Learn about S. Marshall Wilson’s stand for constitutional freedoms and other key points of his platform.
Note: S. Marshall Wilson is a write-in candidate.
Marshall Wilson’s website
Other candidates for Governor are:
Danny Lutz Jr-Mountain Party
Erika Kolenich-Libertarian
Ben Salango-Democrat
Jim Justice-Republican
Article-S. Marshall Wilson Interview Excerpts
Hey, Richard, it’s a real honor to be here. Thanks for making time for me and thanks for putting up with me trying to get here and get ready and get linked up and everything, and of course, I’d like to introduce my son Joe, this is Josiah, and we are actually at the Capital right now, we have just taken part in the protest against the governor’s completely unethical mandates on public school sports, and of course, the real issue here is that they’re not evenly applied. They’re not fairly applied, and then of course, none of the restrictions that we’re placing on public school students apply to the Greenbrier for some reason, and no one can explain to me why that is.
So Joe and I came to the Capital, we drove five hours to get here this morning, so we could be here for this protest, and I managed to get away from that just in time to get in the car and call you.
Richard: Okay, great. Well, thanks for being on today. Yeah, well, you mentioned about the COVID 19, we’re certainly going to talk about that. In general. Could you share the three most important points of your platform for governor as to why you’re running for governor? Absolutely. Thank you, sir. Of course, you know, I’m a sitting delegate from South Berkley County, and I have stood up for the Constitution, not only of this state, but of the United States, for the past four years as a delegate and before that for 20 years as an infantry officer in the army I’ve upheld and defended the Constitution. And frankly, that is my platform, is the Constitution, as you and I both know, all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. Among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So the first thing I want to do is restructure the executive branch of our state government to function according to the Constitution because as the chief of the executive branch, the governor. I have the authority to do that.
The next thing that I want to do is I want to establish, not just effective and focused government, focused on serving the people under the Constitution upholding their rights, but actually I want to teach the executive branch, customer service. I want to teach them that they’re here to serve you, and that it’s not enough to just tell you four times that you’ve done your paperwork wrong and then demand that you pay a fee to register all four times, but rather actually sit down with you and say, Well, Mr. Urban, we understand what you’re trying to accomplish here. We would like to help you with that. We’ll help you to succeed rather than just simply telling you, to teach it a little bit of customer service. And finally what I want to do is to teach this concept so firmly in the executive branch that no future governor or a candidate for governor for the next few generations will arrogate to himself the position of thinking that he’s in charge of the state. We don’t want any tyrannies here. We fought a war against the British over that, and I don’t see any reason we should establish a new tyranny here in West Virginia. And I want my kids to raise their kids in a free, just, prosperous and secure land, so I’m going to do everything that I can to establish that here, and then to establish it in such a way that the people of this state who are from whom the entire authority of the government is drawn, the people understand how critically important, it is to maintain that constitutional governance, and they will fight for it, they will elect people who will uphold it, and then they will hold those people accountable for generations to come.
That is my hope, that’s my intent. And given the opportunity, I think that I can actually accomplish those things.
Richard: Thank you for that.
So with the whole thing about the lock-downs and these different mandates, you just talked about the constitutional freedoms, how do you feel about that, will we need to restructure our laws to facilitate that, like I know Wisconsin, although now the governor made another decree over there, they expired the mandates after 60 days, do we need to look at our laws again?
S. Marshall Wilson: Absolutely, and I thank you for bringing that up. A couple of things here. First of all, the people need to need to enforce the mandate of following the Constitution on their government officials, on their elected employees. I’ve already mentioned that. That’s the most critical part, because the people actually have the power, the other thing is that the legislature as the direct representative of the people needs to do its job, and as you say, restructure things, rewrite legislation so that these things are straightened out. For instance, and I’m glad you brought this up, but for instance, one of the things is that the governor has been able to perform a certain way because he’s able to twist the verbiage in the emergency powers section of the state code. So that needs to be re-written so that it can never be misunderstood that same way again.
What I’m getting at is that basically the way that our code is written when it comes to emergency powers, once the governor declares an emergency, he’s effectively accountable to no one, unless the legislature calls themselves back into special session.
So my recommendation would be that there’d be a requirement in the law that within 30 days of the governor declaring an emergency, the legislature must come into special session. Something along those lines. And then also, there should be a definition, most laws, you have very specific definitions written at the beginning of the bill that defines all the terms in the bill. Nowhere in West Virginia code that I’ve found is the term emergency defined, however, in my work as an emergency planner for the National Guard for years, the definition that we used was imminent, critical… An emergency situation where you have an imminent… In other words, it’s coming. There’s no way, no two ways about an imminent destruction of key critical infrastructure, which is roads, bridges, buildings, things like that, or massive loss of human life, or massive destruction of private property such as people’s homes and things like that…..
