Rep. Brad Schneider's Staff's Racist Treatment of Black Employee Should Remind Us of Lynching, Tuskegee, Ethnic Cleansing

     Three days ago - on July 15th, 2021 - a story about racially disparaging remarks, made by an employee of Democratic Illinois Congressman Brad Schneider named Karyn Davidman, made international headlines, as the DailyMail published an article titled "Black staffer for Democrat Rep. Brad Schneider SUES his office after her white supervisor told her to 'get a rope and put it around her neck' then 'pigeon-holed' her when she complained".

     The article explains that, "According to the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Davidman relayed a story to [former staffer Patrice] Campbell regarding lanyards worn to secure face masks and used to guard against COVID-19 infection."

     It continues, "During the March discussion, Davidman told Campbell, who is the only Black employee in Schneider's office, according to the lawsuit, "You are going to have to get a rope and put it around your neck."

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9793147/Black-staffer-Democrat-Rep-Brad-Schneiders-office-supervisors-lynching-comments.html?fbclid=IwAR1BAc8gbsjwXy_Pl_xKcL7tBOYzp3CWF_Q1vuq42LckyqcElDlDMPIcT-s

     Presumably, Davidman told Campbell to use that rope as a lanyard, to help secure her face mask onto her face.
     Campbell considered this remark to be racially insensitive, because the comment about a rope reminded her of lynchings of black people.
     http://www.rollcall.com/2021/07/15/rep-brad-schneiders-office-sued-for-hostile-work-environment-retaliation-against-black-employee/?fbclid=IwAR0PzZx1XAuzluL7C98bzr

     I want to whole-heartedly condemn this reprehensible and racially (probably deliberately) insensitive behavior. No employee in the public sector should ever experience discrimination.

     [In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that I ran against Brad Schneider, as a write-in candidate, in 2016 and 2020.]

     Throughout mid-2020, when I attended various Black Lives Matter and George Floyd protests, I criticized Congressman Schneider's office for accepting money from what are arguably pro-war and racist sources.

     http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/02/where-does-congressman-brad-schneider.html

     Once at a B.L.M. event attended by Schneider, I drowned-out Schneider's speech as soon as he begun talking, with a chant of "Brad takes bribes from the Israeli lobby that trains our racist police (clap, clap)".

     I said this because Schneider's campaigns, combined, have accepted half a million dollars from the Israeli lobby, and $23,000 from the top companies servicing the Military-Industrial Complex (Boeing, etc.). This money was accepted at a time when it had recently been revealed that Israeli Defense Forces (I.D.F.) soldiers had been involved in a program to assist in the training of police officers from New York City. Numerous journalists have criticized this training program as racist, claiming that it teaches racial profiling. (Hence my chant)

     The treatment of Patrice Campbell by Karyn Davidman is especially horrifying to me, as a person who has criticized Schneider's office for racism in the past, and as someone who has studied the history of genocide and eugenics in the 20th century.

     I have suspected - since early 2020 - that (while the government underreacted in some areas) when the government overreacted to the Covid-19 outbreak, it sometimes disproportionately impacted racial and ethnic minorities (as well as the poor).

     For example:

     1) In the early days of the pandemic, a rumor spread that African-Americans could not get the disease, or were less likely to get the disease. Soon after, scientific data showed that the opposite was true.

     http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/08/us-blacks-3-times-more-likely-whites-get-covid-19

     2) Soon after California shut down, and six-foot physical distancing was ordered, Gavin Newsom was photographed sitting at a table with other members of the political elite, suggesting that being wealthy and powerful exempted them - but not the poor, who are disproportionately people of color - from coronavirus restrictions.

     3. African-Americans may be less likely, in general, to get vaccinated, because many African-Americans remember the Tuskegee Experiments (in which the government allowed men with syphilis to go untreated, after they were being told that they would receive free medical treatment from the government).

     Because Karyn Davidman told Patrice Campbell to use a rope around her neck to secure her face mask into place - supposedly "for her own good" or for the sake of her health - should remind all of us of not only the history of lynching, but also because of the Tuskegee Experiments.

     The Democrats are offering us "free medical care", but only on the condition that the costs of that "free" medicine be passed onto the next generation (instead of reforming taxes and the budget to solve the funding problem). They are also obligating the states and the people to relinquish their rights to regulate medical insurance.

     The Democrats also expect us all to submit to a progressive ideology that supports eugenics to every bit the same extent as the Republican Party ideology. The Democratic Party is the party of slavery, the party of conserving the environment so steadfastly (for attention) that they cease caring about humans' rights to live in harmony with nature, and the party of aborting black babies in the womb instead of solving the social and economic problems that lead people to want to get abortions.

     What happened to Patrice Campbell should remind us not only of lynching, the Tuskegee Experiment, and tempting people into tolerating fascism by offering promises of medical care (as the Nazis did when Germany annexed Austria).

