tekkierich
05-04-2008, 03:11 PM
This is an open letter to the “Ron Paul community” online.
There seems to be a thought that there should be a high bar to be set for the community support of liberty minded candidates. We want to be sure these folks fit our ideals and will not embarrass us with scandal. This is understood, however, we should not lose the fact that there are many candidates out there that are deserved of your effort to seek them, vet out them in your own particular way and support them. Some of these candidates will win their races, some will not, but a strong display of fundraising, effort and vote totals will gain us respect and a future “seat at the table” regardless.
I am the Republican nominated candidate for the U.S. House in District Two (http://www.richardmatthews.org/) of Maryland, something I never conceived I would be doing at this time last year. I am running, because via the Ron Paul campaign I witnessed the hope and possibility of real political change in our lifetime. When organizing our delegates in Maryland many where also encouraged by our local groups (I was a meetup organizer) to run for other office. I took that challenge head on when I noted the lack of opposition to our incumbent Democrat, who voted to reauthorize the Patriot Act and continue funding the Iraq war. Along with the “big spender” label that he clearly deserves, my district’s incumbent is EXACTLY the type of politician I myself could never vote for. You will not find race in the country with more contrast.
I am one of you. By way of introduction, my name is Richard Matthews, I am a computer networking and security engineer by trade. I live in Maryland with my wonderful wife. We are expecting our first child in the next 30 days or so. Running for office is not the best move I have ever made for my current professional life, or crowed personal and family life. It is a sacrifice that I am willing to bear, however, to further the cause of liberty.
I have been a supporter of limited government and liberty for as many years as I have had political thought. It may stem from reading Orwell’s 1984 in high school, it may be due to an upbringing where I had to be rather self-reliant, I am not sure. Previous to this election cycle I had been a member of the Libertarian party and in general always supported the philosophy of maintenance of an unobtrusive government. I was cynical about achieving any of these ideals in reality, however.
This election cycle I heard of Ron Paul and his platform in May. I have been on board and working my tail off since that time. Some of the highlights of my activities:
- I organized the Anne Arundel County Ron Paul meetup (http://ronpaul.meetup.com/214/) group with over 200 members. Amongst other activities this group sponsored a large weekly sign waving through out the fall and into the winter.
- I helped organize and personally printed 6500 postcards (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=25841) to be sent to third party members in the state notifying them of our deadline to register as a Republican to vote for Dr. Paul in our closed primary.
- I ran for delegate (http://www.ronpaul2008.com/states/maryland/list-of-delegates-alternates/) to the national convention and organized others to fill the 5 remaining available ballot slots in my district.
- I acted as a technical coordinator for a high priced piece of voter data software the Ron Paul meetups bought for the primary.
- I organized and participated in a 5 day trip to New Hampshire with three other Ron Paul supporters from Maryland. We were not tourist during this trip, we slept in our sleeping bags in Operation Live Free or Die (http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071209/NEWS/712090352) housing and canvassed from sun up to sun down every day. (Incidentally you can see the back of my head and bald spot on the CNN feed from his NH primary after party)
Bottom line, I am one of you. Many other candidates (http://paulcongress.com/) out there also have plenty of skin in this game. We are running to further these causes that we all share. I have summed them up in a campaign theme of Liberty, Peace and Prosperity.
Please do your due diligence to check candidates out including myself. Most of us did A LOT of home work on Ron Paul before deciding that he in fact was the real deal and worthy of our support. What I am asking of you, is to in fact DO that homework. In the majority of cases our candidacies deserve your support.
I have placed a tool (http://www.richardmatthews.org/vote/)on my website to assist in your vetting of me. As I do not have a voting record in any previous office, I have developed a tool where I do vote on all non-procedural bills before the House of Representatives. A good amount of time goes in to both developing “How Would Matthews Vote” (http://www.richardmatthews.org/vote/) and researching the bills before I vote on them. I aim to have a comment on each bill, but due to time constraints I am not able to take it to this level yet.
If elected this tool will be extended, and every single vote will have public comment of why I voted as I did within twenty-four hours. Any time I vote yes, I will include a statement, similar in concept to the enumerated powers act (http://www.richardmatthews.org/read/?The-Enumerated-Powers-Act-HR-1359-3767), regarding specifically what section of the Constitution allowed me to do so. Dr. Paul is known as Dr. No. I want to be known as Mr. Transparent.
