Hi everyone! My name is James and I am interested in running for Congress.
Why? Well, I think every American has a right to run for Congress, regardless of their social class or economic class.
I am a Democrat from a centre-right district. My congressman, Paul Kanjorski, is in the political battle of his life. This one’s gonna be a nailbiter, folks.
If Lou Barletta wins, I think the Democrats need to field a strong candidate in 2010. If nobody’s gonna run, I think I’ll give it a try.
There’s a few problems for me though:
1. I’m 23. I will be 25 by Election Day 2010 and therefore meet the age requirement to serve in Congress in January of 2011.
2. I’m gay. That one kinda speaks for itself. This district has no gay base to speak of. Remember: This is Scranton, not San Francisco.
3. I have never held elective office before. Now I know it’s not a requirement one does, and really this year inexperience is all the rage. Let’s be honest, folks, even if I had a Harvard degree in law and served 8 years in the State Legislature, I could still lose and lose badly.
These are the issues that I plan to read up about and talk about in the campaign:
1. Border and Port Security- The cargo on the ships coming to the United States is not properly investigated. That whole fiasco with the ports being owned by Saudi Arabia a few years back? Let’s bring it up again. And we need to secure the borders. Lou Dobbs is right.
2. National Security- The President of Iran is a nutjob. He wants to wipe Israel off the map. We cannot let that happen. I’m very pro-Israel.
3. Law and Order- It’s time to do what Nixon did in ’68 that won him the election. There’s a lot of crime out here, a lot of thugs and criminals, there’s school gangs now. It’s time to crack down on crime. We need more cops on the street and harsher penalties for those who try to hurt innocent people.
4. Social Security- A BIG ISSUE for a Democrat running in Pennsylvania. It’s time for the people in Washington to be straight with the American people. Is it going to last for my generation or not? If not, then let’s start thinking of new ideas NOW. The Trust Fund has been ROBBED. The Bush tax cuts stole money from the middle class to give to the upper crust elites. That money could have been used to make Social Security solvent.
5. Veterans – There’s Vietnam veterans sleeping under the bridge out here by Walmart and I’m disgusted at the treatment they have received. They are still suffering from post traumatic stress and therefore aren’t able to readjust well to civilian life. They sacrificed their lives for us. Now it’s up to us to take care of them. I will bring up this issue because somebody’s got to talk about it.
I need to form the Clinton Coalition again. Mrs. Clinton was popular here because she took the words right out of our mouths and said the things we were feeling about feeling invisible. I always thought Barack was more of a Starbucks kind of Democrat. I’m reluctantly supporting him. I would have preferred Hill.
Elitism is very much hated out here.
To win here, a Democrat needs to get “the Walmart voter” and convince them that their economic interests are best served by the Democrats than the Republicans.
I’m going to need some help here, and I’m asking you all now to offer some advice for me. So reply back to me!