Richard: Speaking of mandates, one thing I want to ask you about, what’s your take or opinion on the forced vaccination mandate for West Virginia, like No vaccination, No school? What would you do about that?
S. Marshall Wilson: The government has no business telling you what medicines to give your children. The government has no business interfering between you and your doctor. You and your doctor decide what’s best for you and what’s best for your kids, period.
Richard: So would you get rid of or suggest… I know the legislature would have to do that, removing all mandates?
S. Marshall Wilson: Thank you for brining that up. Thank you for recognizing that. Of course, the legislature has to involved, the governor doesn’t have the authority to make those changes, but as the Governor, I would absolutely support the removal of those mandates.
Richard: Okay, so you support the removal of the mandates. Would an interim step be having religious and conscientious exemptions or just remove the mandates altogether? Well, absolutely. Well, I would work removing the mandate altogether, but absolutely whatever steps we can make in that direction are an improvement, of course.
The government and has very limited powers, and has usurped a lot of authority that doesn’t belong to it, and as your governor, it will be a foundational principal, a guiding principle of everything that I do to devolve all of that authority back to where it belongs, namely to the people…..
Richard: How do you feel about school choice, choice in education?
S. Marshall Wilson: I mean, if you look at my record, I could say the same thing about health liberty, if you look at my record as a delegate, you’ll see that I absolutely supported it. When Senate Bill 451 was under consideration, I stood on the house floor for almost three hours and offered, I believe it was 15 or 16 different amendments, offering different levels and different types of school choice. So I went away from an unlimited number of charter schools, basically, anyone who wants to start one as long as they can meet the academic standards, they can have a charter school, all the way down to finally, Okay, we can only have five of them.
I also offered an amendment that would allow a home schooler to get a credit on taxes owed. So only if you actually owe taxes, but on taxes owed for approved expenditures for home schooling. So if you buy a curriculum and you use it for your kids in home schooling, you can be reimbursed for that through a tax credit on taxes owed. And the reason that’s acceptable to me is because the constitution of the state says the state must provide a free and efficient education for your kids. If you’re not using the state’s facilities and resources and you’re using your own, then fine, you get a tax rebate.
That was the only one that even came close to passing. And it was defeated 50 to 49.Because one delegate who would have voted for it wasn’t around, it would have been 50 to 50. It still would have been defeated. So I think I offered 15 different amendments over the course of three hours in support of school choice, or I like to call it an education liberty.
Richard: I think that’s important. A very important area. And speaking of education, so what’s your opinion about the Common Core standards? Could you talk about West Virginia, the standards we have or don’t have?
S. Marshall Wilson: I think the place that I would start with that is that we the people, the West Virginia get to decide what our standards are, and I think that we should decide those standards via people who are accountable to the people rather than the State Board of Education, which is apparently according to a court case that took place, a judge’s ruling a few years ago, the State Board of Education has been established as a fourth monolithic, unaccountable branch of government, which is completely unacceptable. It should be accountable to the people who pay the taxes that make it possible and whose children it serves. That would be the first thing. Secondly, I think that all education, the operation should be disseminated rather than centralized. I think that every school system should be accountable directly to the people in that county, and each school should be accountable to the people in that community, and that the curricula should be the decision of the local school system and the local schools, based on standards that are established by the state board of education with input from the legislature, with the people’s representatives, if that makes sense.
I’ve heard this state-wide, some parent will get mad and go see the administrator, and administrators will actually… And I’m just telling you what teachers have told me, will literally change students’ grades, or will order the teacher to change grades. That’s completely unacceptable. The student gets the grade they earned on. I’m going to tell you straight up, I earned some grades that I wish I hadn’t. But that taught me to do what I had to earn better grades. And that’s what needs to happen. The teachers need to run their classrooms. Now, I’m not saying that every teacher is a perfect angel or a wonderful person, some of them have issues, and those issues need to be dealt with. But that doesn’t mean that when we have students who have issues, that those issues don’t mean be dealt with.
I needed somebody to tell me, ‘Look, we’re here to learn. If you’re not here to learn, Go sit in the hallway’…..
Richard: What’s your opinion about so-called Red Flag laws and the Second Amendment rights?
I am a staunch supporter of Second Amendment rights, I have an A plus from the WVCDL. I am one of the primary reasons that the parking lot bill got passed through the House, the bill that says that if you go to work and you happen to have a gun in your car, as long as you leave the Gun, your car and you lock your car in the parking lot. There’s no issue.
I mean, that’s just common sense…..
So the progressives offer this idea of the government confiscating all property and then charging the people, the citizens, rent on their own property after they confiscated it.
Well, that idea didn’t fly, so what they did was they took another shot at it and instead called it property tax. You get to keep your property, you still have the title to, it unless you don’t pay the tax. Then we take your property away from you. So the property is confiscated if you don’t pay the tax. Well, sounds an awful lot to me like I’m actually renting my property from the government. In other words, they actually manage to confiscate our property by saying that they own it if we don’t pay rent, in other words, the property tax on it. So I believe that the property tax is one of the most unethical immoral things that’s ever been done to the people of the United States.
