11/12/08

Posted on by November 12, 2008

A couple supporters have recently e-mailed asking about our campaign strategies for Election 2012. (By the way, I’ve already declared for 2012.    Listen to the short declaration speech at the top of our home  page.)   In regard to donating to the campaign, one man wrote:   “People tend to want to ‘invest’ their money wisely and usually wait until they are confident enough that a candidate has a legitimate chance of winning.”   The answer to this is two-fold.     First:   People  need to  ‘invest’ in us now so we can advertise and do all the other things campaigns do to raise their profiles.   And people need to invest in us now to help keep us in motion so we can continue touring, stumping and getting our message out to as many people on the street and in as much media as possible.   (This is the kind of synergy that will make the campaign a national story with staying power —  especially because of the tremendous amount of time and effort we’ve already put into this to date!   As opposed to it being a ’15-minutes of fame’ phenomena.)   Also, when this becomes a prominent national story, we will have a much better chance of catching on with an established Third Party.   This is key because it is the best chance we have of gaining ballot access from state to state across the country.   Having said that…   Second:   When we’re on the road touring, we get a  significantly different message out.   It is a message  that is helping change the country now, one town at a time.   As an example, I recently gave a strong pro-Life talk at a church in centeral Ohio.   Afterward, the pastor stood up and was actually in tears.   He apologized to the congregation for not being “bold enough” in his witness to stop abortion and vowed to be so in the future.   And then this pastor and congregation members influence other pastors and congregation members.   And then these pastors and congregation members…   And as a result, we get part of policy enacted long before ever getting to D.C…   A front page article in the Athens (OH) Post recently noted that our family has set aside a “Christ Room” for homeless people in our small place in Cleveland.   So then someone in Athens sets aside a Christ Room, then someone in Louisville, Kentucky, sets aside a Christ Room, then someone in Holbrook, Arizona, sets aside a Christ Room… And before you know it, homelessness is down significantly in America and those setting up the Christ Rooms  are much more advanced  in their faith witness.   And part of our policy on poverty gets enacted as well… A ‘winning’ candidate?  We’ve been ‘winning’ every day we’ve been on the campaign trail the past nine years and 83,000 miles.   But (and really think about this), what if  a president turned the  Lincoln Bedroom into a Christ Room?   How much more of a witness would that be to the country?    …While traveling the 83,000 miles campaigning, parts of our message have gottten out in some 2,000 newspaper articles, close to 200 regional network TV news shows, hundreds of radio shows, many church talks, college talks…   In other words, we’re exhaustively doing our part.    But we need help.   Note:   The time for cautious consideration around “investing” in our 2012 campaign run — our last —  is over.    We ask people help  now in as  full a fashion as  we are undertaking it.    Because I believe it will take this kind of all out   effort if there is to be any real hope of getting to the White House.     Ps… If you missed our  DONATION LINK  on this post… Also, have I mentioned we need VOLUNTEERS?     Some references: “I experience Joe Schriner as a fervent pro-Life candidate willing to make great sacrifices for the moral betterment of our nation and the transformation of our society.   He was an inpsiration to our students.”   — Fr. Michael Scanlan, former president of Franciscan University.   And… “Joe’s talk during (Sunday) Worship was spirit-led and reflected his and his family’s concern for plantet earth — as our addiction to fossil fuels pushes us ever nearer extinction.   We need to hear his voice and God’s call.”   –Rev. Lea Mahan, First United Methodist Church, Wellington, Ohio.     And…  more references…  

