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View Full Version : Bad news: BJ is out for 2010




ckg242
08-06-2009, 07:26 AM
After much consideration with family and friends, I have decided not to run against David Price again in 2010.

I remain grateful to the support of over 4,500 donors across the country, giving on average just over $100 and helping us wage a surprisingly vigorous campaign against our twenty-two year incumbent. I remain grateful to over 200 grassroots volunteers who helped us staff every polling place from early voting until election day, and our out-of-state volunteers who called thousands of voters.

Our campaign would have been nothing without you, and thanks to your contributions we were noted for running a strong campaign in a district where gerrymandering gives Republicans a base of 26%.

I'm a big fan of return on investment, however, and while I was curious and passionate enough to run once, 37% is a long way from winning. Ultimately, I can't justify spending my time and your money in North Carolina's 4th District* at this time.

Instead, my attention will be focused on principled challengers like Dr. Rand Paul (KY-Senate), Peter Schiff (CT-Senate), Dr. Mike Vasovski (SC-03), and my friend Adam Kokesh (NM-03). I hope you will join me in supporting them, and other candidates we discover who have the courage to fight our slide into corporate fascism disguised as Keynesian neoliberalism**.

Additionally, we in North Carolina need to elect more principled Republicans to state legislature in 2010 so our next redistricting can empower voters to choose their politicians, instead of vice versa. We must also eliminate our state's tyrannical involuntary municipal annexation laws, and stop our Californicating state budget... but who's counting?

While our governments' insanity is overwhelming, ultimately, there is strength in numbers. If you haven't already, please join DownsizeDC.org so we can apply continued, transpartisan pressure to vulnerable legislators (well, at least those who haven't been gerrymandered into eternity). I also look forward to staying in touch with you through the Campaign for Liberty and Republican Liberty Caucus.

Finally, please don't get too focused on politicking that you forget to prepare yourself and your family for the challenges ahead. While we strive for change through the ballot box, recent reports suggest that our nation is sliding dangerously close to economic and social limits:
The FDIC has failed to close down several large insolvent banks, thus leading to informed speculation that it is bankrupt.
Alabama's most populous county anticipates calling the National Guard for law enforcement as a result of its pending bankruptcy.
The Army National Guard is advertising for Internment/Resettlement Specialists to assist with supervision and management of confinement and detention operations. Probably not related :-).
Healthcare "reform" driven by special interests further reduces doctor and patient freedoms and, as a special bonus, features a government mandate to encourage "death with dignity".
Just last week, Congress passed the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, which grants the FDA the authority to regulate how crops are raised and harvested, to quarantine a geographic area, to make warrantless searches of business records, and to establish a national food tracing system. Great news for Monsanto, bad news for your local foodshed.
Goldman Sachs revealed yesterday that its trading operations achieved a new record of 46 days (out of a possible 65) of greater than $100 million in profit. Yes, that's trading profits of $100 million per day on 46 separate days. It appears they're really good at trading, despite only being in business thanks to the U.S. taxpayer -- or perhaps your growing distrust of our capital markets is justified.
I'm not even going to comment on the continued sequelae of our endless bailouts and corporate welfare in the real, wealth-producing economy. As eminent economist and humanitarian Dick Cheney said, "deficits don't matter" -- and we're about to find out.
If you're looking for a thoughtful community of people working to increase self-sufficiency in this hostile environment, keep an eye on Chris Martenson's excellent Web site.

In liberty,
BJ

* There is another Republican candidate who has declared his intent to contest Price in NC-04. While he was kind enough to seek my endorsement, we fundamentally disagree on the value of the Federal Reserve and its communist, debt-based money. Plank 5 of the Communist Manifesto details how we have been turned us into Wall Street's debt slaves, and until we correctly diagnose our underlying economic illness, the mad scientists in Washington and on Wall Street are simply making things worse. His defense of this unsustainable system is understandable, as he is a currency trader previously employed by Societe Generale -- the French bank that profited handsomely from your (and my) bailing out AIG. Caveat emptor.

