Daniel Gilbert
Candidate for the Office of President of the United States
picture provided by www.wethepeopleforpresident.com/
Daniel Gilbert: A Conservative for President
The 2008 presidential primary season will begin on Tuesday Jan. 8th in New Hampshire. As New Hampshire residents take time out of their schedules to vote on this most likely chilly January day there are going to be faced with a ballot filled with names, some well known and not so well known presidential candidates. Of course people will recognize the frontrunner’s names like Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, and Barack Obama, but what about those other names that people may not have ever seen before?
Well one of those unknowns is North Carolinian, Daniel Gilbert. Gilbert, 61, is a conservative small business man, running for the Republican nomination for President of the United States. A self described constitutionalist he believes that the most important issue in the United States is our current major politicians. Gilbert like most conservatives believes in having a limited government bound by the constitutions our founding fathers wrote.
“It’s a critical issue, we need to get major politicians out of office to be responsible to the people,” Gilbert said.
Gilbert said that in a recent poll congress received a 10 percent approval rating, he continued to state that this means 90 percent of the American people don’t approve of congress currently and we need to replace congress.
The Man Behind the Presidential Campaign
Gilbert is a product of a hard working family, and believes that he is the type of regular statesman that should be in office. Growing up in North Carolina he lived on a farm in Winston-Salem, and was the eldest of six children. Both of Gilbert’s parents worked, his father owned a trucking company and his mother was a cafeteria worker.
On the farm Gilbert said he worked all year no matter the temperature doing chores like milking cows and feeding chickens. Along with his farm work he was a Boy Scout and eventually an Eagle Scout. He was also a member of Biltmore Baptist Church.
As he grew up he worked for the city Winston-Salem in various departments including Inspection and Property Management. In 1987 he started his own business with his wife Linda. The business is Pintech USA, Inc. located in Greenville SC. Gilbert’s business manufactures electronic musical drums. (http://www.pintechworld.com/usa/Default.aspx)
“Since 1987 we have sold electronic musical drums, often what you might have seen in churches. These electronic drums allow you to change the sounds (volume).” Gilbert said.
Conservative Business Man Issues
Gilbert’s 20 years experience has led him to many of his political beliefs.
“Most business owners are conservatives, we less taxes and we benefit from less government involvement,” he said.
On Gilberts campaign website his homepage opens up with a letter “To All American Citizens.” In this letter he said that he his stepping forward to serve America, and he wants “you” meaning all American citizens to step forward with him. In a bolded type section of this letter he wrote, “Let the political elite know you will not remain silent while they assault the very Constitution they have sworn to defend.” (http://www.wethepeopleforpresident.com/)
Gilbert believes that there are two major issues facing the United States currently, the first being the issue of politicians and the second immigrations. He said he wants politicians out of office and regular people like himself that are conservatives and want to serve their country.
This presidential hopeful takes this even further he said that he would not accept a salary or a pension if he were to become president.
“I want to serve my country, I’m looking to go up there and get rich (like politicians now)” he said.
On Gilbert’s second major issue immigration according to his platform on his website this is what he wants to do, “lock down the southern border and tighten controls on the northern border. Giver Border Patrol agents rules of engagement that will allow them to address aggressive or hostile action.”
He wants illegal immigrants out of the United States and for them to go back to their own countries and legally try to get into this country. He doesn’t think its right for Americans tax dollars to be helping support these illegal immigrants.
Along with immigration and politician problems there are still many more issues Gilbert feels are important. On the War in Iraq he believes we cannot just pull out right now. He said we have come so far that we would just lose our reputation if we pulled out now. He believes if we pulled out now many things could go wrong.
“We have not finished teaching the Iraqis soldiers how to protect Iraq from internal and external threats. If we pull out now this could result in a home base for terrorism, and have a bigger recruitment of suicide bombers,” he said.
Gilbert is cautious about pulling out before Iraq is ready and says he doesn’t want this to be another Vietnam; he wants the American soldiers to be proud of what they accomplished in Iraq.
Southern Family Values
Political issues are not the only ones facing America according to Gilbert, “family values” as he calls it are lacking. Gilbert is a practicing Baptist, and holds his religious values close to his family values.
“I believe a husband and wife should stay married its better for the children and better for the country. With single mother families the government becomes the daddy to these children,” he said.
He believes that the “traditional family unit” needs to stay and be saved. According to Gilbert marriage is only between one man and one woman that should last their entire lives. Divorce is not the answer in his opinion, it can only hurt the families and the government.
Gilbert is also a strong supporter of for Pro-Life.
“Life starts at conception, there is no reason I would agree with killing the unborn,” he said.
Another issue that Gilbert includes in his family values platform is homosexuality.
“Homosexuality is unhealthy and destructive to individuals, families, and society. I support the healing of homosexuals who wish to change their destructive behavior.”
Making homosexuality a civil right is something Gilbert disagrees with. He believes that it is only a sexual preference and that we can not relate is to something like skin color. He is also against the idea that many politicians seem to have in “normalizing” homosexuality.
Inside and Outside Opinion
Daniel Gilbert has many people involved in his campaign including Tricia Erickson. Erickson is Gilbert’s communication consultant. She works to get the word out on the campaign especially on issues that Gilbert feels very strongly about.
Erickson is a supporter of Gilbert.
“I got involved because he’s not a politician, genuine, truly believes in God, true conservative, ethical, and moral,” she said.
Erickson further says that she likes working with good people and Gilbert for her is a good man who you can put your trust in.
On the other side St. Michael’s College Political Science Professor John
Hughes, an outsider to Gilbert’s campaign. Hughes has his Ph.D., Graduate
Faculty, and New School for Social Research. He teaches and has researches
American politics, constitutional law, and constitutional interpretation among
other topics.
“Being a constitutionalist is a bit like coming out in favor or motherhood, apple pie and the American way,” Hughes said.
Hughes said himself that he is cynical when it comes to Gilbert’s campaign.
“What I see is a quixotic campaign, mostly economic conservative wrapped in enough social conservative’s hot button issues to convince working class Yahoos to vote against their own economic self-interest, to benefit the very wealthy and heavily invested in the corporate system. Specifics are as rare as hen’s teeth—only two items on his platform have active links, not surprisingly, taxation and “family values,” he said.
Future Media Opportunities
Gilbert said that it’s difficult to become a creditable candidate without media coverage. Since he doesn’t have the same level of media coverage as better known candidates Gilbert has written op-eds, his most recent op-ed is titled “Are Hillary’s Promises Constitutional?” All these op-eds can be found at http://newsblaze.com/and home on his campaign homepage.
Along with writing Gilbert has made appearance on local Comcast programs in his home state. Including being a guest on the Larry Kane show, soon Gilbert will make another appearance on the show discussing employment discrimination in relation to homosexuals he said.
Gilbert is continuing to campaign own his conservative principles hoping to influence his fellow American citizens with this campaign slogan, “Gilbert for President Conservative Principles Heartland Values.”