Texas native and Libertarian congressional hopeful Nicholas Landholt pays no income taxes and pushes for state militias to defend against tyranny. Landholt sat down for an interview with Dave Gahary to discuss his congressional campaign and related issues.
By Dave Gahary
Nicholas Landholt is a man on a mission. Born in San Antonio, Texas in 1955, Nick served in the U.S. Navy for 10 years, where he met his wife, and has been married for 36 years. Landholt ran for Congress in 2016 on the Libertarian Party of Texas ticket last year and did surprisingly well, and he’s gearing up for another run next year.
American Free Press sat down with Landholt—whom some libertarians call “The Militia Guy”—for an exclusive interview on his upbringing and his ideas to get America back to the people it was founded for.
Click on the image below for AFP’s exclusive interview with Nicholas Landholt.
“I almost went into the seminary,” Landholt began, “but my dad was seeing some of the uproar that was happening in the Catholic Church, so he thought it best that I not go into the seminary where I could possibly lose my faith. I sort of did during high school and college anyway.”
Landholt’s dad, who—like his mom—had a great impact on his life, had another idea.
“My dad thought it would be good for me to get into the military and to kind of grow up, you might say,” he said.
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WILLING TO TAKE THE HEAT
“In 1996, I stopped paying and filing [federal] income taxes,” he said, “but I stayed underneath the radar because I had three boys and a wife that I was supporting. But it was in the last five years—because the boys are grown now—that I said it’s time to have a coming-out party. And whether it’s shaming patriots or so-called “Christians” into doing what we’re supposed to be doing—living the Gospel and taking on the enemies of Christ the King—we need to do something quickly. So I want people to know I’m for real and I’m willing to take the heat, but I need a support team behind me; I don’t wanna be charging up the hill on my own.”
Landholt recounted his anti-tax/pro-militia congressional campaign in Texas’s 11th congressional district.
“I filed to run in December 2015, and it was a few months later that I started to get into the whole militia aspect and the IRS,” he said. “I don’t know if those were just two hot issues that the Libertarians did not want to address or not, but . . . I was basically kind of left out there on my own. So not having run a campaign, not knowing rules, I just kind of let it come to me, and it never did come to me.”
Although he had no campaign contributions, he did quite well at the polls.
“In 2016, running a one-man campaign with no bank account, I still got over 23,000 votes,” he said. “My campaign was against 10-year incumbent Mike Conaway, [a] RINO.”
A RINO, or “Republican in Name Only,” is a term frequently used to describe “insufficiently conservative” Republicans.
Kenneth Michael “Mike” Conaway—in office since Jan. 3, 2005—Landholt explained, “has a ‘Liberty Score’ of ‘F’ with Conservative Review,” a group that ranks politicians along a conservative scale.
“[Conaway] got just over 200,000 votes,” Nick said, in a district of about 750,000 residents.
Landholt figures there are at least another 200,000 voters who never went to their polling place. The 11th congressional district is very rural, encompassing 29 counties.
“So there are 29 county sheriffs,” Landholt explained, “[who] could be educated on the income tax and why they should be keeping the IRS agents from harassing taxpayers who choose to actually follow the IRS regulations regarding income tax.”
“It was a very winnable race,” Landholt continued, “and I think the fact that I got 23,000 votes without basically doing anything kind of tells the level of disgust that Texas voters have with status-quo politics. We need resources, so that’s why I’m looking for a campaign manager who knows what they’re doing and can go from there.”
Landholt explained his views on why Americans are not required to pay federal income taxes.
“I always tell people we’re distinguishing here between income taxes and other taxes,” he explained. “Obviously, I pay taxes; I pay my fair share. You pay taxes almost all the time: sales tax, gas taxes etc. But federal income taxes, I’m not a federal citizen. I don’t work for an employer who contracts with the federal government. And that’s kind of in a nutshell what it boils down to. But I don’t ever advise somebody to just stop paying taxes; that’s a decision you’re gonna have to make on your own.”
NICHOLAS LANDHOLT ON THE SECOND AMENDMENT:
“The Preamble of the Constitution begins ‘We the People,’ meaning the People are the authority over the Constitution. And it is not a stretch to say that the first 13 words of the Second Amendment—‘A well-regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State’—are the most important words in the Constitution. The People ARE the Militia, and patriots can see that our Founders were telling us ‘No Militia, No Free State.’ ”
AFP asked the purpose of the militia as it relates to his views on the federal income tax and if it would be used to physically fight the federal government.
“No, [Constitutional] militia is a defensive situation, and it’s not just fighting, but militias can be used for natural disasters—Hurricane Katrina and those kind of things. Instead of having FEMA, National Guard troops, the local militarized police forces going up and down the street knocking on doors and taking weapons away, you’d have local people who are militia helping out during situations.”
Landholt continued. “The purpose of the militia is threefold: to execute the laws of the Union, repel invasions, and suppress insurrections,” he began. “The money powers are not going to give up their investment—and we’re talkin’ over a hundred years—without a fight, and of course, they use the police state as their weapon of choice to fight Christian patriots. The IRS, the money powers, they’re not gonna go away quietly, so I presume that we’re going to need militias for defensive purposes.”
Landholt harkened back to the origins of this once-great national federation.
“As the Founding Fathers said,” he stated, “if you read between the lines—the lines being the first 13 words of the Second Amendment—‘a well-regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State.’ Reading between the lines, the Founders were saying, ‘No militia, no free state.’ Well, that’s what I’m trying to get across not only to voters but to the youth, because the youth have no future if they don’t get involved and help us turn things around.”
AFP readers can reach out to Landholt to help get him in office at [email protected] or by phone at 631-741-1757.
Dave Gahary, a former submariner in the U.S. Navy, prevailed in a suit brought by the New York Stock Exchange in an attempt to silence him. Dave is the producer of an upcoming full-length feature film about the attack on the USS Liberty. See erasingtheliberty.com for more information and to get the new book on which the movie will be based, Erasing the Liberty.
