I'm running for Congress
 

I will be putting my name on the ballot this year and running against Maxine Waters. I don't stand a chance in hell because she's got unions, and tons of black people on her side (I live in a mainly black area), and she's got lots of dirty money on her side and people like Al Sharpton. I won't be spending much money. I'll try to get some donations, and put signs up around town, maybe doing a website, an occasional interview, and filling out questionaire's. I only have to gather the signatures of 80 libertarians to avoid filing fees, which shouldn't be too tough.

I just hope I can find a good deal on signs, business cards, etc.

Wish me luck. It would be cool if I were the only guy running against her, and some scandal broke out which allowed me to win. Can you imagine having me in congress? :D

Radar, at one point I would have been horrified by the thought of you in Congress. However, the nation has sunk to such depths, that I now feel that you would actually be a genuine improvement over 99% of the people currently in office. At least you are against the insane war in Iraq.

If you promise not to appoint any child abusers as ambassador to Italy or anywhere else, you have my vote (not that it will do you much good since I don't live in your district). :rolleyes:

This is a standard fantasy, not really true. If a scandal broke out she would still get more votes than you. If she was arrested and charged with murder she would still get more votes than you. Nevertheless, "some weird fluke" has been the political strategy for almost every L campaign ever run. Have fun making work for the election departments and boosting your ego.

Have fun Radar.

I've already said my chances are virtually nil. Sheese! Besides, I doubt I'll have as much fun running for office as you have being a negative, bitter, asswipe.

If I had 50 million dollars to throw at this race I probably couldn't win based solely on the color of my skin. What matters is that we have libertarians being represented on the ballot. This isn't an ego thing, it's a freedom thing and you'd understand that if you had a clue about libertarianism or freedom.

Thanks for hijacking my thread.

Either way, I'll do the best I can with the limited resources I have. Hopefully I'll get some decent earned media coverage. I'll try to bring up the fact that she's voted to raise taxes every chance she's had. I won't focus too much on her racism though I might make mention of her connection to special interest groups and opportunistic friends like Al Sharpton.

Maxine Waters is an idiot. Give 'er hell.

He didn't.

His post was on topic, and the result of his considerable years of experience of running not just campaigns, but Libertarian Party campaigns.

Your not liking what he had to say is not hijacking. It isn't even thread drift.

I wish you luck, and hope that you at least learn something from the experience.

You might well want to consider toning down some of the obviously racist rhetoric, though.

By the way, what does the wife think of all this? And how does she help or hinder your political aspirations?

In the event of possible hijack (whether valid, unintentional or incorrectly perceived), good politics would be to quietly and subtly steer (I'm still not comfortable with split infinitives, but I will persist) the thread back under your control. Blatant and unsubtle accusation doesn't have too high a success rate for achieving this (that approach also manages the same level of success in terms of winning over potential supporters).

The race card seems to have been played a little prematurely too, I feel. Have you been watching too much Ali G by any chance? On the limited information I have about you and your methods, there seem to be strong similarities in approach.

Hope I'm wrong - good luck in any event, but I think you may yet have some way to go to place your opponent in 'worried' mode...

My wife is not political minded at all. She considers my libertarian activities to be an annoyance and thinks I shouldn't do them if I'm not getting paid to do them. She doesn't understand why I'm into politics. But she's from a communist country so it's hard for her to understand my dissatisfaction with our government. To her it's a dream come true.

Her perspective as an univolved observer of our process might be very helpful to you.

I'm serious on this one.

We often don't know and don't appreciate what we've got.

Radar, politics requires a reasonable amount of flexibility. You can't even be flexible in social situations like "where to go for dinner".

And another one: politicians are personable - or at least they can simulate it.

Go Radar!
:us:

Good luck Radar. I wish you well. You seem to have a healthy dose of reality on how well you will do.

If your presence in this campaign shines the spotlight on important issues that are being ignored, then it's all worth it. I'd steer clear of issues that just muddy the waters, like allegations of racism and ties to special interest groups. Explain to the votors why your ideas on the issues are better. Anyone can smear an opponent. If you want to make Libertarians look good, then you need to explain why they are better.

Our freedom to loudly and aggressively disagree with our system of government is widely taken for granted -- many, many places don't have it so good. That's why I tend to sneer when the "capitalists are the root of all evil" BS starts flying in some centrally heated, broadband-enabled coffeehouse. The people living in communist countries beg to differ, and would like to sip some of your chai tea, if you'd be so kind as to hold their place in the toilet paper line.

Candidates have died and still won.
Have fun Radar, hope it isn't too stressful without support on the homefront.
Maybe we could get Urban Godzilla to run against you, then you'd have something to sink your teeth into. ;)

I agree, but...often you have to smear. It just depends on how you go about it, based on your demographic. I'd worked in the campaign business for many years, and putting out only positive literature does not usually work very well.

However...I worked on a race (in CA) a couple of years ago where our guy smeared the "front runner," quite a bit (too much me thinks) and they did the same right back. Well, the voters got really sick and tired of it, and guess who won? The third guy that everbody "forgot" about. Hmmmmmm...