     It should also remind us of several other events throughout history:

     1) The spraying of black people with fire hoses under the orders of Birmingham Commissioner of Public Safety Bull Connor;

     2) The spraying of atheist, socialist, and anarchist women in 1930s Spain, which was done by fascist, Carlist Spanish Catholics, in the name of "cleansing them of sin";

     3) The Bath Riots of 1917 (during the presidency of Democrat Woodrow Wilson), which took place at the Ciudad Juarez / El Paso border crossing. A teenage girl caused a riot after immigrant women - including pregnant women - were exposed to GASOLINE BATHS and ZYKLON-B. American border guards were also raping some of the girls and women. The women were told that they were being exposed to the harsh chemicals in order to "de-louse" them, despite the fact that the Mexican typhus epidemic ended ten years prior to this event. One of the women remarked, "Why do they think we're so dirty?"; and

     4) The Holocaust during World War II, in which the Nazis used the same chemical used by Americans to "de-louse" Mexican immigrants - Zyklon-B - to murder Jews (and people who helped Jews attempt to escape, and other "undesirables") intentionally.

     Nazis ordered Jews to enter shower chambers, and given bars of soap, and told to prepare for showers (which were then filled with poison gas). That shows that those Jews believed that they were being given medical treatment, in the form of a shower. But, of course, it turned out to be poisonous Zyklon-B gas (the vapor of hydrocyanic acid), and it killed them.

     We must not forget that the American use of Zyklon-B predates the Nazi use of it by more than twenty years. We must not forget that people have been lured into fascism - and to their deaths - with the promises of free medical care.

     Such "medical care" could include anything from therapeutic showers to being exposed to dangerous de-lousing chemicals (that either might or will kill you), to getting radiation for cancer therapy, to trying coronavirus drugs that carry high risks of heart disease, to being given Munchhausen's Syndrome, to being drugged with experimental anti-psychotic medications, to being emotionally traumatized through experimental psychotherapy, to being medically neglected, to being euthanized (euthanasia literally meaning "good death").

     The Nazi twin studies, and various grotesque experiments by Dr. Josef Mengele, were done under the guise of "medical research". So were the Tuskegee Experiments, and experiments that humanized mice, and "gain-of-function" research, and so many more.

     It should seem obvious to us, by now, that there is no possible way to read a white superior telling a black employee "get a rope and put it around your neck" to secure a face mask into place - other than a racially disparaging remark.

     This reflects and reveals an underlying racial bias - by the public government - against African-Americans. It is evident in the enforcement of Coronavirus restrictions recently, and in the eugenicist history of progressivism and neo-liberal "democracy" generally and historically.

     Schneider staffer Karyn Davidman did this because she thinks that black people are dirty, or at least more likely to pass coronavirus to her.

     Karyn Davidman said this because she is a racist, and her comment confirms that the Democratic Party is, and has always been and will always be, the party of the Ku Klux Klan (which openly supported the party during the first half of the 20th century).

     If Karyn Davidman wants Patrice Campbell to wear a mask so badly, then I suggest that Karyn Davidman first show herself for who she really is, by getting a hold of a white Klan mask, and securing it firmly over her own head.

     If people like Davidman are going to endorse this kind of treatment of African-Americans, then I suggest they move to Arizona and become Republicans. There, Republicans want to use Zyklon-B - the same chemical used to kill Jews in the Holocaust, and "de-louse" and humiliate Mexicans - as part of execution of death row inmates.

     http://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/02/us/arizona-zyklon-b-gas-chamber.html

     We must not allow the government to tempt us into submission to fascism and eugenics as the "cost" of "free" medical care.

     We must not allow people to pressure or order us to submit to forcible sterilization; whether that comes in the form of sterilizing Native American woman and Mexican immigrants against their will with poisonous chemicals, or merely pressuring people to use hand sanitizers (some of which contain toxic wood alcohol) and allow others to spray them with Lysol in stores for not wearing masks.

     You are under no obligation to tell anyone whether you have been vaccinated, as the condition of entering private property. For one, you have a right - recognized by the Fifth Amendment - not to incriminate yourself. Second, H.I.P.A.A. laws protect doctor-patient confidentiality.
      [For more information, see the following link:
     http://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/february-2020-hipaa-and-novel-coronavirus.pdf
     "the protections of the Privacy Rule are not set aside during an emergency."]

     We must learn to recognize eugenicist behavior - and ethnic cleansing - when we see it, or we will not learn the full lessons of the Holocaust and the Civil Rights Movement.

     There is no "national body" that can get sick, and we must stop subscribing to the fascist notions (i.e., corpus mysticum, the mystical body of the state; and the "social contagion theory") that there is.
     http://www.routledge.com/Contagion-and-the-National-Body-The-Organism-Metaphor-in-American-Thoug

     We can't get each other sick if we stay far away enough from each other. Please stay at least six feet away from me, and if necessary, tell me to stay at least six feet away from you. Aside from that, stop telling me what to do with my body.

