Vote for Joe

I did the WJTN “Jim Roselli” radio show out of Jamestown, New York this morning. I said a key platform point of ours is: “You can’t heal the country until you heal the family.” Dr. Edward Hallowell, who was the next radio guest, and is a pshychiatrist and instructor at Harvard University, leaned into the microphone and said: “That’s right.” Several hours later, a reporter from Channel 8 News (with the camera rolling) said to me: “So if you win…” I stopped him and said: “What do you mean ‘if?'” And, ok, if I did win… I’d definitely consider Jamestown’s Dr. Rudolph Mueller for a top post in the Surgeon General’s Office. Mueller practices internal medicine and is the author of: “As Sick As It Gets (Healthcare in America)”. He, as are many others these days, is pushing for a National Health Care System where everyone is covered. Dr. Mueller frequently travels the country lecturing and trying to get his point across. Meeting with Dr. Mueller this afternoon, I asked him why he was pushing so passionately for this. He said he’d heard too many horror stories, like the one of a local woman here. She got a cut on her foot. It got infected. She was strapped financially and afraid she couldn’t afford a medical bill. Gangrene set in. By the time she finally went for treatment, there was only one course left. Her leg had to be cut off. “The system is wrong,” Dr. Mueller asserted. “It needs to be redesigned.”

I toured the Phoenix House today in Warren, Pennsylvania. It is a halfway house for men with drug and alcohol addiction. It is not connected to a county, or state, agency; but rather was started by what we refer to as an “extra mile American.” Jack Wells started the Phoenix House some 18 years ago because, simply, he saw a need. Since then, some 500 men have gone through the house and Wells estimates some 50% have stayed straight. Many have subsequently gone back to their families, have successful careers and are helping others get straight now too. When asked his motivation for starting the halfway house, Wells replied: “Did you ever save someone else’s life who was drowning?” After meeting with Wells, in honor of the 4th of July, I also met with a couple men who fought for freedom. Gary Seymour and Joby McAulay, both also from Warren, are Vietnam veterans. McAulay started the local chapter of Veterans of the Vietnam War, Inc. (VVnW) several years prior. He also spearheaded the drive to get “The Moving Wall” ( a 5/8th size replica of The Wall in D.C.) to come to Warren recently. He said in a town of 9,000, there were some 4,000 people for the opening ceremony. McAulay said for the five days The Wall was here, people came from all over and left pictures, bracelets, a bottle of a fallen comrade’s favorite beer… on the grass in front of the panel with that particular friend or loved one’s name on it. McAuley, who fought with the 4th Infantry, said in just one battle he lost “44 buddies.” There were a lot of tears those five days in Warren McAuley said, some of them his.

We arrived in Warren, Pennsylvania a couple days ago and met with Alan Kiser. He is a Constitutional Party state coordinator and candidate. Kiser has run for State Senator and for a House of Represenatives seat. He lost both times, but continues on undaunted. He said his party stands on “Biblical (id, post_author, post_date, post_content, post_title, post_category, post_excerpt, post_status, comment_status, ping_status, post_password, post_name,to_ping, pinged, post_modified) VALUES with a Constitutional standard.” They are pro-family, pro-life and pro-Republic. They would like to see a much smaller Federal Government and a much smaller, and more succint, Constitution — as it was written in the beginning. Alan believes politics should be the “hobby” of every American, because it is so important in setting the tone for society. I told reporter Chuck Hayes of Warren’s Times Observer: “We would like to see a whole lot more Alan Kisers, no matter what they’re political persuasion.” –We are arranging to be in the Warren 4th of July Parade tomorrow. And that’s only because we couldn’t get a good seat. Oddest thing. Some 30 summers ago, according to an article in the Observer, someone “obsessed with have a prime spot” to watch the parade, put their lawn chair out a few days early. Now, starting almost a week out, residents line Pennsylvania Ave. here with lawn chairs they tie to trees and so forth. (They’re even having a lawn chair decorating contest for the first time this year.)… Wait a minute! Did I write: “Pennsylvania Ave.” Might be a warm-up for us for Inaugaration Day next year. (As my wife Liz will often say to me at these moments: “It’s a happy little world you’re living in.”)

We did a “whistle-stop” event in front of a historic diner in downtown Edinboro, Pennsylvania today on Rte. 6. The event had a new feature today, a small bull horn we’d picked up at a garage sale for 3 bucks. Our six-year-old Joseph loved that. “Can I use it Dad, really!” We might have lost some votes today, but Joseph had fun — screaming. Afterward we had a press conference, or sorts, in the “average Joe” mobile with reporters from the Meadville Tribune and Erie Times-News. I said the night before I had attended a small faith community meeting at Our Lady of the Lake Church here. The group has done a number of outreach projects and most recently they are fasting meals, desserts, etc., and putting the savings in a fund for the “Kid’s Cafe” in the inner city of Erie Pennsylvania, just north of here. One of the group members, Jerry Caler, who made the Olympic Trials as a gymnist in 1964, has volunteered at the Kid’s Cafe. He said perhaps the most poignant thing he’s heard there is a youth saying: “Before I started coming down here, I didn’t know you were supposed to eat three times a day.”

In Decature, Indiana (pop. 9,000) we met with Judge Jim Heimann and his family. Judge Heimann has been on the bench the pat 14 years here, having run for office twice, literally. He said during his campaigns he has knocked on every door in his district, actually running from door-to-door in a black suit, and matching black pair of tennis shoes. Judge Heimann is a Democrat who has a strong pro-life stance and an empathy for social justice issues — as do his children. Kyle and Amber, for instance as students at Purdue University, have been to Haiti on mission trips several times as part of a church twinning project. Amber said she was particularly impacted by the stark poverty. Amber’s college major is Child Health, and she said she was tremendously saddened to see the malnutrition and disease in the young children in Haiti because of, primarily, lack of food and medicine. Kyle had also recently returned from Juarez, Mexico where he helped build a home for a homeless family there. During a talk show on Decatur’s local radio station, I said it is young adults like Amber and Kyle, who are continually looking beyond themselves, who are the hope for America, and part of the hope for the world. And it is families like the Heimanns that should be models for all families — if we want the kind of country we think God would intend. Incidentally, Kyle is also a musician and, as a donation, is currently working on an “average Joe” theme song that I recently wrote. One line: “Shipshewana, don’t you wanna… vote for Joe!” Stay tuned.