Badnarik, 50, delivered his kick-butt message on the sidewalk at the corner of Harrison and Main streets last week. The independent computer consultant chatted up Virginia Commonwealth University students — most from the campus chapter of the Libertarian Party — like a made-for-TV infomercial.

“If you let me in the debate, it’s like reality TV,” Badnarik told the students. “It’s like Steven Seagal walking into a bar fight.”

His plan to dramatically reduce the size of the federal government, and essentially do away with federal taxes, would create such a buoyant economy that there would be no unemployment, he says. It’s a win-win.

Like a good politician, he refuses on the street corner to acknowledge another reality: He has virtually no chance of winning the election. Or getting into the debates. Or getting the attention of non-Libertarians at VCU.

But they all know this.

“If I were to get 10 percent of the vote,” he says, “it would dramatically change politics in America.” — Scott Bass

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