Diamondback Online - The University of Maryland's Independent Daily Student Newspaper

Issue date: 5/1/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Adam Fried

"Representative government is broken."

So says former Alaskan democratic senator Mike Gravel, who spoke before a small audience yesterday at the College Perk Coffeehouse on Route 1 as part of his campaign to win the presidential nomination for the Libertarian Party.

Around 10 people gathered around a coffee table on couches, chairs and bar stools in the corner of the coffee shop to hear Gravel discuss his plan to empower the American people. His National Initiative for Democracy plan would create a "Legislature of the People" that would work alongside Congress to make laws.

"Our form of representative government is designed to keep people in civic adolescence," Gravel said. "I want to bring the people into civic adulthood by making them lawmakers and giving them responsibility."

Gravel explained that his entire presidency would be dependent on the National Initiative for Democracy's passing.

"I'll spend the first six months telling the American people that they need to vote for the National Initiative to change things," Gravel said. "If they don't, I'll quit, and the vice president can take power."

Gravel also explained his positions on various foreign and domestic issues, including ending the war in Iraq, destroying the military-industrial complex, creating a universal health care system and making higher education free.

His talk was also peppered with criticism of the current administration.

"When elected, I would send Bush and Cheney to The Hague to be tried as war criminals," Gravel said.

Last night's event was planned largely by two university students.

"The reason I'm campaigning so hard for Mike Gravel is that I don't want people to get ripped off again by the Democrats or the Republicans," said Heyfa Khenissi, a sophomore geology major and Montgomery County director of the Gravel presidential campaign. "The stakes are too high this year, with more wars and a global depression impending."

Senior journalism major Matt Johnson said he helped arrange the meeting to increase campus awareness of third-party candidates.

"I really want the campus community to hear from more third-party candidates," Johnson said. "I want to help break the Obama stranglehold."

Senior physiology and neurobiology major Zach Zwagil said he attended the event because of Gravel's statements in the early Democratic debates.

"Although I'm not a Libertarian, I'm interested in Dennis Kucinich's campaign, and he and Gravel have very similar views," Zwagil said.

Walter Karlins, a junior history major, said he really liked Gravel's positions on American foreign policy.

"He's the only one willing to speak out against the military-industrial complex," Karlins said. "He's the only good candidate out there this year."

Although Gravel acknowledged that he has not gotten much recognition in the media, he said the media would be forced to give him attention if he won the Libertarian nomination.

"The Libertarian party is the third-largest party in the country, so the media would have to pay some attention," Gravel said. "The people would clamor for it because they're tired of the race as it is."

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