average JoeOhio Tour cont: We are in motion again, heading into the Norhteast sector of Ohio. We stopped in Mentor where I sat in on an excellent talk by North Canton Catholic psychologist Ray Guarendi. Guarendi, who has a nationally syndicated radio show, said he had 10 children himself — and none of them were “strong willed.” He said the reason for this is because he and his wife are “stronger willed.” His point is that modern culture is allowing for more and more lax discipline, which in turn allows for more and more problems with children. And in regard to culture in general these days, Mr. Guarendi said modern culture is exceedingly “shallow and seductive” to youth. He said he’s talked to so many parents who look at their children at age 18 and lament: “But I didn’t raise them that way!” Mr. Guarendi’s response: “But you understimated what (culture) did.” …Interestingly, the talk was at St. John Vianney Church. St. John Vianney once said in a sermon that if your children are going to Hell, there’s a good chance you’re going to Hell. And he exorted parents to supervise their children at every turn and help them in as many ways as possible to be formed in the ways of holiness.
10/2/07
We’ve come back to Cleveland for a week to catch up on paper work and plan the next few campaign tours. (We are close to topping some 200,000 miles of campaign and research tours since we started this some 15 years ago.) Inbetween planning, I’ve been playing some dusty, back yard football with the boys. Joseph is developing quite a stiff arm.
9/23/07
We traveled to Peebles, Ohio, where I talked with Fr. Paul Donohue who is a Comboni Missionary for the Catholic Church. He was stationed in Kitgum, Uganda for a time. When I asked him about the poverty he saw, he said “poverty is a cultural concept.” He said many in Kitgum were part of subsistence farmer families who were just getting by. He said at one point he took a boy from the Sudan (Third World) to Italy (First World). Going down a street the first day, the boy stopped and stared at a woman — with an obvious mental disorder — walking down the street animatedly talking to herself. The boy later said to Fr. Paul that his country would never be so poor that a person wouldn’t have “someone else to talk to.” Note: During Campaign 2000, we interviewed a priest in Hart, Michigan, who takes upper-middle class American suburbanites to some of the poorest parts of Mexico. He doesn’t take them there to help. He takes them there to experience the solid sense of faith, family and community that can develop in places where people are unfettered by all kinds of material pursuits. The priest calls it a: “reverse mission.” (This doesn’t mean, of course, that people in the Third World shouldn’t have all the basics in food, medicine, shelter…)
9/22/07
During a campaign leg in California, I told CBS News in Monterey that to heal the country, you have to heal the family. I am a former counselor who worked extensively with family system dynamics. If a child grows up in a dysfunctional home and is neglected, verbally abused, physically abused… there is, for instance, internalized anger in the victim. Years later this explodes in violence on the streets, or domestic violence in the home, or prolonged repressed anger that ‘implodes’ physically into a breakdown of the immune system and/or implodes into psychological problems. Those who grow up shorted emotionally also are filled with internal holes they try to fill with compulsive sexual acting out, drugs, compulsive overeating, workaholism… Just look around society today, I told the BG (Bowling Green State University) News… I have just completed an extensive updating of our Heal the Family position paper.
9/21/07
We have stopped at Mark and Judy Hedge’s small farm in Jelloway, Ohio. Mark has put up an array of solar panels and is also the final stages of constructing a wind turbine. The farm is totally off the grid. During a talk at the Green Party National Convention recently, I told the audience I intended to turn the White House “green.” (I might even have it painted that color to stress the point.) There will be solar panels on the roof (like the Carter administration had), a wind turbine and the front yard will be turned into a perma-culture. Won’t that all be fun…
9/20/07
I took some backroads into Bellville and Butler, Ohio, today. I put up a flyer in the IGA Store in Butler (pop. 500) then headed into Bellville where the editor of the Bellville newspaper told me someone had called from Butler to let her know I was in the area. (I love small towns.) While in the V&M Family Restaurant in Bellville, I noticed the Ten Commandments on a plaque on the wall and on the menu it said: “Feel free to say a prayer of thanks before eating…” –Al and Joe. I talked to Joe’s son Shawn who said they are Christians who want others to feel free to pray in public here… I then walked about town passing out flyers and talking to people on the street — without as much fanfare as when John Kerry stopped here briefly during Campaign 2004.
9/18/07
average JoeOhio Tour cont: I gave a talk at St. Peter’s Church in Loudonville about abortion. I said we have to stridently work to end precipating factors leading to abortion. And one of these top factors would be: poverty… Later in the day I attended a youth soccer game and passed out campaign literature inbetween quarters. I also wrote a press release for the Loudonville Times newspaper. In it I said that as “concerned parents” Liz and I are worried about global warming, school shootings, 48 million people without healthcare insurance…
9/17/07
We have come to Loudonville, Ohio, where I wrote on one of our flyers: “Loudonville… get LOUD for Joe!” (I got a million of ’em.) We are staying at Rita and Chuck Henley’s small farm. The Henley’s are on fire for their Catholic faith. They help their neighbors, they help the disadvantaged, they take seriously the spiritual formation of their children… It is these kind of unsung heroes who form the back bone of our country… We stumped in the downtown area of Loudonville, passing out campaign information and putting up flyers. My father-in-law Stuart met a woman who enthusiastically led him around town to pass out information at the American Legion Hall, a restaurant called “Bagels, Baubles and Brew,” (great place– get the “Just Enough” bagel), and so on… When Stuart got back, he said he wanted to start receiving a: “campaign salary.” Note: This afternoon I was interviewed by phone by the editor of a new e-magazine out of San Diego called The Naughty American. The editor said the title is reflective of people (like independent presidential candidates) who are willing to challenge the system. During the interview, he asked me how my addiction counseling background would help me as president. I said it has given me key insight into some of the systemic problems of our society. Adrenalin addiction, for one. I said so many people, at this stage in society, have come from stressful homes that fostered the adrenalin addiction. When they get out of the home, they carry the addiction with them. To keep the adrenalin going, some will continually drive fast and recklessly — as our nation’s highway deaths and maiming escalate. Others will get into a string of stressful/dysfunctional relationships to keep the adrenalin going — and America’s divorce rate skyrockets. Others will continually create worrisome debt — credit card debt alone in this country is off the scales. Others still will be drawn to high stress jobs, which will create all kinds of physical and emotional maladies — as our nation’s healthcare costs increase exponentially… I could go on with this, but stay tuned for my first “State of the Nation Address.” It will prove to be, oh, a little different.
9/15/07
A story about our campaign appeared in the Lima News yesterday. It noted that we were trying to go to all 88 counties in Ohio (we’ve been to all 88 Ohio counties twice before in past election cycles).
9/14/07
Met with Phil Pinks in Dunkirk, Ohio. He said his grandaughter had an extreme case of Down Syndrome and was given virtually no chance of going to school, etc. However the extended family rallied around the girl and she is now 13 and enrolled in school. Pinks said he has done fundraising and helped with other activities for the handi-capped. He said his desire to help comes from his own mother, who would regularly help “hobos” and others down on their luck. “She did it because of her faith,” Pinks smiled… We then headed to Ada, Ohio, and the annual Herb Festival. I walked about the downtown area passing out flyers and talking to people. A good number of them had either seen the recent NBC and/or Fox News pieces on our campaign. One person I bumped into at the festival was Pastor G. Alan Brown from Sugar Grove United Methodist Church. When we got to the topic of war, Pastor Brown said: “Christians can’t propogate violence as a means to peace.”