“average JoeOhio Tour” cont: I talked at a Catholic Church in Alliance, Ohio, this morning. Fr. Mike here introduced me by saying he’d seen the Channel 5 News spot the other night, and hoped I’d do well. “And then, well, here you are,” he smiled… A story in the Canton newspaper appeared about our stop in Massilon the day before. The tag line read: Hillary? Rudy? Fuggettaboutem! The headline then read: “Average Joe Wants Your Vote” I liked that. And although my spell check is telling me ‘fuggettaboutem’ is not a word — it is in Cleveland… We did a whistle-stop in Alliance, Ohio, today. A reporter fromt he Alliance newspaper asked what was driving me. I said “we used to be concerned about our kids doing OK in English Class. But now we’re more concerned about them being shot to death in English Class.” A news team form Channel 19 out of Cleveland drove an hour and a half to film the whistle-stop event in Alliance. The reporter asked me what I thought was the most significant current issue. I said I thought global warming was. She immediately leaned in and said: “But Joe, were in a war!” I said if there was no world left, being in a war (one way or the other) would be a mute point… We then headed on to Warren, Ohio.
7/25/07
“average JoeOhio Tour” cont: In Massilon, Ohio, I talked at St. Mary’s Church. I said I believed in a “Consistent Life Ethic,” which means I’m against abortion, poverty, pollution and anything else that can end life prematurely. We then did a whilste-stop event in downtown Massilon. Reporter Joseph Gartrell, from nearby Canton’s newspaper, had a cast on his arm. He told me he’d broken his wrist recently and just one trip to the osteopath to have the cast put on cost a whopping (in his estimation, and mine): $900. Healthcare costs in America are just getting nuts… We then headed on to Alliance, Ohio, where I talked in a downtown Four Square Church called: The Mountain of the Lord. I said we as a society have become so unplugged from the reality of, well, sin. I said to the congregation that several years ago I’d given a talk to a graduate level theology class at Bluffton University. During the talk, I said that if one is standing on a street corner with their spouse, only the most morally decensitized individual would intently stare at a scantily clad person walking up the street for more than, say, a few seconds. (Liz would slap me if it were longer.) Yet we think nothing of sitting down with our spouse for hours staring at scantily clad men and women through a TV screen, during prime time. And the difference is? Note: Rev. Philip Shepard and his wife couldn’t have been more welcoming. What’s more, Rev. Shepard told me he’d be participating in a oval track race that weekend called: “Faster Pastor.” And if that wasn’t enough, the beginning of his e-mail address is: revumup@ — and I don’t think he’s just talking race cars.
7/23/07
“average JoeOhio Tour” cont: We are back in Ohio… Early this week we stumped in downtown Wadsworth during an outdoor town basketball tournament. We then went to nearby Silver Creek Park where we talked with a group of older couples who had come here to exercise. Healthcare became the predominant part of the conversation, with several people expressing dismay that the AMA in general, and most traditional physicians in specific, aren’t more accepting of natural medicines. For instance, one woman said she uses red rice yeast — which is recommended by some homeopaths — to help with her cholestoral level… The next day we stumped at a park in Barberton that hosted Silver League Softball. This is for adults age 60, or older. And judging by how most of these guys still get around the bases, it’s apparent some of them are taking red rice yeast… We did a whistle-stop in Barberton, Ohio, the next day. A reporter from Channel 5 News out of Cleveland mentioned to my wife Liz that it was apparent we didn’t have the same budget as the rest of the more high-profile candidates. Liz responded that the last presidential campaign topped $1 billion — for the first time. Liz said she thought that money could be better spent on, say, children sleeping on inner city streets or children starving in the Third World. The reporter said that was a good point… We then stumped with a group of Kiwanis who were gathered in a nearby park in Barberton. One man said that we have lost almost any semblence of common sense in D.C. I said: “Yep.” …The next day a story appeared about us on the front page of the Akron Beacon Journal with a headline that read: White House or Bust… (That’s on the back window of our campaign vehicle, done with white shoe polish.)
7/19/07
After finishing up at the Green Party Convention, we decided to do a “Keystone State Tour” through Pennsylvania. In Lewistown, my son Joseph and I played basketball on a Sunday afternoon with a group of high school students. They were, by far, some of the most respectful, well mannered youth we’ve come across in the country. I have often talked about the degree of civility in general (and youth respect for adults in specifics) that we’ve lost in this country. The next day I told reporter that, not only have we lost civility, but we’ve lost a good deal of common sense. Fr. Bateman at Sacred Heart Church here has a bumper sticker that shows a little unborn baby in the womb with the words: “At 24 days the heart starts beating.” To think this is anything other than a small human being is, well, so tremendously devoid of common sense. I also said that in the face of global warming, I looked at the environment as a Pro-Life issue as well. “No environment, no life,” I said… In Dubois, Pennsylvania, I told ABC News that Liz and I are running as “concerned parents” who want to make sure there is an environment (read: world) left for our children. What sane parent wouldn’t? The next day during a whistle-stop event in downtown Dubois, I told a reporter from the Courier-Express newspaper that we must cut back on our fossil fuel use exponentially (read: sacrifice) and in tandem increase exponentially our use of solar, wind, geothermal and other forms of clean, renewable energy.
