Beitler wants to 'abolish'

Mike Beitler says its time for the U.S. to cut back on its spending habits.

The Greensboro business professor and Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate says the nation is facing record debts and deficits.

"I think we need to be talking in terms of abolishing programs and agencies rather than creating new ones," Beitler said. "We're not going to be able to fund anything if you want to keep racking up debt. There's only so much you can borrow from the Chinese."

Beitler is a Baltimore native who has taught business at UNC-Greensboro for 12 years. Before he became a professor, he was a chief financial officer in the banking industry. That experience, he says, makes him a good choice to help find ways to cut spending. 

Beitler wants to abolish the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Federal Reserve, according to his campaign platform. He wants to end deficit spending and cut funding for foreign intervention.

"The purpose of the U.S. military is national defense," Beitler wrote on his Web site. 

Beitler acknowledges that he won't have the millions of dollars that Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr or three Democratic challengers Kenneth Lewis, Cal Cunningham and Elaine Marshall, expect to use to campaign. 

"I think we can run a campaign where we don't need millions of dollars. I think there's going to be an enormous amount of Democrats and Republicans who say, 'We are fed up with this two-party system,'" Beitler said. "If there is ever going to be a year for the third party, it would have to be 2010."