The Presidential Candidates: Donald K. Allen

A native of Rockford, Illinois, Donald K. Allen is an Air Force veteran, veterinarian, licensed horseshoer and amateur military historian. "During the past two years I’ve developed a desire to do something more with my life," he writes. Impatient with prevailing partisan politics, he hopes to be a modern Howard Beale, inspiring Americans to say they're mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.

" I am running as an Independent," Allen says, "I truly believe that is the only way to get both parties to work together, instead of against each other to the detriment of our great country." He intends to keep a partisan Congress in check by exercising the line-item veto and getting a 12-year term limit established for both Representatives and Senators. Like Stephen Adams, he wants to replace the income tax with the "FairTax" (national sales tax)

Regarding war issues, he believes the generals should have a free hand short of launching nukes to get the job done. He holds up Gen. MacArthur in Korea as an example of a military leader who should have had his own way, but the amateur historian mistakenly writes that Truman fired him before the Chinese crossed the Yalu River. Allen also embraces the fantasy that Gen. Patton could have driven the Red Army out of Eastern Europe in 1945. These notions don't inspire confidence in Allen as a prospective commander-in-chief. He seems to have no specific strategic goals for Iraq or Afghanistan except to "totally subdue the enemy and its whole populace." He wants to re-evaluate our relationship with Saudi Arabia, as well as "the overall effects that free trade with China has had on our economy and security."

Allen believes that we can drill for oil in the ANWR "with extreme regard for protecting the environment." He wants to offer a billion-dollar prize to whoever can secure U.S. independence from foreign oil within a ten-year period. Among his other suggestions: "Recent discoveries of oil from algae have shown a productivity 100 times greater than from corn per acre of use. An Ohio engineer just discovered that radio frequencies can allow us to burn salt water! This research must be focused on and funded maximally to see if it is feasible as an alternative power source. More nuclear power plants are also to be explored, and building more refineries is imperative."

He' s jealous of American sovereignty to the extreme of wanting to kick the U.N. out of the country. He takes a conspiratorial view of NAFTA and worries about rising executive power within the "New World Order." If you look at his article on the New World Order, however, you may find some actual cause to worry about this country.

Allen's running mate, appointed by him, is Christopher D. Borcik, an Air Force veteran, airline pilot and Mormon convert. After meeting Borcik this past April, Allen "was impressed with his background, sincerity, and conviction that we are doing the right thing."

Overall, Allen is a more active candidate than Stephen Adams. His blog is up to date, detailing his public appearances, and his website has a campaign flyer you can download and print as a .pdf. Nevertheless, he doesn't seem to have much more of a strategy than Adams does, and seems all too thrilled with little things like spontaneously handing out campaign literature to a bus full of tourists during his own recent visit to Washington for an independent candidates' forum. Like Adams, he is self-appointed, and he compares the odds against him becoming President with the odds against his becoming a veterinarian. Draw your own conclusions about his sense of proportion, but do him the courtesy of visiting his campaign site.