John Clifton - Libertarian for Governor, New York

National LP | NY LP

About John Clifton

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John Clifton was born in Georgia and grew up in New York, mainly in Jamaica, Queens. He attended PS 50 (valedictorian, 1969), IS 8, Andrew Jackson HS, and the New School for Social Research. He challenges all Americans, but especially his fellow African Americans to escape the shackles of neo-slavery (a mindset of dependence on the coercive welfare state and warfare state), and to consider and embrace libertarianism. The Queens social worker and Navy veteran has chaired the Libertarian Party of New York and served as the party's standard-bearer in the US Senate race in 2000. He encourages all Americans, but especially minorities, to support Libertarians.

He declares "I am a libertarian because I believe in the maximum liberty of the individual under God. We were created with rights and responsibilities subject to limitations set by the Creator; to curtail choices individuals make in the exercise of those rights is to interfere with His purposes and the nature of the Creation. The only exception to this would be a choice to commit acts of force or fraud against individuals. To fully realize their freedoms and restore the economic prosperity comparable to the rest of America, we must reclaim responsibility for our lives, and cast off the neo-slavery we have embraced during the last two generations. In a word, we must be Black Libertarians."

John Clifton is a social worker who opposes the welfare state, a former drug abuse counselor who opposes the drug war, and a former Ballistic Fire Control Technician on nuclear submarines who opposes the Clinton-Bush policy of military adventurism. He has advocated for servicemen's benefits when working at Black Veterans for Social Justice in Brooklyn, while objecting to the singleminded warfare-state-only training that has often left vets "economically disabled" upon their release from duty. As a ceaseless advocate for property rights and against eminent domain abuse, John Clifton has fought for Nassau residents by speaking at rallies on behalf of St. Luke's Pentecostal Church in Long Island, and supporting the campaign of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn to stop Bruce Ratner's Nets Stadium development in Brooklyn.

Elect Clifton Inc., is a non-profit organization and site reserved for supporting the past and future campaigns of John Clifton, a Black Christian Libertarian in New York State. Previously, Mr. Clifton was the 2000 Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate in New York, who ran a "Just Say No!" platform opposing both the democratic Nanny State of Hillary Clinton, as well as the Police State represented by Republicans Rudy Giuliani and Ric "Lapdog" Lazio.

His alternative was to "Just Say Yes to Liberty," as summarized in his platform statement, "Five Freedoms for the 21st Century." He is the originator of the "Broomstick Watch," a humorous digest of "Adolf Hillary's" various antics and cover-ups, periodically posted to groups or lists he has participated in, such as Black Libertarians and Individual Sovereignty on Yahoogroups. He is also developing a weblog called EvangelicalPaleo, a site discussing the news from an evangelical, paleolibertarian, premillenial, anti-war, pro-life perspective.

In 2003, Mr. Clifton was elected state chair of the Libertarian Party of New York. and continued in that capacity through 2006. He is on the speaker's bureau of the Libertarian Freedom Council, and has appeared on numerous state and national media, including C-Span, "Damn Right Diner," Brian Higgins, TalkBack (Lisa Evers), WNYC-AM Radio (Brian Lehrer), etc.; he was once interviewed by 'Johnny Rotten' Lyden, and more recently by Alan Chartock on WAMC. Besides the LP pledge, Mr. Clifton has signed the proclamation of the Alliance for the Separation of School and State, and all four Petitions for the Redress of Grievances of the We the People Congress Foundation.

John Clifton is a Navy Veteran (six years, on Poseidon and Trident II class submarines), and social worker (in homeless outreach, mental health, drug counseling, and foster care prevention over the past ten years), serving in a supervisory capacity in both fields. He has also been active in network marketing and real estate investing. He may be contacted at 718-276-4630 x114 (office), or toll free at 877-769-4014.