Candidate With Ron Paul Platform Starving himself!(Mike Benoit)

[Reason]

http://michaelbenoit.org/Resources/rpmb.jpeg

Website...

http://michaelbenoit.org/



Just got this email...

What are you doing to be eternally vigilant for liberty? I am on a hunger strike

Hello, this is my fifth full day of being on a hunger strike. I have been on this hunger strike since Ray Lutz the democrat candidate went on his hunger strike last Thursday night just before sundown. We are doing this to get Duncan D. Hunter the incumbent in our District to debate. Have you ever gone five days without eating?

Just so you know the media is starting to pick up on this and it may go National. I am looking for sponsors of $5.00 per day for each day I am on this strike. Will you do that? Frankly I do not intend to go beyond 21 days as I believe the bodys starts to consume its internal organs at the point.

My income is almost totally gone, my business is being consumed by frivilous law suits, the IRS has stolen my house, however I worry most about the entire system coming apart due to lethargy and the pirate society we have allowed to be created by those who plunder.

Of course once Duncan D. Hunter agrees to a series of debates with both Ray Lutz and me then the hunger strike ends.

Just email me back if you intend on sponsoring me in my quest to have us all live free.

Thanks for your time

Mike

[Reason]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/aug/17/candidate-continues-hunger-strike-for-debate/

Candidate continues hunger strike for debate

By Michele Clock (http://www.signonsandiego.com/staff/michele-clock/), UNION-TRIBUNE
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 at 7:07 p.m.


Ray Lutz has lost 14 pounds. Since last Thursday.
And he isn’t on a diet.
Lutz, 52, has stopped eating to make a political point.
A longtime East County political activist now trying to unseat incumbent U.S. Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, R-Alpine, this November, Lutz says he is forgoing meals until Hunter agrees to debate him. Even Lutz, a Democrat, had doubts about how long he would last in the early hours of his hunger strike, conceding that he had never skipped more than a single meal. But by Tuesday, Lutz was in his fifth day of a water-only diet (with an occasional drink of apple juice). He visited a doctor.
“It’s a lot of weight to lose in six days,” he said. “I didn’t know that was possible... And I’m sure it’s going to continue to go up. I’m not eating anything.”
So far, Lutz’ attention-getting gambit has left him tired and weak and at times irritable. But at least he has had company.
Joining Lutz in the fasting is Libertarian candidate Michael Benoit, 59, who is also running against Hunter in the 52nd District, a Republican stronghold, this fall. Lutz’s wife Jill, 55, was skipping meals with her husband but will break her fast because she needs the energy for her job, he said.
Hunter said in an interview Tuesday that he plans to debate his opponents in October.
“We’re debating,” he said. “We’re just not debating now.”
But Hunter’s timeline isn’t quick enough for Lutz’s campaign team, who say they also want a direct response from Hunter or his campaign, after submitting letters to the first-term incumbent asking him to debate.
Hunter campaign consultant Dave Gilliard quipped last week that the hunger strike sounded “like something out of Berkeley not San Diego.”
Recently, Lutz has had a hard time sleeping at night.
“If I have to live through a few more nights like (Monday) night I don’t know if I can do it,” he said. “I couldn’t sleep because I was just having these, not so much hunger pangs, but just a general feeling of emptiness and feeling hungry.”
Benoit, who lives in Lakeside and is making his sixth run for the congressional seat, said the hunger strike was a way to protest what he views as a broken political system that fosters voter apathy. “People are not involved because the game is rigged for incumbents like Duncan D. (Hunter),” he said.
Benoit admitted he came close to breaking his fast over the weekend after spotting some green beans growing in the garden of a friend. “I grabbed one and looked at it,” he said. “It looked like it was ready so I bit on it, and I realized I had forgotten I was on this hunger strike, so I spit it out.”
Lutz said he would try to last at least until Friday, when he expects to see Hunter a political event in East County. He said if he can hold out that long, he will ask Hunter directly when they can debate.
“The first day was really, really hard because you’re used to eating every meal,” he said. “Now I’m used to not eating so I’m just hungry all the time. You just put it out of your mind if you can.”

[Reason]

http://www.opednews.com/Diary/Candidate-Lutz-announces-h-by-Ray-Lutz-100812-179.html

[Rael]

Hunger strikes are stupid. Nobody gives a crap. There are much more effective uses of your time.

[jmdrake]

Hunger strikes are stupid. Nobody gives a crap. There are much more effective uses of your time.

