Why I can win
The 7th district of Michigan was gerrymandered to be a safe Republican seat. Joe Schwartz won it with 58% of the vote in 2004. This will probably keep any big name Democrats from “wasting their time” on a 7th district candidacy.
However, I would not run for Congress in the 7th District of Michigan unless I thought I could win. Voters are ready for a different kind of candidate who speaks very strongly and plainly about real American values - and captures their imagination.
In Scio Township the Republicans had “safe seats” for decades. I won election to the Scio Township Board in 1988, 1992, 1996, and 2000 as a Republican, with the goal of influencing land development policy. After watching Bush attack the Constitution and then invade Iraq I knew I couldn’t do that anymore. We put together a Democrat Slate in Scio Township, and ran a good campaign. We won in a landslide, swept along by a much larger than usual Democratic victory in Washtenaw County. Republican vote totals dipped beneath 30%. It was a complete rejection of President Bush’s war mongering and anti-constitutional power grabs. This rejection of the unamerican Bush administration is rapidly spreading.
Since that 2004 election it has been a downhill slide for Bush and his gang. We see an almost daily torrent of articles about corruption and usurpation of power. Americans have become fundamentally disillusioned and disgusted, even many who voted for George Bush. The pendulum has swung as far to the right as it can swing, unless we slide into complete militaristic totalitarianism. It is poised to swing back hard.
Once proud Americans now see that the USA is the leader in moving to the “dark side” rather than the beacon of hope. It is we who kidnap people to hold in secret prisons, to torture incommunicado, ostensibly forever. Our actions create an inexhaustible supply of new terrorists and insurgents, so that war will be endless.
Citizens of the United States have to live in terror of getting sick, and I don’t mean from the illness. Medical costs are bankrupting companies and cities, as well as families.
Good jobs with benefits are scarce, as poverty rises and the middle class is constantly chipped away.
Every environmental regulation is recinded, watered down, or not enforced. This is what we bequeath to our kids, along with the obligation to pay for our wars and tax breaks for the wealthy. Monstrous trade and budget deficits make the US economically weak, addicted to more than 2 billion dollars a day in loans from overseas..
My Republican opponent, whoever it is, will not be able to offer any viable alternative – he will have to commit himself to supporting this direction of decline.
And the Republican leadership, who control our government on the basis of their religious claims to moral piety (as they cut food stamps and Medicare), repeatedly get caught breaking the law. They have been caught lying so often that only fools continue to believe them.
There is no end to the corruption, and the threat to fundamental freedoms is becoming crystal clear. Christians are ashamed to be associated with the rampant hypocrisy they see every day.
The American people are loyal and patient when a president cries “War”, they even gave Bush a second chance in 2004.
Now the urge to repudiate Bush’s lies and incompetence gains momentum, as Americans see they were lied to all along. They are disgusted when it turns out that the people who have been trying to mix religion with American politics are the biggest cheats and thieves. They are disgusted by an administration that would sacrifice our soldiers in a fight for “freedom” and then throw our constitution into the fire.
I will make it into Congress (with your help) as part of a great backlash of the real “silent majority” of patriotic Americans who reject Church and State mixing, optional preemptory wars, rampant “Orwellian” hypocrisy, and government by and for the rich.
Freedom, justice, prosperity and equal opportunity are American values worth protecting. People in the 7th District of Michigan deeply believe in these values and will vote on that basis. Please support my candidacy, to help make them real again. We can win it!
E-mail me at chuckreamforcongress@yahoo.com
