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Kevin Barrett is a former university lecturer best known for his conspiracy theories on the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and has some very un-Libertarian ideas about health care and entitlement programs.
Ben Olson III is a self-employed home builder, sawyer, musician and part-time bartender with prominent Republican roots who presents himself as the orthodox Libertarian choice.
Both agree the government in recent years has undermined Americans’ constitutionally guaranteed rights.
And both want U.S. troops immediately pulled from Iraq and Afghanistan, a view that will set the winner apart both from incumbent Democrat Ron Kind and his Republican challenger, Paul Stark of Eau Claire.
Neither the Libertarian Party of Wisconsin nor the state is sure when two Libertarian candidates last met in a primary.
“We know that it’s happened at the statewide level,” said Kyle Richmond, spokesperson for the state’s Government Accountability Board. “At the Congressional level, we don’t have any record of it.”
Barrett said he always has had a Libertarian-leaning philosophy but only joined the party this year because of “a frightening rollback of freedom in the United States.”
The 49-year-old author and radio host has garnered attention for his belief the U.S. government was behind the 9/11 attacks.
He argues that the nation — and both major parties — have fallen under the control of a “small cabal of international financiers” bent on global domination through the use of the U.S. military.
But unlike most Libertarians, Barrett isn’t anti-government. He considers himself a pragmatist willing to embrace ideas that work and to sacrifice party ideology in order to win elections
Barrett advocates a Canadian-style, single-payer health care system, arguing Canada’s system costs about half what the U.S. spends, covers everyone and “seems to get better results.” He also would fight to preserve Social Security as a government-run retirement plan.
“The Libertarian party has a historic opportunity, as the Republican party implodes, to step to the center to become America’s leading center-right party,” he said.
It was Barrett’s unorthodox views that compelled Olson to run.
Though he grew up in a Republican family, the 55-year-old Wisconsin Dells resident soured on party politics until he discovered the Libertarian platform in the 1980s.
He said he thought Libertarian voters should have a candidate who represents the party line.
Olson favors the eventual elimination of Social Security, Medicare and the federal Department of Education but said he isn’t for abolishing all government.
“We have to be realistic about what we can get,” he said.
He does see a troubling lack of restraint when it comes to deficit spending, and a tendency for the government to chip away at personal liberties, particularly those outlined in the Bill of Rights.
“We granted power to the government,” he said. “Now it seems we have to ask for our rights.”
Kevin Barrett
An unorthodox Libertarian, Barrett advocates for single-payer health care, would preserve Social Security and supports pulling troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and cutting military spending.
Ben Olson III
Olson favors the eventual elimination of Social Security, Medicare and the federal Department of Education as well as scaling back the military’s role to border protection.
