Stan Jones in Montana 2006 3-way Senate Debate

On Budget & Economy: Eliminate numerous unconstitutional federal departments

JONES: That’s easy for me. Eliminate the unconstitutional department of education. Eliminate the unconstitutional department of energy. Eliminate Housing and Urban Development, and Health & Welfare, and all the unconstitutional agencies and programs in the federal government. Then eliminate the ability for the federal government to pass laws that bribe state governments to pass things that the federal government cannot pass constitutionally. That makes the state government grow. I don’t understand how people can take an oath of office knowing that they are outside the law of the constitution. They are outlaws!

BURNS: There’s only one way to control the deficit--grow the economy and control spending.

TESTER: It’s time that we spend the money wiser, that we prioritize better, and start looking out for middle class folks. But that’s not the people who have control--the cronies on K-Street that buy votes have more control than the folks that elect us.

On Civil Rights: Patriot Act cost us our Fourth Amendment rights

TESTER: It deals with the freedoms that so many people have fought and died for. If we want to get serious about the War on Terror, we need to make the investments to fight the war on terror. We ought not be taking rights away from honest citizens.

JONES: e’ve lost our Fourth Amendment rights; now there’s no protection to our privacy. Senator, you’re telling me I’m guilty of being a terrorist first. All you have to do is accuse me, and the Patriot Act applies to me, and I’m guilty and have to prove I’m innocent. You’ve turned our legal system upside down. We have to turn this off.

BURNS: The Patriot Act is a tool that is in place now for drug kingpins and organized crime. Why don’t you want that extended to terrorists? If you repeal it, there goes the Meth Control Act, and the ability to monitor international phone calls from known numbers of people who want to kill us.

On Energy & Oil: More nuclear plants and more liquefied coal

JONES: The cheapest electrical power is nuclear energy. But this nation has pretty much put the kibosh on nuclear energy, but they’re the cleanest, cheapest, & safest form of energy. New designs can burn used fuel, that we are storing in underground vaults, and use it up completely. We must re-institute nuclear power. Coal is another one. Montana is rich in coal, which can be liquefied into gasoline. If government got out of the way, we would already be using it. Government over-regulates the energy industry.

BURNS: Last year we opened up some new areas for energy production. And we found more oil and we found more gas. That’s what brings down the price of gasoline, when policies inject competition into the market.

TESTER: If I were not running for US Senate, on my farm, we would be crushing safflower, because I’ve run the numbers, and it works, and it provides a renewable energy source that makes sense.

On Energy & Oil: Global warming is a natural occurrence since 1000AD

BURNS: We’ve been warming since the Ice Age, and that continues. That’s a pretty well-known fact.

TESTER: The truth is, the polar ice cap is half as thick as it was in 1950. Yes, Earth is warming since the Ice Age, that’s correct, but it’s warming much more rapidly now than it ever has in our history.

JONES: There is global warming; it’s very slight; it’s a recovery from what’s called the Little Ice Age, when the average temperatures were much lower. In the years 500AD to 1000AD, temperatures were much higher than they are right now. Global warming is a natural recovery, and is not harmful. Most of it is only happening in the northern hemisphere. Scientists have proven that carbon dioxide emissions contribute only about 5% of the total greenhouse gases. If we reduce that worldwide, do you think it will have a big impact no greenhouse gases? No it will not. This is a natural occurrence and we should not make any effort to change it.

On Free Trade: NAFTA leads to American Union as part of one-world Communism

The combining of national government started with the European Union--that union started with trade agreements; then a common currency, the Euro; & now a European Parliament that is feverishly passing laws that override the laws of the member nations

Now it’s North America’s turn. Building on NAFTA, the Commerce Department is busy drafting laws and regulations for a North American Union, a union of the Canada, America, and Mexico. No treaty has been signed, so Congress has not become not involved However, money from our treasury is now being spent for this effort. We will have a new currency, the Amero; and a new Constitution, modeled on the Soviet Union’s constitution.

Huge amounts of property will be taken in the name of free trade.

On Government Reform: Earmarks are unconstitutional incumbency protection

TESTER: The current process of earmarking in the middle of the night, without transparency, is the wrong way for representative democracy to be working.

JONES: Which qualify as unjustified pork? ALL of them. The federal transportation bill has become the true pork-barrel bill that Congress uses to enhance the ability of incumbents to get re-elected. They always put something in this bill so they can brag about all the money they brought to the state, all of which most likely is unconstitutional. Transportation bills should be for transportation. And very little federal money should be spent on transportation. Transportation is a state issue and should be funded by state funds. All 34 earmarks are unconstitutional and should be eliminated.

BURNS: I’m proud about what I brought back to Montana. That money’s going to be spent somewhere in America, and I want Montana to get her share.

On Homeland Security: Patriot Act is terrorism of the worst kind

Under Patriot Act 1 & 2, if you are suspected of being an enemy combatant, you can be tried in secret by a military tribunal. You cannot see the evidence against you, have no right to a jury, and cannot appeal. The president also has authority to impose martial law and suspend habeas corpus, where you can be jailed for life without a trial and without a lawyer.

All of this is terrorism of the worst kind. We the people no longer have the protection of Bill of Rights. This is no longer the America I know. You cannot save America by destroying America. You cannot no longer rely on Democrats or Republicans to preserve your rights

On Homeland Security: Nobody read the Patriot Act before it was corruptly passed

BURNS: Pres. Bush took an oath to protect this country. Let’s talk about the Patriot Act. You have not given up one freedom, not ONE freedom that you didn’t have before, unless you’re a terrorist, or a suspected terrorist, or affiliated with the Mafia, or affiliated with drug kingpins. If you repeal the Patriot Act, the wall goes back up between the FBI and the CIA and the DIA, Defense Intelligence, and they cannot connect the dots. And the Meth Control Act is within the Patriot Act. There are consequences; it is a tool to protect this country.

On Principles & Values: Bush has committed many impeachable offenses

TESTER: I think it’s a bit premature to say that there should be impeachment proceedings against Pres. Bush. I do think there will be public hearings, and I think that’s critically important. If impeachable offenses are found, then so be it. I think we need to focus on the issues I hear about from the people of this great state. We’ve got a system that’s broken right now, and needs to be fixed, and it needs some leadership back in Washington DC. The current cast isn’t getting it done.

JONES: Yes, Pres. Bush has committed many impeachable offenses. He has issued executive orders that have the force and effect of law, when he has no constitutional authority to issue laws. Pres. Bush pushed the Patriot Act and other bills that have been just as threatening to our freedom. This man has to be impeached in order to preserve our freedoms. We have to impeach this man to let these people know they cannot do that to our freedoms.