THOMASVILLE — If you ask Garrett Hayes why he’s challenging Gov. Sonny Perdue in the Nov. 7 election, he’ll likely quote a cartoon character — Popeye to be exact.

“I’ve had all I can stands, and I can’t stands no more,” he said of the governor’s leadership.

Hayes, a Libertarian, has garnered almost nine percent of the vote in recent state election polls. However, he’s quick to point out that the numbers for Perdue and Democratic candidate Mark Taylor — the two main contenders in this race — continue to drop while his are on the rise.

Actually, his motive in running for governor is pretty simple.

“I’m tired of watching government grow. I’m tired of government taking more and more of our money and our freedom and doing things it shouldn’t be doing,” Hayes said.

Armed with novel approaches to dealing with taxes, eminent domain, education and immigration, Hayes said his goal is not to play spoiler to either top candidate in this election. He wants to become Georgia’s next governor.

Hayes said proposed laws that would allow one person’s property to be taken by the government for the benefit of another private entity are “obscene.”

“The U.S. Constitution is crystal clear in explaining that the government shall not take property except for public use,” he said. “This new amendment (which will be on Georgia ballots Nov. 7) is a trap. It does not protect private property against eminent domain.”

Another of Hayes’ goals is to eliminate all state income taxes. He also wants to work with Georgia’s congressional delegation to help enact the Fair Tax, a national retail sales tax.

“First of all, we need to make some really hard decisions about what government should and shouldn’t be doing. There are tons of things the government is doing that we don’t need to be funding to begin with,” Hayes said.

He is in favor of “flatlining” the state budget and reassessing what programs and services deserve tax-based funding.

“We don’t need to look at it from a perspective of what we’ve spent before,” Hayes said. “We should look at what we want government to do, find out how much we can get it for, then we’ll worry about how much revenue we need to raise.

“If you don’t do that, you’re doing it backwards.”

Hayes also said the issue of illegal immigration needs to be addressed.

“It should be a federal issue to protect states from illegal immigrants, but the federal government is not doing it’s job,” he said. “There are things we can do at the state level to make this state less attractive to immigrants.”

One of those things, Hayes said, is making industries that rely on migrant labor more responsible for the people they hire.

He said there are also improvements needed in the state’s educational system, and not just for the sake of Georgia’s national ranking.

“I’ve never met a parent who said to their child “Johnny, study hard, we’ve got to get a better rank,’” Hayes said. “Parents are more concerned with their children getting an education. What we need to be doing is addressing the individual needs of each student/

“The way to do that is to put the control of educational choice in the hands of the families, not the politicians and the bureaucrats.”

Hayes is in favor of open enrollment at public schools, where students can attend schools outside of their own districts provided they have transportation and the schools they choose have the means to enroll them.

He also wants a more open voucher system, where students in failing schools can move to a new one, regardless of where they live.

“Two or three years in the educational life of a child is an eternity, and the decision is still being made by the government,” Hayes said. “I want to give vouchers and tax credits to every parent. If they want to send their child right back to the school down the block, that’s fine.

“But that’s their decision.”

Hayes reasserted his only goal in throwing his hat into the gubernatorial ring is victory.

“There is nothing in this world of great consequence that has ever been accomplished by somebody willing to settle for second best,” he said. “Anything is possible. What it takes is people getting out of the mindset of settling for second best.

“Go for what you want.”

To contact reporter Brewer Turley, call (229) 226-2400, ext. 226.