Bill Redpath Visits Charlottesville - Part I

Bill Redpath, the Libertarian candidate for the U.S. Senate in Virginia, made two appearances in Charlottesville on Thursday. The first appearance was as a guest of local talk-show host Rob Schilling on WINA-AM's "The Schilling Show" between 1:00 and 2:00 p.m. Redpath used that as an opportunity to promote his speech that night at the University of Virginia, and to answer questions from Schilling -- a former member of the Charlottesville City Council -- and from the radio audience.

The night before, Redpath had been at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, participating in a forum with Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr (a former congressman from Georgia). For his part, Barr had also been a guest (by telephone) on "The Schilling Show" on Wednesday. (For a podcast of Rob Schilling's interview with Bob Barr, look here and scroll down.)

In his comments on the radio, Redpath noted that he had put about 4,000 miles on his car already this month, and that, when he ran for governor of Virginia in 2001, he traveled 7,000 miles during the last month of the campaign, without ever reading the Commonwealth.

The Cavalier Daily reported on Redpath's address at UVA, which was sponsored by the University Libertarians. CavDaily associate editor Emily Poe covered the event and wrote in today's edition:

The core of his platform, Redpath explained, focuses on reducing of the general scope of the federal government. He noted that for the nation to move forward successfully federal officials must reduce spending on a “long list of things.”

Scaled back federal involvement in areas like education, which Redpath said should be handled by state, local and private institutions, was also echoed in other aspects of Redpath’s platform, including national security.

Redpath said national security is — and will always be — one of the most vital issues facing the United States. Contrary to how some other politicians might address security concerns, however, Redpath said he believes the best way to secure the nation’s borders and take care of external military affairs is to practice “non-interventionist” foreign policy.

“I think that certainly getting the U.S. military out of Iraq is a no-brainer,” Redpath said.

Redpath said extending such a non-interventionist policy to more native concerns, such as the economy and pressing social concerns, is also needed.

“The U.S. should unilaterally drop its trade barriers, to bring other nations of the world into a great capitalist peace,” Redpath said, noting that he is a proponent of unrestrained free trade.

“Free trade is a pro-consumer policy and that’s the only thing we all are, we’re all consumers,” Redpath said.

What follows, in four segments, is Redpath's interview on "The Schilling Show" committed to video. (For an audio podcast, check out WINA's newly revamped web site.)

Part I:

Part II:

Part III:

Part IV:

The second part of this short series on Bill Redpath's visit to Charlottesville will feature video from his speech at the University of Virginia, including about a half-hour of Q&A dialogue with audience members.