Bill Wilson (activist)

Last updated
Bill Wilson
Born1953 (age 7071)
Education University of Delaware [1]
OccupationActivist for small government
Known for Americans for Limited Government
Website www.getliberty.org

Bill Wilson (born 1953) is a limited government activist. He is a board member and former president of Americans for Limited Government, a Virginia-based non-profit group promoting small government. [2] During his career, he has worked with groups advocating for right-to-work laws, term limits and school choice. [1]

Contents

Personal life

Wilson grew up in a military household in rural Maryland. He has said that “I was raised to believe and have always believed that small government is best.” [1] He would go on to graduate from the University of Delaware in 1975 earning a degree in political science. His career in the field of politics began shortly thereafter when he worked on Ronald Reagan’s campaign during the 1976 Delaware primary as a Youth Coordinator. [1] [3] He currently resides in Fairfax, Virginia with his wife Tessie with whom he has two grown children. [4]

Political career

Wilson’s political career began in 1976 as a youth director for the Reagan for President Campaign in Maryland and southeast Pennsylvania. Later that year he began working for the National Right to Work Committee as an organizer in several western states. Over the next ten years Wilson continued to work for the National Right to Work Committee where he became Vice President of Operations and lobbied to enact Idaho’s Right to Work Law in 1986. [1] [4]

In 1992, Wilson met Howard Rich, a successful New York real estate investor and like-minded political activist. In 1994, Wilson joined U.S. Term Limits as a managerial adviser overseeing various projects and initiative campaigns. Wilson worked with various organizations including Parents in Charge and Americans for Limited Government. As a founding board member of U.S. Term Limits, Wilson served on the organization's executive committee from 1996 to 2006 when he assumed the role of president. [1] [4]

Americans for Limited Government (ALG) is a non-profit research and advocacy organization based in Virginia. ALG's focus has been on establishing its online presence through new media resources. In 2007, with help from his children, Wilson began cultivating the organizations' internet presence with Getliberty.org and later with NetRightDaily.com. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution</span> 1951 amendment limiting presidents to two terms

The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution limits the number of times a person can be elected to the office of President of the United States to two terms, and sets additional eligibility conditions for presidents who succeed to the unexpired terms of their predecessors. Congress approved the Twenty-second Amendment on March 21, 1947, and submitted it to the state legislatures for ratification. That process was completed on February 27, 1951, when the requisite 36 of the 48 states had ratified the amendment, and its provisions came into force on that date.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Lugar</span> American politician (1932–2019)

Richard Green Lugar KBE was an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Indiana from 1977 to 2013. He was a member of the Republican Party.

The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) was a non-profit 501(c)(4) corporation that was active from 1985 to 2011. Founded and directed by Al From, it argued that the United States Democratic Party should shift away from the leftward turn it had taken since the late 1960s. One of its main purposes was to win back white middle-class voters with ideas that addressed their concerns. The DLC hailed the election and reelection of Bill Clinton as proof of the viability of Third Way politicians and as a DLC success story.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Carper</span> American politician (born 1947)

Thomas Richard Carper is an American politician and former military officer serving as the senior United States senator from Delaware, having held the seat since 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, Carper served in the United States House of Representatives from 1983 to 1993 and was the 71st governor of Delaware from 1993 to 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solid South</span> 1877–1964 U.S. Democratic voting bloc

The Solid South or the Southern bloc was the electoral voting bloc of the states of the Southern United States for issues that were regarded as particularly important to the interests of Democrats in those states. The Southern bloc existed between the end of the Reconstruction era in 1877 and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. During this period, the Democratic Party overwhelmingly controlled southern state legislatures, and most local, state and federal officeholders in the South were Democrats. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, Southern Democrats disenfranchised blacks in all Southern states, along with a few non-Southern states doing the same as well. This resulted essentially in a one-party system, in which a candidate's victory in Democratic primary elections was tantamount to election to the office itself. White primaries were another means that the Democrats used to consolidate their political power, excluding blacks from voting in primaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Mathias</span> American politician from Maryland

Charles McCurdy Mathias Jr. was an American politician and attorney. A Republican, he served as a member of the United States Senate, representing Maryland from 1969 to 1987. He was also a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1959 to 1961, and of the United States House of Representatives, representing the 6th congressional district of Maryland from 1961 to 1969.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malcolm Wallop</span> US Senator from Wyoming (1933-2011)

Malcolm Wallop was an American rancher and politician. He served as a United States Senator from Wyoming from 1977 to 1995. He was a member of the Republican Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Coons</span> American lawyer and politician (born 1963)

Christopher Andrew Coons is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Delaware since 2010. A member of the Democratic Party, Coons served as the county executive of New Castle County from 2005 to 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Democratic Party (United States)</span>

The Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties of the United States political system and the oldest existing political party in the country. The Democratic party was founded in the 1830s and 1840s. It is also the oldest active voter-based political party in the world. The party has changed significantly during its nearly two centuries of existence. Once known as the party of the "common man," the early Democratic Party stood for individual rights and state sovereignty, and opposed banks and high tariffs. In the first decades of its existence, from 1832 to the mid-1850s, under Presidents Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, and James K. Polk, the Democrats usually bested the opposition Whig Party by narrow margins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Democratic Governors Association</span> Organization of U.S. Democratic governors

The Democratic Governors Association (DGA) is a Washington, D.C.-based 527 organization founded in 1983, consisting of U.S. state and territorial governors affiliated with the Democratic Party. The mission of the organization is to provide party support to the election and re-election of Democratic gubernatorial candidates. The DGA's Republican counterpart is the Republican Governors Association. The DGA is not directly affiliated with the non-partisan National Governors Association. Meghan Meehan-Draper is currently the executive director of the DGA, while Tim Walz is the current chair.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Edgar</span> American politician (1943–2013)

Robert William "Bob" Edgar was an American politician and administrator from Pennsylvania, and a member of the Democratic Party. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1987, representing the 7th district of Pennsylvania. He served as president and CEO of Common Cause, a nonpartisan government watchdog organization, from May 2007 until his death. Edgar died suddenly at his home on April 23, 2013, following a heart attack.

Americans for Limited Government(ALG) is a conservative 501(c)(4) non-profit organization "dedicated to restoring the constitutional, limited powers of government at the federal, state, and local level... by fighting to reduce the size and scope of government, protecting individuals rights, promoting federalism, and rolling back the tyranny of the administrative state." ALG is focused on "fiscal responsibility, regulatory reform, transparency and shedding light on overlooked issues that impact people's lives."

In the United States, term limits restrict the number of terms of office an officeholder may serve. At the federal level, the president of the United States can serve a maximum of two four-year terms, limited by the 22nd Amendment to the United States Constitution. Some State government offices are also term-limited, including executive, legislative, and judicial offices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Floyd Brown</span>

Floyd Gregory Brown is an American author, speaker, and media commentator. He is formerly the CEO of USA Radio Network. Brown founded the conservative website Western Journalism in 2008. Brown in his early career worked as a political consultant and conducted opposition research for political campaigns. Brown is noteworthy for founding Citizens United in 1988 and for his introduction of the "Willie Horton" television ad during the 1988 presidential election campaign.

The National Conservative Political Action Committee, based in Alexandria, Virginia, was a New Right political action committee in the United States that was a major contributor to the ascendancy of conservative Republicans in the early 1980s, including the election of Ronald Reagan as President, and that innovated the use of independent expenditures to circumvent campaign finance restrictions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reagan era</span> Period in the history of the United States, 1981–1991

The Reagan era or Age of Reagan is a periodization of recent American history used by historians and political observers to emphasize that the conservative "Reagan Revolution" led by President Ronald Reagan in domestic and foreign policy had a lasting impact. It overlaps with what political scientists call the Sixth Party System. Definitions of the Reagan era universally include the 1980s, while more extensive definitions may also include the late 1970s, the 1990s, and even the 2000s. In his 2008 book, The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974–2008, historian and journalist Sean Wilentz argues that Reagan dominated this stretch of American history in the same way that Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal legacy dominated the four decades that preceded it.

The Virgil Goode presidential campaign of 2012 began when former U.S. Congressman Virgil Goode of Virginia announced his decision to seek the 2012 presidential nomination of the Constitution Party in February 2012. During the nomination campaign, he put forth a four-point plank that included his plans to restrict immigration, balance the federal budget, decrease the size of government, and institute congressional term limits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Riemer (American politician)</span> Maryland politician

Hans Davis Riemer is an American non-profit executive, political activist, and author. He served as an at-large member of the Montgomery County Council in Maryland from 2010 to 2022. He unsuccessfully ran for Montgomery County executive in 2022, with a platform including affordable housing, environmental policy, and police reform.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Scott Shane (September 25, 2009). "A Critic Finds Obama Policies a Perfect Target". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-03-21. It is the weekly research meeting at Americans for Limited Government, and Bill Wilson is presiding with gusto. The Obama administration is serving up so many rich targets that Mr. Wilson and his crew of young conservatives hardly know where to begin.
  2. Wilson, Bill (August 22, 2013). "Don't fall for House leadership's Obamacare salt lick for suckers". Washington Examiner. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  3. "A Loud Voice for Small Government". UD Messenger. 18 (2): 48. August 2010. Retrieved 2012-03-21.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Contributor Bill Wilson" . Retrieved 2012-03-21.