Reason for Running

9 October 2003

Don’t expect slick politics from me - I’m a working man.  Sometimes I work for other people and sometimes for myself, it depends on where the work is - I am directly involved in this economy of ours.  I have been laid off and I’ve had to lay people off - both were painful to me.  I can see what is happening to our economy and have some ideas of how to make it better.  I want to press those ideas to the forefront for congressional evaluation - it will Make America Better.

As a young man I served in the United States military.  I didn’t like it, the uniforms were green then and we called it "The Big Green Machine", but I served.  We trained to fight wars - then we were given the job of "winning hearts and minds".  We were not spectacularly successful - it was a painful lesson.  Today I see the same thing happening again, it is not a failure of the troops - it is a failure of planning.  I want to inject my reasoning and my experiences into the highest planning processes - it will Make America Better.

Over the years I’ve traveled to some foreign countries - always an enlightening experience.  I’ve learned that though the words are different, across the world the tangle of hopes and dreams are similar.  The hopes and dreams are similar - but - the priorities are very different.  And rightfully so, everyone has to face their most immediate threat or need.  Adjusting this mass of priorities to minimize conflict requires a great deal of agonizing negotiation.  While I don’t personally have a talent for this, the United States government employs many people who do.  I want to argue in high places that they be allowed to do their job - it will Make America Better.

The experiences of the better part of a lifetime have taught me to put my trust in American Ingenuity. American Ingenuity showed the world to how to find oil, taught the world mass production, gave the world the automobile, populated the world’s skies with jet airliners, proved to the world that grain can be grown by the shipload, and introduced the world to the telephone, television, and computers.  What is next?  I have some ideas, but so do millions of other Americans - I want to push my ideas and encourage theirs.  There is room and need for all.  I want to repeatedly strike the spark of American Ingenuity - it will Make America Better.

"To Make America Better" - that’s why I’m running for Vice President of the United States of America.

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