7/15/07
We traveled from the debate in D.C. to the Green Party National Convention in Reading, Pennsylvania. The three days at the Convention were a whirlwind for us. I had declared to vy for the Green Party nomination among a field of some 10 (or more) candidates. Our platform (with a few exceptions) lines up closely with such Green Party “Values” as: grassroots democracy, social justice, decentralization, community-based economics, diversity… Another value is ecological wisdom, which we believe, in the face of the mounting global warming crisis is key to making it through this stage of history. And the Green Party, by far, has the sanest plan for reversing global warming, in my belief… The first day of the Convention, our family was interviewed by Reading’s newspaper. The next day a story appeared saying that this “family from Cleveland” strongly backed many of these values. What’s more, the story carried a cute picture of our four-year-old Jonathan passing out information… Later in a press conference, I said that our administration would not only push for Americans to cut back dramatically on their fossil fuel use (in tandem with phasing in much more clean, renewable — wind, sun, geothermal… — energy; but I would turn the White House “green,” with solar panels, a wind turbine and a perma-culture in the front yard. “I would then sell organic tomatoes through the fence to spend down the national debt,” I joked (sort of)… The Convention was replete with a number of good workshops. Of the ones I attended, I particularly liked Greg Gerritt’s: Green Economy Primer for Candidates. The premise is that “prosperity is only possible in a world in which ecostystems are being restored to health, violence is being eliminated, and justice and democracy are real rather than phony.” Gerritt said we have to think “holistically,” as opposed to our currrent rather myopic system that, for the most part, revolves around money and ideas. There must be a tangible “greening” of the economy, he said. One of the participants explained some 60 towns in Sweden have gone to ‘green economies’ where there is, for instance, friendly competition in “who can cut their carbon dioxide emissions the most…” Note: During the Candidate’s Forum Friday evening, I said I was your “average Joe concerned Midwestern parent.” And what I was most concerned about was, in the face of catastrophic Climate Change, whether our children would even have a world to live in in the very near future. That is starting to ‘play well in Peioria these days.’ As it should.
7/12/07
In the last entry, I talked about participating in a debate among independent presidential candidates at the National Press Club in D.C. One of the questions dealt with each candidate’s stance on abortion. Green Party nomination candidate Kent Mesplay said he didn’t personally like abortion and saw it, to a degree, as “violent.” This, in turn (and to a degree), would seem antithetical to the Green Party’s belief in “non-violence.” However, Mr. Mesplay also said he believes, ultimately, that it is the woman’s right to choose. Our campaign carries a “Consistent Life Ethic” that sets us against abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty, poverty, pollution, nuclear proliferation… and anything else that can end life prematurely. Note 1: While I disagreed with Mr. Mesplay’s stance on abortion, I found him to be thoughtful and well versed on many of the “Green Party’s 10 Key Values,” many of which we line up with as well. Note 2: Early into the debate, Daniel Imperato (an international businessman) said he was so committed to his run that he “flew in from London” just to attend the debate. I told him I could trump that. I said I was so committed that I’d driven in from Cleveland with three young children in a small motor home to attend the debate. Point: Schriner.
7/11/07
I participated in a debate at the National Press Club in D.C. yesterday. The debate was among presidential candidates seeking the Green Party nomination. Marvin Kalb, the well-known former CBS News correspondent, moderated the debate. (The event was put on by the Independent Greens of Virginia.) The whole thing was actually quite stimulating.
7/7/07
We have crossed the Ohio line and are heading east to Washington D.C. for a debate at the National Press Club between several independent and Third Party presidential candidates. The debate is scheduled for Tuesday and is sponsored by the Independent Greens of Virginia. More on this later.
7/6/07
average JoeOhio Tour cont.: The family and I stumped in downtown Athens, Ohio, yesterday, passing out flyers in front of Brenen’s Coffee Shop. A photographer from the Athens Messenger made it a point of noting how many people were stopping to talk and learn more about the campaign. “More than most politicians I’ve seen here,” he said… We then headed north to Buchtel, Ohio, (pop. the only gas station closed a couple months ago). At St. Mary of the Hills Church, Fr. John Mucha said that this school district was the poorest one in the state. Fr. Mucha is originally from Cleveland and said he has spent considerable time learning the history here …in order to understand the people. He said the area was predominately Irish coal miners who had extremely hard lives in the mines. As a result, said Fr. Mucha, there was more proclivity among many of the men to drink excessively, creating all the attendant domestic and community issues — which can, sometimes, play themselves out in successive generations… We then headed into Green Run, Ohio, where I passed out campaign info to a couple guys talking in a front yard. One looked at the “average Joe” title on the card and enthusiastically said: “This is cool as crap!” I took that as an endorsement. Note: Later we stopped in Crooksville, Ohio, which is the “Clay Capitol of America.” The high school teams are called the: Crooksville Ceramics. And I’m not making this up!
7/5/07
I gave a talk the night before last at Presentation’s Ministries in Peebles, Ohio. (Presentation is a Catholic Retreat House and the ministry also distributes the booklet One Bread One Body.) I said that I’d just heard that in Timua, Kenya, families live in homes that are the size of, say, a master bathroom in this country. There is no running water, no electricty and children sleep on dirt floors. Our platform calls for most people in America, at the very least, to go to house sharing, halve expenses, and send the savings to the Third World… We then traveled on to Waverly, Ohio, for the 4th of July. During a Mass there, Fr. Adam said true “liberty” (on a higher plane) is about the freedom to live things like the Beatitudes, or not. “Blessed are the peacemakers… etc.” After stumping in Waverly, we headed on to Athens, Ohio, where our family watched God’s ‘fireworks’ last night. A thunderstorm.