Bruce, while that would be toothsome fun for everyone indeed, Radar and I do live in different Congressional districts.

Radar, good luck and good experience in your run, and watch out if the wife starts reading Ayn Rand! Being from a former communist society is what made Ayn Rand act the way she did... and wasn't that what cost her her first husband?

And should you ever get into public office, Radar, the experience should probably wise you up quite a bit.

I hope you don't intend to run your campaign in the no frills, no money way that you chose for the, what was it ... library board and water board races a couple years ago?

People have to know about you to vote for you. That "none of the above" shit don't actually play.

Frankly, I'd watch out for ANYONE over the age of 17 who starts reading Ayn Rand. Ms. Rand is probably more responsible for the lack of adherents to the Libertarian cause than any person alive or dead on the face of the earth today.

Nathanial Brandon "cost" Rand her first husband. She wanted a younger man and one who was not an alcoholic like Frank Waters was.

Please Radar, when or if you get any real media attention.....call someone an asswipe or a dickslap.

Whether you win or lose is not the point. It's getting the chance to be a candidate and to use this language that should be your only goal.

Keep us posted on this. If by some miracle you do pull this off, I'll have that playing on a loop at Ft. Slang.

Radar, good luck in your campaign.

What are you main points/ goals that you have "over and above" the opposition that you are using to win over the vote?

And i dont understand your race issue? What race are you? and why would that effect your vote?

I am a white guy living in a district that is probably 70% black, 20% Hispanic, 8% Asian, and 2% White. It's also an area where white police have abused black people and where white people are not well-liked or trusted. Maxine waters often takes advantage of this by showing up with Al Sharpton and screaming, acting angry, and accusing the police of racism every time a black person gets beaten during an arrest by a white person and she makes sure the tv cameras are on. She never shows up when a white person gets beaten by a black cop, or when a black person gets beaten by a black cop.

She is in tight with all the local city council leaders, unions, business owners (like Magic Johnson), etc. She's also an incumbant with several years experience.

There is no chance to beat someone like this. It seems as though the district was made specifically to include the most black people and least white people as possible.

I hope this answers your race questions.

As far as the issues go, to be honest, she's not too bad on social issues for the most part (pro-abortion rights, anti-prayer in school, anti-three strikes, pro-stem cell research, etc), but she's very much against fiscal freedom or fiscal responsibility. She's also against gun ownership and free trade. She's for socialist government programs that don't accomplish their goals. She's consistantly votes to raise taxes.

At least be wiser than that Libertarian candidate for Governor (one of three) in the recall election. He lost me when I heard about him taking a swing at a radio show host who was interviewing him. That was a man with no more business running for office than Arianna Huffington -- or Angelyne.

I'm working on a campaign website right now. I'm using an old photo of me just to hold a place until I can get a professional one taken. I just wanted to see a photo in the layout.

It has an events calendar, volunteer page, donations page, etc.

It's one of those pre-fab sites, where you just plug in all your info and pay a couple of hundred bucks for a year.

I'm still trying to think of whether I should use electpaulireland.com, or vote4paul.com, or vote4ireland.com, or ireland4congress.com.

I think if I use any of the first three, I can re-use the site for later elections in different races so it might be more economical.

Anyway, HERE is the site if you want to check it out.

Is paulireland.com available? Easier to remember, and you can use for non-election purposes later, if necessary. In the event you win, it could be your official site, for example.

Text on the front page needs some brushing up ... fewer "I" statements. Yeah, there's three paragaphs there now, but it will grow and the temptation is major. Like instead of "I am a strong supporter of libertarian values, that is to say I support freedom in all cases whether discussing personal or economic freedoms."

"Supporting libertarian values supports freedom."

Make separate statements about personal liberty and economic freedom.

And you don't just want freedom to discuss freedom, right? You want to actually have it.

Keep your sentences short and your vocabulary simple. Make an impact and get out.

Just checked ... paulireland.com is a realtor in Canada.

paulireland.us might be available, though.

I own paulireland.org and paulireland.net, but this guy beat me to paulireland.com

Don't do it. No one remembers a website that doesn't end in .com. ;)

Since it was a political site, I thought that it might work.

Of course, I live in state.pa.us ...

congressman in california huh.. that means Arnie would be your gov right? isnt he in some hot water right now about the death penalty or some crazy thing?

Does your parliment have seats like we do.. i mean, even if you dont win, will you still be voted in to hold some seats and be able to have a say in at eg. 10 - 20% of what happens?

No. We do whatever Homeland Security or special interest groups with a lot of money tell us to. This includes members of our state legislatures. :mad:

No, he's in hot water because he ran as a populist movie star and immediately started attacking teachers, nurses, firefighters, cops, and unions.

Only the ones that don't want to visit Gitmo. :worried:

Don't use '4' in your url when you mean 'for'. It makes it look really unprofessional.