• Declaration of Independents
• I Know Jack
• Contribute
• Common Sense
  • We Are America
  • Jobs Policy
  • Health Care Common Sense
  • Class Warfare
  • SOPA
  • Second Amendment
  • Election Reform
  • An Insurgency, Not a Campaign
• About Me
  • Biography
  • Why I have to Run
  • Promises

Why Are You Running?

People who don't already know me often ask this question right off the bat. The answer is simple. 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, God is calling me to take a leap of faith in trying 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, God is calling me to try. Besides, I'll be finishing school in May, and I need a job. Want to begin to cure unemployment? Run for Congress!

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. I have recently supported Democratic candidates who I believed were well-meaning and hard-working, and I even put my money where my mouth was. You'll probably hear that I contributed to Senator Al Franken. I did. He's not a politician; he's a comedy writer. I have spoken to him in person. He is a bright and well-meaning man. Furthermore, he's done a lot for U.S. Veterans and for his state since he's been in office. You'll probably hear that I contributed to Obama in the last election. I did.

You'll probably hear that I've been publicly supportive of Ron Paul. I am. He isn't a politician, really. (You can tell that Ron Paul isn't a politician, despite many years in Congress, because his views are consistent, even his unpopular ones.) He is genuine, intelligent and hard-working. While I disagree with many of his policy positions, at least he would represent a step away from the Washington insiders who are dragging us down. We need more real alternatives, not fewer.

You might hear that I initially thought of running as a Democrat. I did. Policy-wise that Party is probably a better fit than the other one; I'd like to see more jobs and working folks like my dad doing better in our country than they are now. Plus, "our" current incumbent Representative is a Republican. She's been called to task for corruption and has done this country few favors over the last ten years; she's an integral part of the Washington system that is dragging us down; she was a state politician before becoming a federal one. For these reasons, running as a Democrat might have made sense. In fact, if I cared more about winning than I care about doing what I think is best, I would've run as a Democrat. I might easily have been seduced by the thought that since I can't do any good unless I win, perhaps giving in to the Party System that I think is the source of many of our problems wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Permit me to stereotype the Parties: the Democrats (D) and the Republicans (R). (These stereotypes might fit the Parties, but they do a poor job of characterizing those of us who, with the Sophie's choice of voting one way or the other, often find ourselves voting one way more often than the other or even those of us who find ourselves supporting one or the other of the Parties or its candidates with what little money we have.)

I agree that our health care costs are too high and that we need to make fundamental changes to our health care system (D), but the individual mandate in the health care proposal that made it through Congress chafes against my sense of personal liberty (R). I think that government can make the world a better place (D), but I also think that it has rarely done so in recent years (R). I love the First Amendment (D) and the Second (R); in fact, I believe that the Bill of Rights is a package deal. As a former soldier, I worry about putting our young men and women in harm's way more often that need requires (D), but I also support a robust military and think that the best defense is often a good offense (R). I am a man of sincere faith, and I don't think I should have to apologize for that (R). Right now, the Democratic Party isn't a perfect fit.

I believe that my desire to help people in need is a good thing, a thing for which I shouldn't have to apologize (D); I don't hate anyone I haven't met (D); I have no desire to make the super-rich even richer: I'd rather give jobs to the people who need them (D). As a former soldier, I didn't care for either the use of the Inactive Ready Reserve or the stop-loss policies of George W Bush nor did I care for the repeated attempts of Republicans in Congress during his administration to cut Veterans' benefits when they thought the American electorate wasn't looking (D). I believe that the best way to fix the deficit and solve unemployment would be to put fifteen million Americans to work (D). I'd like to see the words "made in America" again rather than rewarding Wall Street day-traders and corporations for shipping American jobs overseas (D). Right now, the Republican Party isn't a good fit.

I'm not alone in finding no comfort in either of the two Parties. I also don't trust them, and I'm not alone in that either. Each Party is more concerned about its own continued existence and about beating the opposition Party than either is concerned about helping us out on Main Street. But many, if not most, of the "members" of both Parties are not politicians. Many, if not most, of the "members" of both Parties are either trying to do what is best or were trying to do what was best when they first became involved. If the problem isn't with the majority of the people in the parties, it must be with the Parties themselves. Somehow, they have become corrupted.

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, 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."