{"id":808298,"date":"2020-06-11T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-11T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=384821"},"modified":"2020-06-11T16:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-06-11T22:00:00","slug":"libertarian-gaylon-kent-wants-to-end-lack-of-leadership-in-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/libertarian-gaylon-kent-wants-to-end-lack-of-leadership-in-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Libertarian Gaylon Kent wants to end \u2018lack of leadership\u2019 in America"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/06\/Kent-SDN-061120.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-384823\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/06\/Kent-SDN-061120.jpg 340w, https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/06\/Kent-SDN-061120-245x300.jpg 245w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px\" \/><figcaption><strong>Libertarian Gaylon Kent is running for U.S. Senate.<\/strong><br \/><em>Courtesy photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>KEYSTONE \u2014 Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate Gaylon Kent wants to \u201cmake America America again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRepublicans and Democrats are not doing good things for our country,\u201d he said. \u201cOur government and our country really is a partisan, fractured, bickering mess.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kent, who lives in Steamboat Springs, has had four previous runs for Congress. In 2014, he was the Libertarian nominee for Senate, when he lost to Sen. Cory Gardner. This time around, Kent is running against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/election-2020-libertarian-doane-campaigns-for-smaller-government-equitable-taxes\/\">Raymon Doane<\/a> for the Libertarian spot on the June 30 primary. <\/p>\n<p>This year is different, he said, because of the fractured nature of American politics.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn 2014, when I ran for the United States Senate, America was not united but not as fractured as we are now,\u201d he said. \u201cYou could talk to someone with a different idea than you and not be called a name. But that time has passed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If elected, Kent is focused on ending perpetual wars, combating fiscal irresponsibility and preventing the incarceration of innocent people.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Kent said the U.S. should only fight in wars declared by Congress. The last formal declaration of war signed by Congress was during the Second World War.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have abrogated that responsibility to the president, the U.N. and NATO, and it\u2019s wrong,\u201d he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"swift-infobox alignleft\">\n<div class=\"module module-promo card shadow-sm\">\n<div class=\"card-header\"><i class=\"fas fa-info-circle\"><\/i> For more<\/div>\n<div class=\"card-body\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/election\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-384400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/06\/Election2020logo-300x187.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"241\" height=\"156\" \/><\/a> Head to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/election\/\">SummitDaily.com\/election<\/a> for information about voter registration, candidates, election results and more. <i class=\"fas fa-external-link-alt\"><\/i> <\/div>\n<p><!-- END .card-body --> <\/div>\n<p><!-- END .module --> <\/div>\n<p><!-- END .swift-infobox --> <\/p>\n<p>Kent also has a proposal to place a flat tax of 5% on everyone who makes $50,000 a year or more. Under this proposal, people who make less than that would not have to pay taxes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith a flat tax of 5% \u2026 we\u2019ll have more money to meet our growing needs,\u201d he said. \u201cThe economy will expand and wages would improve.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He would also work to eliminate the corporate income tax.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey do everything they can not to pay them,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s another expense on consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In order to help free people who have been wrongly convicted, Kent would work to develop legislation to prevent district attorneys from convicting innocent people and create a government-run innocence project, similar to the nonprofit with the same name.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese are people who have been incarcerated anywhere from five years upwards,\u201d he said. \u201cFor a nation conceived in liberty, that should cause all of us a great shame. That\u2019s not what this country is about.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lack of leadership in the U.S. has never been more apparent than during the novel coronavirus pandemic, Kent said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNobody is looking to America for leadership right now,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are completely dismissed as the country that can influence and help. There was a time when America would have been providing leadership on this matter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kent said the federal government needs to procure 2 billion tests so every citizen can be tested multiple times.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUntil we know who has it and are able to isolate them, we\u2019re not going to get control of this situation,\u201d he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to helping resort mountain communities like Summit County recover from the economic fallout as a result of the virus, Kent said the government should waive taxes for three years on businesses. However, he believes that the government shouldn\u2019t be financially supporting everyone.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe more they do, the more we are going to expect the government to do in the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Kent also touched on the recent protests of the killing of George Floyd.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s 400 years of oppression meeting 400 years of dominance,\u201d he said. \u201cIt should be protested. I would prefer they protest without burning cities down, but every George Floyd protest is merited.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kent believes this year will bring \u201cunprecedented opportunities\u201d for the Libertarian Party.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m running because I want good things for this country,\u201d he said. \u201cThose currently in power are not providing them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/libertarian-gaylon-gaylon-kent-wants-to-end-lack-of-leadership-in-america\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Libertarian Gaylon Kent is running for U.S. Senate.Courtesy photo KEYSTONE \u2014 Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate Gaylon Kent wants to \u201cmake America America again.\u201d \u201cRepublicans and Democrats are not doing good things for our country,\u201d he said. \u201cOur government and our country really is a partisan, fractured, bickering mess.\u201d Kent, who lives in Steamboat Springs, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-808298","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-06 13:55:30","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808298\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}