Craig Huey On Running For Office As A Libertarian Republican And Salvaging The American Dream

The editors of The Daily Bell are pleased to present an exclusive interview with entrepreneur and free-market thinker Craig Huey (left).

Introduction: Craig Huey is a successful small business owner not a career politician. A nationally recognized political commentator and marketing consultant, Huey has appeared on national news outlets such as Fox Business Channel. Huey is also a frequent radio talk-show guest-speaker on KKLA, KBRT, KIEV, KWVE and KABC. Over the years Huey has earned an international reputation as a business consultant to a variety of clients, embracing all facets of our economy. A 72-time award-winner, Huey is known for his skill in leading nationwide business seminars, as well as creating business initiatives for his clients resulting in multimillion-dollar successes. Craig Huey has served on the Republican Central Committee and has long been involved in South Bay politics. Huey is a long-time resident of the 36th District and is now running in a special election to represent the District in Washington DC. You can learn more about Craig Huey's political platform by watching this video on the Daily Bell website: Craig Huey for Congress 2011.

Daily Bell: You're running for Congress in the 36th District in California, and apparently you're doing fairly well, despite the force arrayed against you. Tell us a bit about your background. You consider yourself to be libertarian more than a Republican don't you?

Craig Huey: I'm not a career politician. I'm a small business owner running for a special congressional office on May 17th, just a few weeks away. But I've had an interest in freedom and the free market for a long time. In high school I was introduced to Frederic Bastiat and his classic The Law, the writings of Ludwig Von Mises, Frederic Hayek, Milton Friedman and other great libertarian thinkers and economists.

In college I became very active in libertarian and conservative groups. Also during this time I discovered the Foundation for Economic Education and Young Americans for Freedom had a strong libertarian faction. This interest in politics has carried on so that today I speak at investment, business, and political events such as the World Economic Summit and Freedom Fest. I'm on radio and TV. I have a free-market newsletter for evangelical Christians. And I run 3 political websites including http://www.judgevoterguide.com/.

Daily Bell: Tell us a bit about the business end of things and how you built your company.

Craig Huey: Out of college I started a direct response agency that worked on political and religious fund raising. At the time, Jimmy Carter's Keynesian economic policies had created high inflation and economic turmoil.
This sparked a whole movement of young newsletter writers, authors and entrepreneurs warning investors about the economy based on free market principles. In this environment I was able to help market people like Howard Ruff, Doug Casey, Harry Schultz, the late Jim Blanchard, Jim McKeaver, Harry Browne and many more. I helped build their newsletters and fortunes by applying advanced direct marketing techniques and strategies with powerful direct response copy. Mixing geopolitics and economics from the late 1970s to today has been my specialty.

Today, I speak internationally on marketing. I have clients worldwide helping them to grow their business with powerful direct marketing strategies. I develop marketing programs for all kinds of companies using direct marketing media such as direct mail, TV, email, microsites and more. And I still help market "cause" projects.

Daily Bell: You worked closely with Ronald Reagan. Tell us about that and what he was like.

Craig Huey: Ronald Reagan was incredible in being able to articulate free market principles and a vision of change. His ideas were his own, not a handler or speechwriter. He was hands on. He made free market principles respectable and he made an intelligent defense of individual freedom. On my wall in my office is one of the fundraising letters I did for Reagan. From the thousands of personal responses to this campaign I learned how the average American responded to a consistent message of freedom and hope.

Daily Bell: Are you concerned about America today and the way that society is headed?

Craig Huey: America today is in trouble. Deep trouble. Our country is at a crossroads. The policies of Republicans and Democrats has centralized power in Washington, created a bloated bureaucracy, created imposed regulatory agencies that destroy business and entrepreneurship and the economic policies have set us up for stagflation and another economic crisis. But I'm also optimistic that this can be changed. More and more Americans are recognizing the need to turn to freedom and turn away from collectivism. That's why I'm running for this special election.

Daily Bell: Ron Paul seems to be making a lot of progress as a Republican Congressman in advancing important issues, whether or not he actually gets elected. Certainly the bar of consciousness is being raised in many people's minds. Is this why you decided to run as a Republican as well?

Craig Huey: I've worked with Ron Paul on projects and he has done an incredible job of leading the change that is now happening. I see his success, the success of his son Rand and others and it gives me great hope. What we need are people who understand the problem, have a solution and can communicate it to the voters and media and are consistent and principled. I'm not a career politician. I'm a businessman who has seen the harm of government. I'm a communicator who can help spark change. That's what we need.

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