In closing, please, vet us. I know many are looking for a “service” or other outside authority to do so, but really the onus is on you. Just as you probably did for Dr. Paul, please spend a few nights researching our congressional candidates (http://www.paulcongress.com/Candidates2.html). The future of our movement can be furthered with successful campaigns for congress and lower offices.
http://www.richardmatthews.org/vote/
There seems to be a thought that there should be a high bar to be set for the community support of liberty minded candidates. We want to be sure these folks fit our ideals and will not embarrass us with scandal. This is understood, however, we should not lose the fact that there are many candidates out there that are deserved of your effort to seek them, vet out them in your own particular way and support them. Some of these candidates will win their races, some will not, but a strong display of fundraising, effort and vote totals will gain us respect and a future “seat at the table” regardless.
I am the Republican nominated candidate for the U.S. House in District Two (http://www.richardmatthews.org/) of Maryland, something I never conceived I would be doing at this time last year. I am running, because via the Ron Paul campaign I witnessed the hope and possibility of real political change in our lifetime. When organizing our delegates in Maryland many where also encouraged by our local groups (I was a meetup organizer) to run for other office. I took that challenge head on when I noted the lack of opposition to our incumbent Democrat, who voted to reauthorize the Patriot Act and continue funding the Iraq war. Along with the “big spender” label that he clearly deserves, my district’s incumbent is EXACTLY the type of politician I myself could never vote for. You will not find race in the country with more contrast.
I am one of you. By way of introduction, my name is Richard Matthews, I am a computer networking and security engineer by trade. I live in Maryland with my wonderful wife. We are expecting our first child in the next 30 days or so. Running for office is not the best move I have ever made for my current professional life, or crowed personal and family life. It is a sacrifice that I am willing to bear, however, to further the cause of liberty.
I have been a supporter of limited government and liberty for as many years as I have had political thought. It may stem from reading Orwell’s 1984 in high school, it may be due to an upbringing where I had to be rather self-reliant, I am not sure. Previous to this election cycle I had been a member of the Libertarian party and in general always supported the philosophy of maintenance of an unobtrusive government. I was cynical about achieving any of these ideals in reality, however.
This election cycle I heard of Ron Paul and his platform in May. I have been on board and working my tail off since that time. Some of the highlights of my activities:
- I organized the Anne Arundel County Ron Paul meetup (http://ronpaul.meetup.com/214/) group with over 200 members. Amongst other activities this group sponsored a large weekly sign waving through out the fall and into the winter.
- I helped organize and personally printed 6500 postcards (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=25841) to be sent to third party members in the state notifying them of our deadline to register as a Republican to vote for Dr. Paul in our closed primary.
- I ran for delegate (http://www.ronpaul2008.com/states/maryland/list-of-delegates-alternates/) to the national convention and organized others to fill the 5 remaining available ballot slots in my district.
- I acted as a technical coordinator for a high priced piece of voter data software the Ron Paul meetups bought for the primary.
- I organized and participated in a 5 day trip to New Hampshire with three other Ron Paul supporters from Maryland. We were not tourist during this trip, we slept in our sleeping bags in Operation Live Free or Die (http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071209/NEWS/712090352) housing and canvassed from sun up to sun down every day. (Incidentally you can see the back of my head and bald spot on the CNN feed from his NH primary after party)
Bottom line, I am one of you. Many other candidates (http://paulcongress.com/) out there also have plenty of skin in this game. We are running to further these causes that we all share. I have summed them up in a campaign theme of Liberty, Peace and Prosperity.
Please do your due diligence to check candidates out including myself. Most of us did A LOT of home work on Ron Paul before deciding that he in fact was the real deal and worthy of our support. What I am asking of you, is to in fact DO that homework. In the majority of cases our candidacies deserve your support.
I have placed a tool (http://www.richardmatthews.org/vote/)on my website to assist in your vetting of me. As I do not have a voting record in any previous office, I have developed a tool where I do vote on all non-procedural bills before the House of Representatives. A good amount of time goes in to both developing “How Would Matthews Vote” (http://www.richardmatthews.org/vote/) and researching the bills before I vote on them. I aim to have a comment on each bill, but due to time constraints I am not able to take it to this level yet.
If elected this tool will be extended, and every single vote will have public comment of why I voted as I did within twenty-four hours. Any time I vote yes, I will include a statement, similar in concept to the enumerated powers act (http://www.richardmatthews.org/read/?The-Enumerated-Powers-Act-HR-1359-3767), regarding specifically what section of the Constitution allowed me to do so. Dr. Paul is known as Dr. No. I want to be known as Mr. Transparent.
In closing, please, vet us. I know many are looking for a “service” or other outside authority to do so, but really the onus is on you. Just as you probably did for Dr. Paul, please spend a few nights researching our congressional candidates (http://www.paulcongress.com/Candidates2.html). The future of our movement can be furthered with successful campaigns for congress and lower offices.
http://www.richardmatthews.org/vote/