Vote for Joe

I got an e-mail from a supporter in New York City yesterday.   A couple exerpts from Jared Adams’s letter:   “I voted for you in the 2008 election… You were, and remain, the best candidate for the job.   The idea of a third party has always been viewed as a far off dream buried within history’s pileup of two-party system candidates, and even more so by the now virutally invulnerable reliance on exorbitant campaign contributions from insurance companies, major media outlets and big business in general.   There is an insidious outer shell that enshrouds Washington, seemingly impenetrable unless one is securely shoved deep into the pockets of these contributors for the ride in.   Hope rests with very few, but with you sir more than most.   You’re very existence is that of a bright beacon…   The time is now more than ever…”   Note:   If you are a supporter out there who feels the same as Mr. Adams, the time to act to support the campaign is right now!   There needs to be a groundswell of people putting up Vote for Joe homemade yard signs now; people renting billboard space (and designing the billboard); we need people downloading the new Hand-Out from the top of  our home page and passing it out in their neighborhoods now; we need people ordering bumper stickers and buttons now; we need people writing letters to the editor about the campaign now, e-mailing  others about the campaign now…   In fact, we’re asking people who are really interested in seeing this third party thing happen, to sacrifice all kinds of time and resources to make it happen.   To look viable in the year 2012, things have to start happening now with the campaign!   Think of what a “David vs. Goliath” story this would be. Note 2:  This is my last run.      

From Liz:   As we get ready to embark on yet another campaign tour, I find myself busy, impatient, and more busy.   But I’m probably not the only one.   It seems to me most families feel pressure from too much activity these days.   A rush that squeezes in from every side and cuts into quality time with the kids, the spouse.   We have to be able to say “no” to some of this extraneous activity, and stick to it.   But what to say no to?   …Judy and Pete Hokey in Cleveland just said “no” to a job for Judy, that while bringing in some extra cash, would mean less time with her son and her husband.   It’s imperative parents provide prudent leadership and vision for a family — or the family may well perish in a sea of busyness.

In Chicopee, Massachussetts, we talked with Jackie and Bob Mashia on our last tour.   They have a modest, one-story ranch style home.   On the roof are four solar panels that were put in in the early ’80s.   Bob said the panels heat the water for the water heater and saves him, on average, $100 a month.   The initial outlay for the panels, with a government rebate, was about $2,500.   When you do the math, the Mashias have saved a considerable amount of money over the years and the environment has benefitted as well.   The Mashias also have a large rain barrel out back.   They use the rain water to water their garden.   Note:   Last year the Mashias took a homeless woman into their home for awhile.   The reason:   She needed a place and Jackie said its, well, what Jesus would do.

On our last tour, we stopped in Lee, New Hampshire, where groups of Republicans and Democrats were demonstrating about health care reform on a public green there one morning.   We stopped and talked to both sides.   On the Republican side, the consensus, basically, was that health care in America wasn’t “broken” (although some of the group acknowledged it could use some changes).   For instance, one woman said there should be a cap on money you can receive in health care lawsuits so, in turn, insurance to doctors and other health care providers wasn’t as high…   On the Democrat side, people were primarily for the health care reform being proposed because they felt more people (especially the low-income people) should have more access to quality health care…   Frederick Berrien, MD, from Exeter, New Hampshire, was lobbying for Universal Health Care coverage.   In a paper he was passing out, he writes:   “Universal health insurance will decrease overall costs by providing access to covered preventive services and lower cost acute care, thus preventing the progression of expensive illnesses.   The uninsured and under-insured presently do not seek preventive care such as mammograms, hypertension treatment, etc.   They also delay in obtaining care for acute illnesses until preventable problems have progressed to debilitating conditions…”   Like, say, some stroke victims…   The other day I was near the West Side Market in Cleveland and heard a distraught man telling a friend what he’d just witnessed at the Market.   A man was apparently having a stroke, had slumped to the ground and someone was frantically calling 911 — when the victim looked up and pleaded with the caller to put down the phone.   “I don’t have insurance and can’t pay for this!”   The man relating the story shook his head and continued:   “Ironically, those might have been the last words this man ever says.   And we’re arguing about health care reform in this country?”

We were in Sockbridge, Massachussetts, over the weekend.   Stockbridge is in the Berkshire Mountains and boasts being the home of the National Norman Rockwell Museum.   At one point, I was in the Stockbridge City Building looking at some Rockwell paintings.   A man was standing beside me looking at the paintings as well.   “That (1950s) was such a good era,” he said.   “The line between right and wrong was a lot clearer than it is today.   That all started to change in the ’60s.”   …Later this day in Lee, Massachussetts, we came across the Retro Pop Shop (featuring: “vintage signs, cool memorabilia & more”).   An absolutely  amazing place chocked full of stuff from the ’50s.   I told owner J. Pierre Duhan that we were asking the American public to go back to the ’50s — when there was a slower pace of life, neighbors helped neighbors more, and rotary phones made you actually think about whether you actually wanted to go to the effort of calling someone, or not.   J. Pierre pointed around his shop at the neon pink flamingo, the old Coca Cola trays, stainless steel egg beaters… and said:   “Cool, the ’50s is where I live man.   You have my vote.”   Note:   A local paper here  carried a front page newspaper piece this weekend saying this was the 40th-year anniversary of “Woodstock.”   A time when ‘right and wrong’ started to blur significantly?