** This comment should not be construed as respect for, or endorsement of, equally dangerous neoconservatism. Un-American partisan ideologies on both sides (of the same coin) have been consolidating power, sacrificing our sovereignty, reducing individual liberties, and advancing corporate fascism at an accelerating pace.


This message was sent from B.J. Lawson to ***********. It was sent from: Lawson For Congress, 206 High House Road Suite 210, Cary, NC 27513. You can modify/update your subscription via the link below.

MRoCkEd
08-06-2009, 07:29 AM
Good move, BJ.
That district is unwinnable and a drain of resources.
He's right to focus on races like Rand's and Peter's.

ckg242
08-06-2009, 07:31 AM
While I fully respect his decision, this blows!

As a member of his district and a volunteer for his '08 bid, I was really looking forward to round two. We need more of his kind in congress, not less.

pacelli
08-06-2009, 07:32 AM
While I fully respect his decision, this blows!

As a member of his district and a volunteer for his '08 bid, I was really looking forward to round two. We need more of his kind in congress, not less.

Price is a rat bastard. He never shows his face around here until about a month before the polls open. It's a real shame that the majority of people in this district just vote for their party.

erowe1
08-06-2009, 07:36 AM
It's not necessarily a bad decision. We have to be in this for the long haul. In poker terms we can't go all-in every single hand. NC will be redistricted after the census, and there's a reasonable chance that Lawson will have a district that is more amenable to him then. If that's the case then it behooves him not to earn himself a reputation as a perennial runner and loser in the mean time.

brandon
08-06-2009, 07:36 AM
Very respectable of BJ, and he's completely right.

We really do need to get him elected to a federal office some time in the next 4-6 years though.

skyorbit
08-06-2009, 09:16 AM
:(

Well, I guess I have more money to give to Rand Paul.

It sounds like he's using his organization he's built up, to focus on state issues though. This is good. All politics is local.

Epic
08-06-2009, 09:43 AM
Lawson and Kokesh need to find a way to get into Federal office soon, cause they can spread the message really well.

Imperial
08-07-2009, 12:48 AM
Are Republicans or Democrats in control of the NC legislature?

ckg242
08-07-2009, 08:59 AM
Are Republicans or Democrats in control of the NC legislature?

Dems, hence the tax increases we just received in the new budget.

KCIndy
08-07-2009, 12:47 PM
It's a real shame that the majority of people in this district just vote for their party.



Unfortunately, that seems to be the problem in just about every district. Very few people bother to do even simple research about where the candidates stand, and fewer still have the moral integrity to vote for the person rather than the party. It's endemic, and its the biggest thing we're going to have to change in order to get liberty-minded candidates in office.

erowe1
08-07-2009, 02:34 PM
Unfortunately, that seems to be the problem in just about every district. Very few people bother to do even simple research about where the candidates stand, and fewer still have the moral integrity to vote for the person rather than the party. It's endemic, and its the biggest thing we're going to have to change in order to get liberty-minded candidates in office.

What you're saying about most voters is true. But it's not true that about every district is quite so partisan. I think the way it works when they gerrymander is that the party controlling it works it out so that some districts are heavily partisan for their opposition, leaving a maximum number of districts with smaller majorities for their party. But even with that, there are usually a few districts in any given state that are pretty competitive and could go either way in any given election.

Nathan Hale
08-09-2009, 05:45 PM
I would like to see BJ run for his state house or state senate - or even his town board. It's not all about the federal-level seats!

NOTE: Hit and run, I'm not tracking this thread.

dr. hfn
08-11-2009, 05:27 AM
I think this is good news in disguise. Mrocked is right about this being a drain on resources, that district is probably unwinnable for BJ. I hope he moves and runs somewhere less populated by partisan zombies!