In this case I definitely agree. These two candidates should just start debating each other. Put the debates on YouTube and make them go viral. The dem wouldn't give a crap if the Duncan Hunter was willing to debate him and leave the libertarian candidate out.

[klamath]

Did RP really endorse this nut? If so it is an embarressment to him.

[libertybrewcity]

...not cool to hurt yourself over a debate.

[KCIndy]

Hunger strikes are stupid. Nobody gives a crap. There are much more effective uses of your time.

I was going to say the same thing. If I was the opponent, I would be laughing my ass off right about now.

[libertybrewcity]

I was going to say the same thing. If I was the opponent, I would be laughing my ass off right about now.

looks like the opponent went on a hunger strike too.

[Rael]

If these people think anyone else cares about their food intake, why does no one ever go on a EATING strike? Threaten to eat tons of cheeseburgers, pizza, Chinese food, whatever it takes, until your demands are met!

[0zzy]

If these people think anyone else cares about their food intake, why does no one ever go on a EATING strike? Threaten to eat tons of cheeseburgers, pizza, Chinese food, whatever it takes, until your demands are met!

because America is effectively on a eating strike, and it refuses to end it.

[Reason]

Yeah, I watched a debate between the three guys running during the last election at my college and Duncan Hunter (the guy who won) was a total buffoon... He completely ignored the questions asked and redirected everything back to the fact that he spent some time in the sand box shooting people which of course drew many cheers from his middle aged neocon posse in attendance...

Benoit is a man of principal and runs on a Ron Paul style libertarian platform. He is who I voted for.

I question how wise of an idea this hunger strike is but I don't know that I am really in a position to question it tbh.

[BenIsForRon]

What's sad is nobody really watches congressional debates. They seem to have almost zero effect on the outcome of an election.

[Elwar]

The guy even says he'll stop after 21 days...the whole idea of a hunger strike is the potential that you'll die of starvation because of X person refusing Y demand.

Not...X person won't give in to Y demand so I think I'll lose some weight.

[erowe1]

What's sad is nobody really watches congressional debates. They seem to have almost zero effect on the outcome of an election.

I actually think debates are not worth much for people who want to learn about the candidates anyway. They generally require pretty short answers, where candidates use the time for abstract sound bytes. I've never in my life seen one where politicians actually do what I would consider debating. And then if you actually do have all parties willing to be in debates with each other, all of a sudden every political group around the state wants to host its own debate and they end up having like 9 pseudo-debates where the candidates repeatedly give the same 1-minute answers to the same 20 questions.

[Slutter McGee]

This does bring up a point. We probably should try and figure out ways to force debates. That being said, a hunger strike is stupid, especially be the Libertarian.

Sincerely,

Slutter McGee

[brandon]

What's sad is nobody really watches congressional debates. They seem to have almost zero effect on the outcome of an election.


Journalists watch them, and usually the debates write the next days news paper headlines.


But overall, I agree with you that nobody pays any attention to any of this shit and people just vote on a whim.

[Reason]

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/18/duncan-opponents-on-hunger-strikes/

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129295331

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/aug/19/local-federal-lawmakers-to-gather-at-cuyamaca-col/

[Reason]

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/sdcounty/article_7f2bcf15-bc58-543e-b242-1ff492979d50.html

[JCF]

Oh, just realized this is my district.

The hunger strike may be stupid but it's getting him press... I looked at his website and he seems much better than Duncan.

Thanks for sharing :D

[jmdrake]

looks like the opponent went on a hunger strike too.

Not exactly. The democratic opponent (who really doesn't stand a chance) went on a hunger strike too. But the republican opponent did not. Duncan Hunter is so far ahead that it doesn't pay him to debate. The democrat is desperate so he'll pull a stunt like this. I'd bet a dime to a dollar that the dem wouldn't give a crap if Duncan Hunter agreed to debate but left the libertarian candidate out. If the libertarian candidate was smart, he'd end the hunger strike and challenge the democrat to debate him without Duncan Hunter. If they agreed to debate and the local media refused to cover it, demand to know why and sick the MoveOn.org goons on them. Get president Obama to weigh in on it and publicly ask Duncan Hunter why he's snubbing debates in his district. Eventually Duncan would have to give in and debate both of them. As it stands now I wouldn't be surprised if the libertarian candidate still got left out of the debate when it finally happened.

