks from Democratic, Republican and Independent voters. The Democratic Party is not actively supporting their candidate, Mark Clayton, due to his socially conservative views. Other voters take interest in Crowell’s bold proposals to downsize the federal government.
Crowell notes that his Republican opponent, incumbent Bob Corker, voted with Obama more than 60 percent of the time and against the Constitution nearly 40 percent of the time.
"Corker is a conservative in name only," says Crowell. “Somebody had to challenge him."
A long-time Republican, Crowell began to question the principles of his party after the bailouts of 2008. "I was shocked by the bipartisan ‘efforts’ of Democrats and Republicans," he said. "Anything bipartisan is never good for the people. I felt betrayed by my own party, and I went through a time where I questioned everything. It led to me reading a lot of things — like the Constitution — as I never had even gone over the Bill of Rights. I then saw a lot of hope with the Libertarian thought process."
Dr. Crowell, a veterinarian and small business owner, says he is mainly talking to voters about how to fix the nation’s economy. "The way to turn it around is to repeal a lot of the acts that have hurt our economy," he says. "The first thing we need to do is repeal Obamacare.”
Crowell proposes to immediately reduce federal spending by $1 trillion and eliminate the Departments of Energy, Education, Interior, Commerce, and Housing and Urban Development. He also supports eliminating the Environmental Protection Agency, auditing the Federal Reserve, and repealing the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the Patriot Act and the National Defense Authorization Act.
Crowell is hopeful that he will break through past vote totals for other Libertarian candidates in the state. Mainstream media, including WBIR-TV in Knoxville, has covered his campaign.
"We have pockets of presence in various places around the state," says Crowell over the phone, while putting up yard signs with his campaign team. "A lot of people are rallying to our message."