Posted in Uncategorized permalink

About Joe Schriner

Common man, Common sense, Uncommon solutions. "In an era when presidential campaigns run on multi-million dollar war chests, lavish fundraising dinners and high gloss television ads, Joe Schriner is a different breed of candidate." - The Herald, Monterey, California. Joe at a glance... Age: 56. Family: Husband of 17 years, and father. Faith: Catholic. Home state: Ohio. Graduate of Bowling Green State University. Journalist and author. Also a former addictions counselor, with an emphasis on family systems. Independent presidential candidate in four successive election cycles. On the road campaigning extensively. In between campaign tours, now does part-time house painting and light handyman work to make ends meet (aka: Joe the painter). Volunteer work with: Brown County (OH) Board of Mental Health; Catholic Worker outreach to the poor in the inner city of Cleveland; We Are the Uninsured Healthcare Movement in Ohio. Inner city youth league baseball and soccer coach (won some, lost some). Hobbies: Trying to beat his wife at "Scrabble," weight lifting, swimming, photography, sandlot baseball, soccer, football and basketball with his children. In Joe's words... I'm, for the most part, your average Midwesterner, I told the Duluth (MN) News. I jog in a pair of gray sweats. My favorite spots to eat are your basic diners. Whats more, I cut my own lawn. Oh, and Im running for president. I told the Lancaster (OH) Eagle Gazette that the reason I am running for president is that I am a concerned parent. That is, I don't want to leave a world of climate change, war, abortion, rural and inner city poverty, violent streets, nuclear proliferation, astronomical national debt, little social security, dwindling access to healthcare to our children. What sane parent would? Now, I didn't go to Harvard, Yale, or even Rutgers for that matter. I went to Bowling Green State University where I majored in journalism. I then worked for a couple intermediate-sized Ohio newspapers. I later became an addictions counselor. And in 1990, as a lead up to the presidential run, I took my journalism skills on the road to look for common sense solutions to the societal problems I outlined above. And in some tremendously extensive, cross-country research (that has continued during my years of campaigning), I've found those solutions.        Getting policies enacted... Amidst abject poverty on the Southside of Chicago, I learned how to end homelessness. In Atwood, Kansas (pop. 1,500), I learned how to balance the National Budget. In Grand Junction, Colorado, I learned how to get quality healthcare for all. In High Springs, Florida, I learned how to end global warming, for good. In Eunice, New Mexico, I learned how to unequivocally solve the immigration issue. And it was with this information, and much more, that I am running for president. No big money. No special interest backing. Just with tried solutions to make the country a much better place for our kids. While campaigning for president the past 12 years (and over 100,000 road miles), I've been telling people about these answers in hundreds of talks, more than 1,000 newspapers, a lot of radio, television and in a very up-close-and-personal way on the street corners of America. I told Channel 10 News in Albany, Georgia, that I can get a policy enacted long before I ever get to D.C., if somebody picks up on an idea and tries it in their town. And who knows how far out it will ripple out from there. So in a small way, I said during a talk at Toledo University, I am already president now! The students all smiled, politely. Be the change... I am also a firm believer that this won't be a better world for our children until more of us follow the saying: Be the change you want to see in the world. In this pursuit, my family and I try to live the messages we are conveying, at least the best we can. On a radio station in Indianapolis, Indiana, I said our platform asks some people to consider moving into the inner cities of America to live side-by-side with the poor. So our family moved to the heart of Cleveland, Ohio, where we volunteered at an outreach to the poor. I told the Tifton (GA) Gazette that our family has also set aside a Christ Room for the homeless at our place. And in D.C. we'd do the same thing in the West Wing. Just like I may well be looking for a youth baseball team to coach when I get there. I recently coached an inner city Rec. Center League team in Cleveland. On draft day I picked the kids who looked liked they'd be picked last, first. And apparently I did pretty well with this, because we lost almost all the games. Many of the kids on the team, sadly, didn't have a father at home. And many of these families don't have healthcare insurance either, just like two million other Ohioans. To help try to reverse this, my children and I have done volunteer work for the We Are The Uninsured Movement in Ohio. The reason our children are involved is because Liz and I want them learning as much about helping others -- as they do learning about math, science and English, I told The Mississippi Press. In fact, our education platform calls for a lot more local community involvement with students. I we also propose many more classes be focused on environmental awareness. To do our family's part for the environment, we created a "Kyoto Protocol Home Zone." (I even put a "Kyoto Protocol Home Zone" sign up in the front yard, to Liz's embarrassment.) We live in small places, use little air conditioning, cut the thermostat back in the winter, bicycle or walk almost everywhere within a five-mile radius and we recycle practically everything. And in D.C., we'd do all this as well. I mean, those big black limos alone can be such gas guzzlers anyway, right? Heal the family... "My concern for the environment, for the disadvantaged, for the unborn flows out of my spirituality. I'm Catholic, and trying to live the essence of the Gospel message is what I try to be about," I told columnist Mike Haynes of the Amarillo (TX) Globe News. And part of living the Gospel message is being centered in faith, having time for family, being concerned about others. I'm not the poster guy for all that, but I try. What's more, its Liz and my role to make sure our children have a wholesome and emotionally healthy upbringing. And I have some additional expertise in the latter area. Besides having been a journalist, I was also a counselor who worked with family system dynamics. And it is my contention that the current breakdown of the family in America (parents being physically or emotionally abusive, or absent, or addicted to alcohol, drugs, gambling, media entertainment, work) is creating a constellation of societal problems, I told ABC News in Monterey, California. Because of these dysfunctional family dynamics (and they seem to be everywhere these days), kids grow up depressed, angry and emotionally empty. As a result, incidence of domestic violence, street violence, addiction, mental and emotional problems spike in kind for the next generation, and the next... "So to heal the country, you have to heal the family. Theres just no way around it," I told the Bangor (ME) News. And we have a solid plan to do this, based on research weve done in Arthur, Illinois, Holbrook, Arizona, Carmel Valley, California, etc. Snow shoveling... Now when I'm not grappling with these pressing societal issues, my wife Liz is beating me at "Scrabble" (an issue in itself), or I'm playing racquetball with some buddies, or I'm trading baseball cards with our kids. That is, I'm doing all this in between doing chores for Liz. During a campaign talk in Wichita, Kansas, I was asked what the first thing I'd do as president was. I responded that "wed get to D.C. in January, so it would probably be snowing. If that, indeed, were the case -- the first thing Liz would have me do is: shovel the walk. " That will probably be a new one for the Secret Service. And so it goes... Joe

Comments are closed.