Schalk Leonard, U.S. Senate Candidate – No Party Preference
July 11th, 2010 at Sun, 11th, 2010 at 4:30 pm by Schalk Leonard
Schalk Leonard for U.S. Senate – No Party Preference
Citizens, Lovers of Liberty, Washingtonians:
My name is Schalk Leonard, candidate for U.S. Senate in Washington State.
As I campaign and speak to voters, people occasionally ask me: “Why no party preference?”
This is a valid question. We are accustomed to candidates aligning themselves with a party.
Political parties have served a very useful purpose – they allow concerned citizens to pool their values and concentrate their efforts. Parties almost always have a platform, which is a set of group positions on important issues. Without parties, it used to be hard to understand the values of each candidate on important issues.
A party is like a competitive team. The team forges a consensus on what it believes and then the members of the team are expected to “stick to” the basic line of the party.
(For example, the Republican party demands absolutely loyalty. If you vote elect Dino Rossi, you are guaranteed six years of Republican party loyalty from your Senator. The Republicans will mercilessly punish any Republican Congressman who fails to vote the party line. Dino will be called RINO (Republican In Name Only) if he should ever violate the party line. He would not do this.
But, note: Senator Murray, as a Democrat, while she belongs to a more tolerant party, a party which tolerates greater diversity, has still, over the course of her 18 years in office, voted astonishingly along the party platform! At a rate of nearly 98% consistency. To know how Patty Murray will vote, just check the Democratic Party line – she will amost always follow suit.)
Democracy is a process of reflecting the values of the people in the laws that govern the people. It is the most wonderful and wise system of government ever developed and we should always remember how fortunate we are to live in a democracy.
Political parties do their best to identify the democratic wishes of the people. But, by definition, parties are partisan. That is, they identify a sub-set of the people and seek to promote the values of that sub-set over the values of other groups.
Americans generally respect the give and take of party politics in America. Or, to put it more accurately – Americans used to respect the give and take of party politics in America.
But, increasingly, we are fed up with the parties. Why?
Two major parties have come to dominate our government. The Democrats and the Republicans have, over the decades, solidified their hold on our law-making and the execution of our laws.
And, each new electoral cycle, they have ramped up the ferocity of their efforts. Instead of speaking to the American people as adults, treating us as intelligent citizens who value good information, allowing us to be heard, and respecting our true feelings, they manipulate us and use the tens of millions of dollars in their campaign warchests to bludgeon us with advertising which does nothing more than establish name-recognition and create the appearance of popularity.
The American people are, as a group, extremely smart and insightful. They know how they are being used and shaped and who is doing it. But, without a meaningful third choice, a citizen choice, a true Democracy choice, they can only continue to vote for one party or the other.
Americans are now begging for viable third choices to emerge from the middle. Voices of moderation and competence. They are tired of supporting the old party politics, the old money manipulation, the old lobbyist-law-maker deal-making, the old inter-party squabbling, the old name-calling, the old pandering, and the old “business as usual.” Americans are recognizing that together we can do better without the old parties. But, it requires better people with better courage and better ethics and better experience and better sincerity.
That’s who I am. The third choice. The strong moderate in the middle who believes in America before party interests. The proven leader who remains sincere and who still believes in a bright future for American Democracy. The candidate who believes in practicing Democracy instead of talking about it.
Am I an Independent? No, I am independent – of the two old parties.
In this lifetime, what I want you to enjoy is – real American values in your Democracy. Yes, in this lifetime. That means – we have to do something today!
Stop rewarding the power politics of the old parties. Stop rewarding their efforts to manipulate us. Stop rewarding them for spending the bulk of their time campaigning and fund-raising instead of getting American values into our laws and finding out how to grow America.
No party preference means – a preference for America. A preference for strength and dignity and Democracy and ethics and professionalism in government.
(Note: I was raised in a solid Democrat household. I understand and cherish the humanity and empathy of the Democrat Party tradition. As a boy, I spent many a long hour at the union hall and I delivered lunch to the picket lines. I know the dangers of unchecked capital and unregulated management. But, I have many dear friends who are Republicans. I understand their reverence for family and for faith. I understand their fidelity to traditions, good traditions which are the backbone of America. As a business owner, I understand – are no free lunches. Failed businesses do not get a “do-over” – unless they are on Wall Street. As a career Navy Judge Advocate, I learned the critical importance of making good laws and … executing them with compassion but also with rigor.)
My platform is – to put America back in American government! We have the will, we have the media, we have the mechanisms and the technology – it is now time to make a fist and demand America back from the stranglehold of petty party partisans. Just try to imagine it. Will Washington be the next state to move forward instead of … left and right?
The Constitution says nothing about the Democrat or Republican parties. They are made-up associations. Let us make up a new association – of Americans demanding that American values and strengths be given free play to grow America. With liberty, justice, and truth.
Let us start rewarding courage and common sense instead of party dollars and cents!
It’s your country. What can you do? To help America?
Sincerely, Schalk
www.schalk4senate.org |
