Vote for Joe

photo by Joe

A number of democratic socialists won in the recent America midterms. This is problematic, especially since my faith, Catholic, expressly rejects the tenants of socialism. Nonetheless, socialism is spreading in parts of Europe and, again, starting to come to America. At the library the other day, I picked up this book to understand more about the dynamics of socialism. It noted that since 1989, there had been a revival of socialism in Eastern Europe — which, basically, involved the conversion of communist parties into social democratic parties. These, the book posits, were injected into a world “…dominated by capitalistic economic power and hegemony.” What’s more, there is a Socialist International body, with a good number of European and Latin American members. One of those members is Bolivia, which was under Evo Morales for years. He promised the indigenous people land reform, nationalized Bolivia’s gas and oil industry, and forged close links to Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela. Note: The Catholic Church believes socialism denies the legitimacy of private property, and, in tandem, advances an atheistic, materialistic worldview. Note 2: Our campaign has crafted an economic paradigm that revolves around “distributistm,” but not in a socialism sense, but rather a Christian one. See…

Illuminated Bike/Walking Trail, Bluffton, Ohio

Bluffton, Ohio (pop. 4,500), was recently named the “Second Most Bicycle Friendly Town in Ohio.” It has an extensive set of walking/bicycle trails, including this section on the village’s east end. During my cross-country research for our platform, I interviewed Dan Burden in High Springs, Florida. Time Magazine called him one of the “top environmentalists” in the country. He had developed a tremendously innovative “Walkable Community Model,” which cities/towns were starting to adopt across the country. It is our campaign’s position that this kind of infrastructure needs to go in in towns all across the country, and our transportation paradigm, in general, needs to shift dramatically — for a number of reasons. This is all outlined in our Transportation position paper… Staying with Bluffton, a “Celebrate Recovery” Christian 12-Step recovery meeting has recently started up there. Our society, at this point, is tremendously saturated with addictions and compulsive behavior: alcohol, drugs, sex, gambling, addictions to screens, eating disorders, compulsive debting, workaholism… This, in turn, plays havoc with the individual, their family, and society at large. And is, actually, at the root of a lot of the social problems in America. To understand this more, click on the two audios on this page. (Among other things, I have a background as a counselor, specializing in addictions and dysfunctional family dynamics.) Note: I once sat in on a graduate level law class at Notre Dame University (I was there to give a talk that night on campus). The topic of Saddam Hussein and his unconscionable gassing of the Kurds came up. [The overarching theme of this day’s class was around “human rights.”] I noted that, if a lot of scientific studies are correct around global warming, America is, in a very real sense: “…gassing the world.” And that one, of many, of the consequences to this will be scores of displaced people. In setting off these types of, what will be quite horrific events (for the victims), does this make us, in a very real sense: “a terrorist nation”? It got awful quiet in the room. Note: American hubris sometimes blinds us to our own negative impact culpabilities as a nation — and there are many. See the first podcast at this link, for my take on “America as a Terrorist Nation.”

’66 Catalina …photo by Joe

Catching up on the last month, or so… I did a newspaper article interview with a local man who has a 1966 Catalina classic car. His father was a classic car collector, and he grew up bonding with his dad over cars (as is often the case in America). I interspersed some ‘classic car quotes’ throughout the article. Example: “Sons grow into their father’s car legacy, one bolt at a time.” Note: Our campaign asks Americans to consider going back, in some regards, not necessarily to the 1960’s, but rather: the 1950’s. See… I also did some ‘foreign relations’ studying about Sudan, a country in tremendous turmoil right now. Civil war, looming famine… An article in National Geographic noted: Sudan has experienced a coup, a global pandemic, record setting floods, and a 2019 revolution. [It is also one of the poorest countries in the world.] Our administration’s foreign affairs policy would spin around trying to bring much more help to these kinds of countries. The gospel message demands nothing less. See… In another National Geographic Magazine story about Native American resurgence in the U.S., it was noted that an organization called, “Braiding the Sacred,” has a goal of bringing back Indigenous farms, and foods, across the country. The organization is currently working with more than a hundred farmers in a dozen Native American nations. Our administration would help subsidize these kinds of initiatives, as part of a tangible amends package to the Native Americans for past atrocities. See… I also conducted an interview with a woman from a nearby town, who has since gone to Nashville, where she is making it as a singer there. She said her life, for a time, was derailed with addictions to alcohol and OxyContin. However, she found Celebrate Recovery, a Christian 12-Step program, and she is doing quite well now. Our society, at this point, is saturated with addictions (alcohol, drugs, sex, gambling, shopping, compulsive debting, workaholism, compulsive eating disorders…). I was an addictions counselor for the better part of a decade and have seen this first-hand — including how it is affecting society at large. To heal the country at its roots, this needs to be comprehensively addressed. See…

photo by Joe

Bluffton’s Annual Classic Car Show this June featured, well, all sorts of classic cars — like this Mustang. Part of our platform is to ask Americans to consider going back to a time in America when the pace of life was slower, neighbors knew neighbors (way more than they do now), and the streets, and schools, were once again safe for our kids. I once told Ohio Magazine that I used to “…be concerned about our kids doing okay in school, now I’m more concerned about them being shot to death in school.” For more on the sociological paradigm shift I’m proposing, *see… During this time, I also did an interview with a man who, in his retirement, regularly volunteers at a non-profit local thrift store (…the proceeds going to a Third World outreach), he is the football announcer in the booth at the high school football games, and he keeps the stats at the high school basketball games. It’s his way of helping to support the local kids. He is your quintessential man-about-town… And staying with local volunteers, I also interviewed a man who is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospherics’ Cooperative Weather Observation Program. He records the minimum daily temperature, daily rain totals, snow totals, frost depth, etc. Between him, and his son-in-law, who took over when his father-in-law died, they have done this, without missing a day: FOR 77 YEARS! Besides sending the data to NOA, the information, back in the day, was also published in local newspapers, broadcast on local radio shows, and so on. Another great example of the spirit of volunteering in this country. *See other blog entries that include inserts about volunteers we’ve encountered across the country, and so on.

Border Patrol car, circa 1930’s

Catching up on the summer… In late May, I had a house painting mishap, falling off a ladder from pretty high up. I broke my right wrist pretty badly, had surgery, and they put a plate in. I’ve been a bit hamstrung as a result, especially since I’m right-handed. But I soldiered on with a bit of newspaper reporting. Including writing a story about a local man who has this 1935 classic car, which was also the first car model used for U.S. Border Patrol. (Previously, they had just used horses.) While the car is cool enough, the border patrol thing is mixed for me, and our campaign. Especially now. The immigration policy currently in place, with the border virtually closed, and illegal immigrants being sent back, en masse, is unconscionable, if not plain evil. We did three Southern Border Tours, including meeting with a good number of illegal immigrants, who, for the most part, had come here, often with their families, to escape extreme cartel violence, abject poverty, political persecution… From these interviews, and much more, we crafted a Hispanic Immigration policy, which we think is much more in line with the gospel message, and just sound human decency.