[Reason]

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/columnists/frank/article_76b92d85-1735-5942-a550-4dde9ca82738.html

[damiengwa]

i love it...it brilliant

[james1906]

It would be better to show up at the debate and stand up and say you're also running for the seat. Then ask the audience if they have any objection to you joining the debate.

[CC5191]

I'm working for Ray Lutz's campaign and I can tell you that despite differing political opinions (and some that we agree on with Benoit as well) we've effectively teamed up together to push the debate issue. I agree that all parties should get the chance to debate. I've met Mr. Benoit several times, as well as dealt with some of his top volunteers, and they are all very cordial.

The point here is that the incumbent has no will to debate, since he's a buffoon while speaking, and can technically win another term doing nothing. In the past 12 months, Hunter has sponsored only ceremonial bills in the House, to honor this or that....no real work.

Aside from that, Hunter is also a neocon who thinks we should increase military spending (aside from it being almost half the federal budget with DoD and non-DoD spending for defense accounted for) and who is a typical Republican who says he's for small government, but acts to create larger government.

I've also had several hilarious boiler plate responses from Hunter regarding industrial hemp and marijuana legalization, both of which he adamantly opposes.

Ray Lutz wants to include Michael Benoit in these debates, make no mistake.

The hunger strike may seem strange, but in essence, these two men are trying to bring light to an issue that is often neglected, and that as Libertarians, I would think you all would embrace...that too often, candidates are voted in simply because of name recognition, and more money. The underdog major party candidates and third party candidates often get little to no media exposure, and are not included in anything like a debate.

It's a different tactic, but it is getting both of their names out there....and sometimes that's all that the voters need to look into the issues on their own.

[libertarian4321]

A quick perusal of recent election results from this district indicate that it's a stone cold lock Republican district. The Republicans could nominate a potted plant and win that district.

Hunter may be an idiot, but the reason he isn't debating is because he doesn't have to. He's going to waltz into office for the 14th or 15th time without having to even work for it.

Ain't Gerrymandering wonderful? It makes a mockery of our congressional "elections," which are more often coronations than real elections. There is about as much suspense as there was for "elections" in the old Soviet Union.

[specsaregood]

Hunter may be an idiot, but the reason he isn't debating is because he doesn't have to. He's going to waltz into office for the 14th or 15th time without having to even work for it.


Unless I misunderstood you, it is even worse than that. This isn't Duncan Hunter the republican that ran for president last go around, this is his son. The dad retired last term and his son got elected to replace him. This would be his 2nd time walking into office without even having to work for it.

if on the otherhand you were just making a future prediction about how this guy will eventually be walking in for his 14th or 15th term without working for it....well I sadly agree.

[Toureg89]

its a helluva lot better than being a suicide bomber...

[CC5191]

It is the father of the current Congressman you're talking about. Duncan L Hunter reigned for about 28 years here, whereupon Duncan D Hunter took the seat in a special election in 2008. This is exactly why debate is necessary......half the constituents think they're still voting for the father.

[Fredom101]

Did RP really endorse this nut? If so it is an embarressment to him.

No. Benoit runs as a Libertarian every 2 years and gets 1% of the vote. He's a big RP supporter but RP never endorsed him.

[Reason]

//

[Reason]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41380.html

[libertarian4321]

It is the father of the current Congressman you're talking about. Duncan L Hunter reigned for about 28 years here, whereupon Duncan D Hunter took the seat in a special election in 2008. This is exactly why debate is necessary......half the constituents think they're still voting for the father.

Nepotism at it's finest.

Unfortunately, due to Gerrymandering, it doesn't really matter whether its the father, the son, or Zippy the Wonder Pup.

As long as he has an "R" next to his name, he'll win in that district.

We had the same thing happen a few years ago here when Henry Gonzalez finally died after about 100 years in Congress. His son just waltzed right in and took his seat, and because the district is Gerrymandered a Democratic lock, he'll never have to work to keep it.

Most of our congressional elections are a joke- they aren't elections at all, just coronations of the guy selected by the party that rules that district.

And they wonder why Americans don't bother to vote...

[Reason]

http://www.sdcitybeat.com/sandiego/article-8081-gop-convention-and-the-duncan-hunter-hunger-strike.html

[LibertyVox]

Hunger strike?

Well I guess it is a more radical way to lose the tubs, and it definitely sound much better than the grape fruit diet. Besides I think Islamic Ramadan is going on, so he'll fit right in.

Other than that, these tactics are useless and in this country would actually bring out contempt for Benoit.