Great Falls Candidates: Kevin Leatherbarrow, Libertarian For HD23
Editors note: Today E-City Beat begins publishing the local candidate profiles provided by those who responded to our request.
Kevin’s life revolves around education, the outdoors and freedom. He moved his family to Great Falls later in 2016. He and his wife have a 6-year-old adopted boy.
Kevin and his wife Annie opened a family run tutoring center in 2017 where they school homeschoolers K-12, advocate for children who receiving Special Education services in public schools and after school tutoring.
Kevin has run for the State Senate 2018, State Superintendent of Public Instruction 2020 and Great Falls public School Board in 2021 and is currently running for HD23 in Great Falls.
Campaign Vision
“To establish a society where individual freedom and personal responsibility are paramount, and the role of government is strictly limited to protecting the rights and property of its citizens.”
Core Principles
- Individual Liberty: Championing the rights of individuals to live their lives as they see fit, as long as they do not harm others.
- Limited Government: Advocating for a minimal state role in personal and economic affairs, emphasizing that government’s primary function should be to protect individual rights and property.
- Free Market Economy: Promoting unfettered capitalism, deregulation, and free trade as the best means to achieve prosperity and innovation.
- Property Rights: Asserting strong protections for private property as a cornerstone of freedom and economic development.
- Self-Reliance and Personal Responsibility: Encouraging individuals to take responsibility for their own lives and welfare, rather than relying on government assistance.
- Non-Interventionism: Opposing military interventions overseas and promoting a foreign policy based on trade and peaceful diplomacy.
Policy Platform
- Economic Policies:
- Comprehensive tax reform with significant reductions in personal and corporate tax rates.
- Elimination of subsidies and government interventions that distort the free market.
- Deregulation to remove unnecessary bureaucratic barriers to business and innovation.
- Social Policies:
- Protecting individual freedoms in personal and social matters, with minimal government interference.
- Opposing government surveillance and any infringements on privacy rights.
- Government Reform:
- Reducing the size and scope of government, including cuts to unnecessary departments and agencies.
- Implementing term limits for all elected officials to prevent career politicians.
- Promoting transparency and accountability in government operations.
- Justice and Public Safety:
- Reforming the criminal justice system to focus on rehabilitation and reducing recidivism.
- Protecting the right to bear arms is a fundamental individual liberty.
- Prioritizing community-based approaches to public safety over federal intervention.
School Freedom
“Empower families and educators to create and choose the best educational opportunities for their children, fostering innovation, excellence, and diversity in education.”
Core Principles
- Educational Choice: Supporting the right of parents and guardians to choose the best educational setting for their children, whether it’s public, private, charter, homeschooling, or alternative learning models.
- Decentralization: Advocating for the decentralization of educational governance, giving more control to local communities and reducing federal and state oversight.
- Market-Based Solutions: Promoting competition among schools to improve quality and efficiency, using market principles to drive innovation and responsiveness to student and parent needs.
- Deregulation: Reducing bureaucratic regulations that stifle educational innovation and creativity, enabling educators to tailor learning experiences to their students’ needs.
- Funding Flexibility: Supporting funding mechanisms such as education savings accounts (ESAs), vouchers, and tax credits that allow public education funds to follow students to the schools or services that best meet their needs.