When Chase Binnie was a student, he studied for a time in Venezuela, which most observers agree today is run by an authoritarian regime.

"It wasn't a very good situation then, and it got worse and worse over the years," says Binnie, who now lives in Mount Horeb and is running as a Republican for Wisconsin's 80th District State Assembly seat. "I kept in touch with a lot of my friends from there, and a lot of them had to flee, and things like that, over the years, have helped me realize that the concentration of power – whether in a few people, or corporations – is not a good thing."

Bin...