Official Announcement of My Campaign for State Legislature

The following was my original submission to the Advocate for a Guest Column announcing my candidacy. The editor told me that I had to cut the number of words in half to have it published. I obliged and resubmitted it. However, I wanted to share my original thoughts here:

I was stunned reading the news that Mark Fraizer had lost his primary election. Even more shocking was learning that his victorious opponent, Thad Claggett, was officially unopposed for the general election in November. Truth be told, I shouldn’t have been shocked by this news on either side. The state of our political system is in dire straits; more so than you may realize.

We are teetering on the edge of a possible collapse of everything we have come to know and take for granted about our Democratic Republic. The extremist elements of our society are becoming more mainstream as trust in our institutions – eroding for decades – has reached new lows and produced the threat of authoritarianism. This has been accompanied and even preceded by open corruption across the board. These conditions didn’t come out of nowhere, though. They have been festering for decades as the working class has felt the pain of a system which has refused to address their needs.

Not only have those in control of our economic and political design ignored or undermined the welfare of the general public, but they have also fanned the flames of resentment between groups within the populace. Feeding into bigotry and fears of change, those at the top have sat back and enjoyed the fruits of a society deeply divided. Let’s be clear, the Democrats have their significant share of the blame for this (and that is a discussion for a later date), but no organization has benefited from it or contributed to it more than the Republican Party.

Creating a sense that imminent danger is afoot for “family values”, the Republican Party has managed to convince a large swath of the populace that Democrats are cultural radicals determined to convert every child into an LGBT+ community member who steals guns, supports terrorism, performs abortions, and takes your money. Mr. Claggett appears to be one of these political banshees panic-screaming into the wind about every hint of societal progress. His gross attacks on Mr. Fraizer – with whom I share very little common ground, politically – in order to win a primary help to indicate where the GOP is headed overall; down a dark path of division for the sake of power.

While the Party’s downward spiral into the proverbial abyss is not new, by any means, it is no less jarring to witness. Worse yet, they are dragging the whole of American society down the drain with them. I soundly reject this division of the people, pitting straight people against the LGBT+ community, of demonizing the homeless, of attacking reproductive rights, of fearing religious minorities, of ignoring racism and abuse of authority, of looking down our collective noses at the less fortunate, of weakening democracy, and of telling you that you can’t trust your neighbor. We are better than what the Republicans want us to believe we are. Our potential is great, and that’s why I am running as a write-in candidate for the 68th District of Ohio’s House of Representatives.