Justin Raimondo

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Justin Raimondo bigraphy, stories - American activist

Justin Raimondo : biography

18 November 1951 –

Justin Raimondo (born Dennis Raimondo;http://www.biographicon.com/view/jgmdu/Justin_Raimondo – 0.00kb November 18, 1951)http://www.joincalifornia.com/candidate/2787 is an American author and the editorial director of Antiwar.com. He describes himself as a "conservative-paleo-libertarian."Justin Raimondo, , Antiwar.com, March 22, 2003.

Personal life

Though raised a Roman Catholic, Raimondo describes himself as "not a believer." December 29, 2003

Early life and education

Born in White Plains, New York, Raimondo’s family moved to Yorktown Heights, New York, when he was very young, and he grew up there. Raimondo describes himself as a "bad kid"; to deter him from this path he spent one year at a Jesuit-run school in upstate New York. Around this time, he took an interest in Objectivism.Justin Raimondo: "One of Them", Chronicles. A Magazine of American Culture, June 2012. Later, he joined Young Americans for Freedom. In the 1970s, he became active in the Libertarian Party. He "joined the party in 1974, and was active in the MacBride for President campaign, the LP’s second White House bid."Raimondo, Justin (2000-06-14) , Antiwar.com With Eric Garris, he organized the "Radical Caucus", which brought them to the attention of the libertarian theorist Murray Rothbard. In 1983, after a schism in the Libertarian Party, Raimondo left and attempted to organize a libertarian faction in the Republican Party known as the Libertarian Republican Organizing Committee. After 1989, Raimondo again began working with Rothbard in the anti-war, paleoconservative John Randolph Club.

Career

In 1980, Raimondo ran for public office for the first time. Running as a Libertarian candidate for the 16th district seat in the California State Assembly. Raimondo received 4,730 votes for 7.7% of the vote.http://www.joincalifornia.com/election/1980-11-04 In 1982, Raimondo ran for California’s 5th district seat in the United States House of Representatives as a Libertarian, against Democratic incumbent Phillip Burton and Republican challenger Milton Marks. He received 14.2% of the vote.http://www.joincalifornia.com/election/1982-11-02 In the 1996 U.S. congressional elections, Raimondo ran as a Republican candidate in California’s 8th district against Nancy Pelosi. While he championed conservative and libertarian causes in general, the main emphasis of his campaign was his opposition to the deployment of U.S. troops in the Balkans and, in particular, Pelosi’s vote to that effect. Raimondo received 25,739 votes http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/1996/96Stat.htm#5 for 12.39 percent of the vote while Pelosi got 84.34 percent

During the 1992, 1996, and 2000 presidential elections, Raimondo supported the campaigns of Pat Buchanan, both as a Republican and in the Reform Party. As he is openly gay, his support of the social conservative Buchanan attracted considerable attention.

In 1994, Raimondo was the San Francisco coordinator for the "Save our State" Proposition 187, which would have barred taxpayer funding of non-emergency services to illegal aliens in California.Rothbard, Murray. "." November 1994. The measure was passed by California voters, but later suspended from going into effect by a federal court.

At the end of 1995 Raimondo and Garris launched Antiwar.com.http://www.antiwar.com/faq.php In 1999, with the Clinton administration’s military intervention in the Kosovo war, the site became a full-time effort, providing a platform for their opposition to foreign intervention. Raimondo has been a vocal critic of the invasion of Iraq and the ongoing occupation.

In 2004, he supported Ralph Nader for President, and explained his reason for this in an article published in The American Conservative.

In 2008, he frequently wrote admiringly of Ron Paul’s Presidential campaign, and has also expressed support for Dennis Kucinich,.Raimondo, Justin (2010-09-27) He has also been critical of Barack Obama’s Cabinet choices as President.Ditz, Jason (2008-11-20) , Antiwar.com along with the President himself. However, when Obama nominated former Nebraska U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel for U.S. Secretary of Defense to succeed Leon Panetta, Raimondo came out in support for Hagel.