BreakingUFONews.com
Interview with Presidential Nominee Michael Badnarik
Libertarian Presidential Candidate
is Pro-UFO Disclosure
…IF “convincing proof” of UFOs can be offered him
Article posted August 21, 2004
Photo posted August 25, 2004
Copyright 2004 Guy Malone All Rights Reserved.
May not be reproduced electronically or in print without written permission – Contact Editor@BreakingUFOnews.com
Photos and complete transcript pending – check back, or visit BreakingUFONews.com and sign-up for notification
Candidate promises to explore UFO evidence & tell Americans the truth if elected President Roswell NM
“So this Presidential candidate walks into a bar in Roswell…”
Sounds like the start of a joke, I know. It may yet be. First the set up:
While campaigning for the Libertarian Party (LP.org, which claims to be the third-largest and fastest growing political party in America), Presidential hopeful Michael Badnarik (Badnarik.org) visited Roswell, New Mexico to gather support and to get his party’s message heard. Libertarians stand firmly on The Constitution, asserting that it limits both the size and extent of our government’s power, and Libertarians regularly remind voters that the government is subject to the will of the people, rather than the other way around. After their public meeting in Roswell, Badnarik and his entourage enjoyed dinner at a popular local restaurant, and wandered into the bar to see how the local late-night news had treated them. Given the opportunity, and seeing this candidate’s positions as fertile ground for an honest answer, I sprang the question that politicians generally don’t have a pre-rehearsed answer for – does Michael Badnarik think the government should tell the truth, if they have any information regarding UFOs?
He blinked. It was that “only in Roswell…” kind of blink that I’ve grown accustomed to. But without further hesistation, he said “I don’t believe the government has the right to keep ANYsecrets from the American people” (emphasis Badnarik’s).
It’s not often that one gets to question a presidential candidate about UFO secrecy, so I went for all the marbles – a campaign promise: “So if you are elected president, would you be willing to ask a few questions, or talk to a few people, so that the truth could be known?” With a shrug, he replied “Yes… I want to know.”
Of course that’s not the kind of campaign promise that can be left to a bar conversation, so I asked if I could write to confirm his response. Badnarik’s associate campaign manager, Barb Goushaw, kindly stepped in to leave me her card, and to assist me in scheduling a formal follow-up interview. She later wrote me back saying “The exchange you relate (above) is accurate to the best of my recollection,” and continued, “A Libertarian President will tell people the truth, and allow them to deal with it as adults. Indeed, there is a fairly substantial list of things that Michael Badnarik is already telling the truth on now, including the Federal Reserve, the IRS, Social Security, the War on Drugs, etc.
“So it is logical he would also tell the truth about the UFO phenomena, when he is able to obtain accurate information. While I cannot promise that he will make it the number one priority of his administration, Michael Badnarik, as an individual, engineer, and researcher, would also genuinely like answers to these questions. And having determined the truth, would have no qualms about making the truth known to the American people.”
The interview set, days later I drove to Farmington, another city on Badnarik’s campaign tour of New Mexico. I caught up with him before his appearance at Farmington’s Civic Center, at a “Liberty Forum and Dinner” being held at Three Rivers Brewery, with my typed list of 15 questions, and tape recorder in hand. Knowing that he was now being recorded, I reminded Badnarik of our previous conversation, to which he responded:
(Note: all following Badnarik comments are taken directly from the tape recording)
“There are very, very few things which actually fall in to “National Security.” If we have military and they’re ready to advance, we certainly can’t allow people to know that in advance. But beyond that, I think that most, or much of what the government does is basically labeled “National Security,” so that they can keep it secret, to cover up a lot of the corruption that is inevitably happening in Washington. I can’t imagine any reason why the government should keep any scientific secrets from the people, especially given that the government works for We The People… If there is something that is involved with National secrecy, let a group of citizens make that decision, rather than have the government arbitrarily make that decision.”
A seemingly favorable response, as I continued to question Badnarik about the topics of UFOs – and UFO Disclosure to the American people – he made it clear that he was himself a UFO skeptic, and that he did not personally believe that aliens are currently visiting our planet. Badnarik said he found the topic fascinating philosophically, and that while he believes there almost certainly is intelligent life on other planets, he believes that the distances between stars is so great as to make the trip nearly impossible.
Badnarik also told me that he has never seen a UFO, nor does he personally know anyone who has. I asked “if a close friend, or relative, whom you consider credible, shared a UFO sighting or abduction experience with you, what would you think of them?”
Badnarik: “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence… if they don’t have something to tangibly show me, then I’m probably going to remain a little bit skeptical.” I quickly offered that hundreds of military personnel, pilots, and police officers are among the witnesses to UFOs. Badnarik cited his personal background in the sciences (“…oceanography, astronomy, physics, chemistry…”) and maintained that many people simply “want to have encounters, or would like to know that we’re not the only ones in the universe” and stated that he believes this desire “skews a lot of their information.”