Alright, let’s talk about income tax.
First of all, income tax was not legal under the Constitution until the 16th Amendment allowed for the establishment of an income tax, and of course that was to pay for our wars overseas.
So the idea that you are going to charge someone in such a way as to punish them for producing more and earning more and creating more wealth is counter-productive in ways that it’s difficult to even explain. It’s a terrible idea. Frankly, in my estimation, if we were to do this thing right, there would be a flat consumption tax across the board. That’s it. Flat consumption tax.
Richard: You mean sales tax. Is that a consumption tax?
S. Marshall Wilson: Effectively, yes, a flat sales tax. The idea being that what you’re really paying for is the opportunity to engage in a free and secure market. So, the government, if it does its job, maintains the institutions that allow for a Free and Secure market and for the privilege of engaging you pay a few cents on the dollar in it. Other than that, I don’t believe there should be other taxes. There shouldn’t be property taxes, there shouldn’t be income tax. The other taxes as far as I’m concerned are completely unethical.
Richard: I notice most of the property tax, and then here in Jefferson County we have the so called excess levy, but most of it goes for the schools, so how would the schools be funded or wouldn’t they? Or a lot of it goes for schools.
S. Marshall Wilson: Now, if the people of a certain area determine that they want to tax themselves to maintain the schools, they have every right to do that. But really what it comes down to is this state government has a lot of money, the problem is it wants to spend the money on things that are none of its business. So if we can pare the government down and focus it on its constitutional duties, there will be plenty of money to maintain its constitutional duties.
Richard: So one thing I wanted to address, I know it comes up and I saw the video on your website; people might say, ‘Oh, well, you know Mr. Wilson’s running as independent. If I vote for him, that’s like voting for Ben Salango’. I don’t agree with that, but anyway. Say whatever you’d like about that.
S. Marshall Wilson: Absolutely, thank you. So, a couple of things here. First of all, the primary argument I hear is that I’m stealing votes from the Republicans.
Okay, well, a couple of things about that. First of all, it’s not just Republicans who are voting for me. I have the endorsement of the Constitution Party.
Alright, that’s one thing. A lot of libertarians have told me they’re voting for me, because they recognize that my constitutional stance is actually what allows the people to have their rights, allows the people to exercise their rights freely is a constitutional government.
And the Libertarians recognize that when I uphold and defend the Constitution that will allow them to live the way they want to live. A lot of patriotic Democrats in this state; where I grew up in South Louisiana, there were a lot of people who are Democrats, they were good people, they paid their taxes, they served in the military, they went to church, they took care of their kids, helped them with their school work, good people who were Patriots and are dumbfounded by what’s happening with their party today, especially on the national level.
A lot of those people are voting for me rather than the Democratic candidate, and a lot of people have contacted me across the state. And then a lot of Republicans who believe in the Constitution, who are dumbfounded that their party managed to choose Jim justice as the candidate, especially since his unconstitutional mandates, are voting for me, have stated their support.
So given all of that, I want to say that’s a false argument in the first place. It’s also false because the votes do not belong to the candidate, they don’t belong to the party, they belong to the individual voter.
If I earn a vote from a voter, I have not stolen it from anyone. That person has the right to vote for whoever they want. And finally, I’d like to say that if the Democrat does win, and Jim Justice does lose, who’s at fault here? Is it me for running, which is my right as a citizen, or is it the Republicans for putting forward such a terrible candidate? It’s obviously on them. It’s obviously on them. Had they put forward a better candidate I wouldn’t be here right now……
Richard: To conclude how you’re differentiating yourself from the other candidates and why should the voters of West Virginia vote for you?
S. Marshall Wilson: The primary thing is because I will uphold and defend the Constitution of West Virginia and of the United States no matter what it costs me. The reason is because I love my kids, I want them to live in a free, just, prosperous and secure land, and if I manage that, then you’ll reap the same benefits.
On top of that, I do not believe that the government owns you or has any authority over you, other than if you try to deprive someone else of their natural rights. That’s the only time the government should get involved. I will work hard to make our government effective, functional, efficient and humble. I want our government to be humble. I want the people who work in our government, in the departments of our government, to recognize that you the people are in charge. And that we’re here to serve you.
Richard: Do be advised, all the voters, that you can write in S. Marshall Wilson on the ballot. If you would, please put the S on there. S. Marshal Wilson.
Richard: Is that required or that won’t matter?
S. Marshall Wilson: According to the Secretary of State, they will look for anything that looks like my name and count that, but frankly, just to be sure, just to remove any doubt, let’s put in the S period, if you don’t mind. My website is www.marshallforwv.com.