Presidential candidate makes official announcement from downtown Opelika
By Rebekah Martin
Associate Editor
Continuing its pattern of making waves and bringing attention to Opelika, Roundhouse announced Wednesday that it will serve as the campaign headquarters for newest presidential contender, antivirus software giant John McAfee.
McAfee, who is a partner with Kyle Sandler of Round House, made his official announcement from his new headquarters in downtown Opelika Wednesday afternoon.
McAfee said he decided to enter the race because he feels the American government is too intrusive.
“We have a government that spies on everyone of our moves, so it can assure us that we are not the enemy that it is protecting us from,” McAfee said. “Things need to change – it’s time to get back to sanity. Privacy is number one – we’re losing privacy at an alarming rate. We can’t allow it to continue, we need to get it back. It is a fundamental nessecity of society.”
McAfee plans to run as a third party candiate, noting that neither the Republican or Democratic parties are suitable. “They have been machines. They are built on the principal of politics, and if you look up politics in the dictionary you’ll find that politics is the procedures and actions necessary to gain power and keep power in a government.” According to McAfee, that should not be the purpose of government.
Team McAfee is referring to the new third party they’ve created as the “Cyber party.”
“It’s the cyber party, so obviously we are focused a lot of technology and how technology is being used and mostly misused,” McAfee said. “I think the biggest thing I offer is that I have no experience in politics and want no experience in politics, neither do I want politcal advisors,” McAfee said. “I have a great deal of experience in the world, and in running multi-billion dollar businesses. Nothing will tame you faster than understanding the basic responsibilities of business, like ‘you can’t spend what you don’t have,’ you learn about saving and cutting costs, which our government has never done.”
While McAfee lives in Tennesse, Kyle Sandler said if it’s business related and on his agenda, McAfee is at Round House. He said that was the reasoning behind chosing Opelika as his headquarters.
“Opelika is one of the six cities in America that has the one gigabyte fiber-optic access to the web, which is extremely important for someone like myself, especially now running a campaign. My campaign is not going to be the traditional, get on a plane, shake hands and kiss babies campaign. I’m going to use the technology that I understand the best … to get my word out, to organize and to motivate the voters. I think you’ll see a very unique campaign from a very unique perspective.”
Sandler said having McAfee’s campaign being managed from Round House will put Opelika on the national stage for technologically-minded people. “This is about connecting with the current generation, the way that the economy is going to go, it’s going more digital … more wireless phone device focused, and we’re going to have to have a government unit that goes faster,” Sandler said. “That, for the most part, is what this is all about. For Opelika, we’re just treating it like any other startup. We’re starting up a presidential campaign.”