Before the UFO-believing reader loses heart, however, Badnarik is an honest skeptic. While his own studies have not brought him to a belief in the UFO phenomena, he apparently remains open to persuasion. I asked him point-blank as an on-the-record campaign promise “IF YOU ARE ELECTED PRESIDENT, before taking office, would you allow a hand-picked panel of non-military, civilian researchers and experts, to spend a weekend presenting to you the best evidence available for UFOs, abductions, and government knowledge (of these phenomena)?”
Badnarik: “You’re asking me to sit and listen to these people?”
Malone: “Yes.”
Badnarik: “Yeh… I could spend two days listening to that.”
While again affirming his belief that the chances of our planet being visited by extra-terrestrials are quite remote, even stating that he was “doubtful” that he could be convinced, Badnarik nonetheless conceeded that “if the United States government does know about it, I think they should tell the people.”
I further asked whether he would tell the American people the truth, even if “Top Brass” told him the beings were hostile, and had technology the American government could not defend the people against? While adamantly pre-qualifying his answer that he would have to be “firmly convinced” and “blown away by the evidence” Badnarik states:
“The purpose of the government is to protect the people. If I have information (relating to UFOs)… there is no reason for me to keep that from the American people. If they are friendly, then the American people would be more prepared to take advantage of the new technology. If they are hostile, that allows the free market (a cornerstone of Libertarian philosophy) to open up and possibly present new technologies to defend ourselves. So in either case, putting out that information to the American people would be advantageous.”
Readers may be aware that George W. Bush made a similar campaign promise (on camera) to a CNN reporter, to both find out and to disclose the truth about UFOs to the American people, although to date he has never again commented on the topic publicly. One can only imagine whether Bush even found out if UFOs are real, or if he did find out, was he persuaded not to disclose the information to the American people? It is also known that Bill Clinton tried to find out more about UFOs, and before him, Jimmy Carter. Neither of these men ever had much to say about them either, upon taking office however. Either there really is nothing to the UFO phenomena, or sitting presidents have simply not been told about it for decades. And if they are, they’re not telling us, outside of Ronald Reagan’s occasional but arguably innocent allusions to “an alien threat.”
So as always, finding and presenting actual proof of UFOs is the job of interested civilians, as is convincing politicians of our right to know. While it must be noted that Badnarik is not at this time soliciting such proof from the UFO community, he at least has made a promise that if elected president, he will submit to examining the best evidence I can make available to him, and, if convinced that UFOs are engaging the planet, has promised “on the record” to disclose this information to the American people. However, electing a president who has made such a promise, is now perhaps left up to the UFO community, who may or may not prove to be a large enough “special interest group” to provide an upset this November. According to Badnarik “if this (UFO Disclosure) were a significant issue, it would already be a campaign issue.”
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Given that Richard M. Dolan is not only a prolific writer about the history of UFOs and the U.S. government, but also himself a Libertarian (“more so than any other political philosophy…” he recently told me), I took the opportunity to present Badnarik with a DVD presentation of Dolan’s “UFOs and the National Security State: Documenting Government Duplicity on UFOs” recorded recently in Roswell in the hopes of offering him perhaps just a little proof before election time, from someone of his own party no less. If Badnarik finds it convincing, perhaps the “UFO Disclosure” movement has found a political ally at last (if he doesn’t find even this article’s exposure to the UFO realm his political undoing). Assuming he’s willing to venture just a bit further into the field of UFO research, and if he’s not busy running the country, I invited Badnarik to speak at next July 4th’s Ancient of Days conference in Roswell, to roundtable on the topic of government cover-ups with Richard Dolan and exo-political lobbyist Stephen Bassett.
But for now, apparently, UFO and Disclosure enthusiasts are either too few, or too silent thus far to attract political favor, action, or attention. Badnarik also mentioned that if I tried, Bush or Kerry would probably “not dignify (my set of questions) with a response.” Now if you remember, this article started out as a joke by the way. If Bandarik is right, then here’s the punch line – perhaps the UFO community’s best shot at Disclosure, lies with a man who’s yet to be convinced.
But that’s the easy part, really. That, at least, I have the means to do. Getting him elected however, is up to you.
Ba dump bump.
( The entire transcript of Guy Malone’s interview with Michael Badnarik may be read at BreakingUFOnews.com )
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Aside from editing BreakingUFOnews.com, Guy Malone is founder of Alien Resistance HQ (www.alienresistance.org), a non-profit Biblical ministry to abductees, and organizer of the Ancient of Days UFO/Abduction conference (www.ancientofdays.net). Monday-Friday nights he also tends bar in Roswell, and usually keeps the conversations held there in strictest confidence.
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Copyright 2004 Guy Malone All Rights Reserved
Submission or receipt of this article does not imply a surrender of copyright, not permission to reprint the above article.
