• Declaration of Independents
• I Know Jack
• Contribute
• Common Sense
  • We Are America
  • Jobs Policy
  • SOPA
  • Second Amendment
  • Election Reform
• About Me
  • Family Values
  • Biography
  • Why I have to Run
  • Promises
  • Reform Reform Reform

Why Are You Running?

I love this state and its people. My wife and I picked Tennessee after my military service was complete, because I love it, and I love the people who live here. I love this country and its people. I swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies foreign and domestic, because I love this country and its people. I do not consider my oath discharged with my honorable discharge from the U.S. Army; my oath to our country will only be discharged upon my death. I believe with all my heart that the United States is the best country on the planet.

I joined the Army even though it wasn't the easiest thing to do at the time or the thing that made the most practical sense for me to do at the time, because I felt called to defend her after 9/11. I want to make the world around me a better place. For me, that desire starts with improving the six foot radius around my physical body (with a wave and a smile) and extends as far as the gifts God has given me enable me to extend that radius. In the past, I volunteered as a church youth leader, as a tutor to underprivileged children in the Columbus Reads program and as a member of the U.S. Army. Right now, I'm being called to take a leap of faith to try to make the world a better place, and I believe that that leap lands me in the U.S. House of Representatives. Even if it doesn't land me there, I feel called to try.

Closely connected to my need to try to do the best I can for our country is my need to run as an Independent. Like most Americans, I do not agree with every policy position of either party. In the past, I have voted for candidates in each of the two major parties and for third-party and Independent candidates. If we can make our country and our economy stronger and strengthen Main Street, I could care less whether we do it with Democrats, Republicans or Independents. When I say I'm running as a non-politician, that's part of what I mean. If the problem with the system is that the only people who make it onto a ballot are already beholden to the system, then wouldn't the solution be to run from outside the system, beholden to no one but the voters, and win?

And if I want to make the country a better place, and I think that's more important than being elected to Congress, don't I have a duty to run for office in the way that would do the most good for the most people, once I take office?

It is better to be hot or cold than to be lukewarm. I'd rather run hot as an Independent and be able to speak the truth to power, to stand by my beliefs and to sleep at night than to run lukewarm and beholden to the System. After I win, maybe the people who make up the Parties will displace the politicians who lead them, and we'll all be better off. Or maybe I'll prove that we don't need Parties any more to run, and a new era of freedom from money and Party loyalty will be ushered into American politics. I know one thing. I have to try.

Why am I running? Why am I running as an Independent? I want to make the United States and Tennessee even better. I want to help put people back to work and to speak truth to the Politicians in Washington who are preventing that from happening. I want to challenge and to remove the powers and principalities that are dragging us down. It really is that simple. If a person reads any of the material on this website and only remembers one thing, I would want that person to remember, "Jack wanted to do what was right and to make the world a better place, and Jack prayed daily to use up every gift that he was given in the effort."