CANDIDATES FOR CHANGE

October 31, 2010

Candidates for Change

Every election we have candidates who campaign on platforms that tear down the
incumbent for every issue in the spectrum, from their voting history to their grandparents
affiliations. We have candidates willing to cater to every special interest group out there, but
what we do not have is real change.

Sure, the word is tossed out there, “change”, like those great memorials constructed on
the roadsides of America to events long passed, everyone wants to see it, but few are willing to
sacrifice for to participate in it. The truth is, the only change we will ever see if the changing of
the guard.

Candidates will spend millions of dollars campaigning for a job that pays thousands.
Why is this? We all know that they plan to steal it all back, but they also sell out in ways that
cannot even begin to be tabulated. Perhaps, this is conjecture, but we have seen it many times.
Senators and Congressman will be paid for their work in the capital, not nearly what they spent,
but they will see health care benefits and lifetime pension plans from social security. Even with
all of that, it does not come close to cash doled out for these campaigns.

What cannot be tabulated is the exposure that these politicians receive. Connections,
persuasions, monetary gains from speaking tours, private sector job offers, outright payoffs and
bribes hidden from sight. For four to six years of service, these people have crafted for
themselves a future on the back of the taxpayer. Sometime, we have to ask ourselves, “why?”

Perhaps, it is because these politicians accomplish “real work”. Maybe, under further
examination, this may not be as true as one might be lead to believe. We know these politicians
do not read the bills that they are voting on, as in the instance with the Patriot Act. They cannot
possibly read these documents, which are thousands of pages and released minutes before voting
on them. They no longer write them. Lobbyists do that. Sometimes, they do not even show up
for the vote on these bills.

It may be that the real reason is more of a popularity contest. That is correct. You have
hired marketers. “We like you. You tell us what we want to hear. You are set up for life.
Avoid indictment and you will be fine.”

The only change that you ever see is who is getting your money and creating more laws
that invade your life and reach into your pocket until you are indentured to them. We have all
been fooled by it. We have been told that the founding fathers gave us a democracy, where
rights can be voted on and taken at whim. We have been convinced that our homes can be taxed.
The government can take our homes when we don’t pay “our” tax burdens. We have been told
that our freedoms are negotiable; our right to bear arms, to be secure in our persons, homes. We
have free speech “zones”. Government has run us under foot and we thank them for it.

This does not even address what our court system does to us, daily. They have legalized
bribery in Minnesota courts. Justice can be bought. Cities and Municipalities have moved the

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burden of proof from the government to the people in citations, infractions and finable offenses,
where the locals can stream in a regular source of revenue.

In judicial reform, we often file criminal charges against public officials for breaking the
law, most of the time it is after they file charges on someone else. Sometimes, the charges
against the individual start getting dismissed, but what never happens is that the public official is
investigated, much less charged, even if there is a complete ignoring of the law. The lives of
citizens can be intruded on, compromised and even destroyed, but public officials cannot be
inconvenienced with following the law.

Are we really so gullible? Have we lost courage? Have we lost that warrior spirit that
was engraved in us? Where does it end?

Thomas Jefferson told us that if 20 years had passed before a revolution had come along,
then it had been too long. In the same speech, he told us that the, “tree of liberty must be
refreshed, from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants”.

Most of the men that we refer to as the “founding fathers”, as well as the men who signed
the Declaration of Independence and the foundational documents were well off, financially.
They were men of influence and educated. What is slightly less known is that some of these men
were destitute after this, some were killed and all did so at the risk of everything.

It is amazing that a person can look at what they were able to accomplish and assume that
they can accomplish the very same without the same sacrifices. It cost them their lives. Why do
we assume that it won’t cost us ours?

If a small group of men and women can grasp this truth, you will have your change. You
will start seeing candidates who shake the status quo to the core, who won’t compromise and
who wont be bought. If they won’t listen, we will employ Thomas Jefferson’s vision, but we
need courage. We must have soldiers willing to fight here, in the courts, in the political realms
and yes, if it comes to that, in the streets. Remember, we reserve this right in the Constitution, to
“abolish and form a new government”.

The change that you’re looking for has not yet come. Where is the candidate who says,
“I will fight corruption. We will stop these invasions on your life.”

As was stated before, these politicians are marketers. Looking at the standards for
marketing, no one has set the bar higher than a company like Apple, Inc. Most companies set the
topic for discussion. They tell you what the topic will involve and how things will proceed.
Apple, love them or hate them, has taken that idea and evolved it into setting the rules, changing
the foundations of the discussion. Apple can make you forget every product that has come
before it and inspire you to think that this is the product that you have to have.

Like Apple, change will only come if someone is willing to shake the rules, not just set
the topic. Make no mistake, not even one will do it. This must be our standard on a local, state
and federal level.

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What would a public official look like if he were truly that candidate for change? Don’t
look for perfection, but look for openness, honesty and integrity. What party would that person
affiliate with? Who cares? We need to stop seeing everything from one side or the other; that’s
a game they’ve taught us to play for far too long. What would they stand for? Constitutional
law. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Just once, wouldn’t it be refreshing to see a candidate who wants to repeal all of this
garbage law that binds us down? Just once, wouldn’t it be nice to see someone who won’t sell
out, someone who binds the hands of government, fights corruption at the top?

The person who we need is not someone who would see these huge incentive packages,
after they leave office, from these corporations. They would be too busy fighting corporate
interest. Corporate interest, as it is now, is in direct opposition to our own. No one who is for us
would be offered a position after his or her term in office.

Time and time again, you see videos that are taken from these traffic stops. Traffic stops
can be an affront to our personal sense of liberty. There’s an argument to be made there, but it
isn’t appropriate for this topic. The person stopped will often say, “I know my rights” after
which that same person will choose to give up every one of those rights that they “know”. Not
many people truly know their rights. Not many know that their public officials are hard at work
violating those rights. And the cycle continues. If you don’t know your rights, how would you
know a public official violating them if they were?

Everyone needs to decide for themselves what their line in the sand will be, but if people
won’t educate themselves, then we’ve already lost. We cannot become those people. We cannot
identify those people. The change must start in us. We must be candidates for change before we
can identify one.