These are articles written during my 2004 campaign for County Commissioner, which represent my opinion on issues, mostly as they pertain to Lincoln County, NC. I hope you enjoy reading them and find them enlightening. If you have any response for these, or know of any information I have presented that is incorrect, feel free to email me.

Helping the Local Economy - The reason Lincoln County is losing so many jobs is because of government regulations, zoning, and the inadequacy of government education. High taxes and regulatory costs stifle the local economy. This article shows how reducing government will stimulate the local economy and bring jobs into the county.

Fixing Our Local Schools - This article talks about how to fix our schools. The current system, which results in unnecessarily extravagant school buildings but a shortage of school supplies, is ludicrous and needs serious restructuring. Competition should be introduced in the form of more charter schools and educational tax credits, and Commissioners and citizens should think twice before issuing bonds to pay for more schools.

Why Zoning Doesn’t Work - Zoning doesn’t work. None of the problems the politicians say we need zoning to prevent are seen in areas without zoning. It does, however, stifle the local economy and keep away potential businesses, it descriminates against lower-income people, it absorbs a lot of money from the system, and it prevents property owners from using their property as is their right. In this article, I examine these issues closely and present evidence showing that the zoning ordinance must be eliminated.

Impact Fees: A Good Idea Gone Bad - Impact fees, like so many government programs, start out as a good and sensible idea, but ultimately end up being destructive. In this article, I explain the problems with impact fees and how I came to my recent decision that they should be ended completely.

The following articles were published in the Lincoln Times-News:

Growth and the Free Market - published 4/20/2007

The Smoking Ban - published 5/4/2007

Ethanol - published 5/18/2007

Inflation - published 6/22/2007

(Note: Press releases are stored off-site and will open in a new browser window.)

Libertarian candidate criticizes clean air requirements - All five candidates for Lincoln County Commissioner attended the Lincoln County Air Quality Awareness Meeting on August 19. But only Libertarian Shane Killian criticized the policy at a candidate’s forum in Lincolnton Sept. 28.

Libertarian plan will spawn new jobs, Commissioner candidate says - Shane Killian, the Libertarian candidate for Lincoln County Commissioner, says that the key to job growth in the county is small businesses. “That might not be as sexy as getting in the large businesses with thousands of jobs, but it’s far more practical.”

July 4th Fest (2.6MB mp3 file) - This is the speech I gave at the July 4th Fest in Mebane conducted by the Whit for Congress committee. Apologies for some audio problems during the wind.

Home Builders Forum (1.6MB mp3 file) - This is a short speech I gave to the Lincoln County Homebuilders Association at their candidates forum on June 3, 2004. There was also one question asked about impact fees, which I answered here (300KB mp3 file).

Patriot Act Resolution (3.4MB mp3 file) - This is a speech I gave to the Lincoln County Commissioners in June of 2003. I urged them to pass the Lincoln County Libertarian Party's resolution refusing to comply with the unconstitutional terms of the USA PATRIOT Act. There is also a page defending a lot of the claims made here.

I handed out three articles on the issue of home building and home ownership at the Lincoln County Homebuilders Association forum on June 3, 2004. All three were from the Libertarian Party's website: How to Start Solving the Affordable Housing Problem, Zoning Alternatives Give Power to People, Not to Bureaucrats, and The ‘Reincarnated Seagull Rule’ And Other Zoning Law Outrages.

Unless otherwise noted, all content © 1996-2010 by Shane D. Killian - all rights reserved.