     With the government as corrupt and discriminatory as it is, there is no need to further accustom ourselves to obeying whatever orders are given by others (that is, aside from "get away from me").

 
     
     

Written and published on July 18th, 2021
Expanded on July 19th, 2021
Edited and Expanded on July 26th, 2021

How to Run for Congress (in Eighty-Three Easy Steps)

Table of Contents

Introduction

Phase 1: April of the Year Before the Election (First Preliminary Stage)

Phase 2: May through July of the Year Before the Election (Second Preliminary Stage)

Phase 3: Whenever Your Local Election Authority Posts the Relevant Forms (Floating/Waiting Stage)

Phase 4: August and September of the Year Before the Election (First Information-Gathering Stage)

Phase 5: October of the Year Before the Election (Second Information-Gathering Stage)

Phase 6: November of the Year Before the Election (Third Information-Gathering Stage)

Phase 7: December of the Year Before the Election (Surveys and Endorsement Stage)

Phase 8: Some Time Between January and March of the Election Year (Floating/Waiting Stage)

Phase 9: February and March of Election Year (Endorsements and Policy Study Stage)

Phase 10: Mid- to Late March of Election Year (Printing and Beginning Petitioning Stage)

Phase 11: Early April through Mid- June of Election Year (Ending Petitioning and Prepping for Final Push Stage)

Phase 12: Late June of Election Year (Post-Petitioning Stage)

Phase 13: July of Election Year (Signs, Planning Events, and Planning Publicity Drive Stage)

Phase 14: August and September of Election Year (Meet-and-Greets and Debates Stage)

Phase 15: October of Election Year (Final Planning Stage)

Phase 16: Election Day

Phase 17: The Day or Two After Election Night

Phase 18: After the Election Has Concluded

Content

Introduction

     This article explains how to run for the U.S. House of Representatives, or for any position whose election is held in November. It is intended to function as both an instruction manual for prospective candidates and their campaigns’ volunteers, as well as a campaign schedule.
     It may be helpful to skip some tasks, in terms of saving time; especially if this is your first time running, and/or your campaign is short-staffed. Even if you don't do all of these things, you should at least complete the tasks that will officially put you in the running (for example, filling out and turning in forms to declare your candidacy). You may be able to complete all of the tasks below in a future campaign, after growing your support base and staff.

     

     [Note: Future calendar information for candidates running in Lake County, Illinois will be available at the following link: http://elections.il.gov/Default.aspx?fbclid=IwAR2ezfUJbTAzVdHpEitFjjQSU-K_tvr8gIloAG2mmSOM4xj6Psh4EbULT3g]

Phase 1: April of the Year Before the Election (First Preliminary Stage)

     1. Go to your state or county’s election board website, and enter your address, to find out which districts you live in, at all levels of government. If necessary, use this information to help you decide which position to run for. It may also be necessary to consider which positions often go uncontested or which usually have few contestants.

     Always make sure that you are eligible to run for the position. Make sure that you fulfill the age, residency, and citizenship requirements for the race, before deciding to formally run. Some positions may also require candidates to hold a law degree. Some states require candidates to not be felons, and seven states prohibit atheists from holding public office. Make sure that you are not precluded from assuming public office in your state.

     2. Talk to friends about running, and start a list of potential volunteers, and their e-mail addresses. Ask people you know if they would volunteer for your campaign if you declared candidacy. If people are receptive, then make a list of 100 people who you think would vote for you, or volunteer for or donate to your campaign. Ask those people whether they’d like to receive e-mails about your campaign, and then create an e-mail list, and start sending those people updates about your campaign. 

     3. Make a preliminary, tentative decision (not a final one, unless you're already certain) regarding which party ticket you’ll run under, or whether you'll be an independent, and/or whether you’ll be a write-in candidate.

     4. Decide whether to become a precinct committee-person/committeeman for your party (or whichever party whose nomination you think you’re going to run for), and go through that process (in preparation to represent the party and the precinct's voters at the same time).

     5. Ask the chairperson of your party’s chapter, how you can make the party aware that you’re interested in running. Attend whatever meetings, phone conferences, and Zoom calls are necessary, which connect the party to prospective candidates. Try to get “dibs” on running for your specific position in your specific district, to avoid the uncomfortable situation of having to run in a primary against people in your own party (whom you may admire or feel pressure to get along with).

     6. Assemble your team of core assistants and advisors. Find a campaign manager, and hire them. Then have them find you a campaign committee treasurer, a communications director, and a volunteer coordinator. Hire people to fill those positions. This will help you delegate duties to people other than yourself, to avoid overburdening you (the candidate) with too many tasks.

     7. Decide how you want to manage your other campaign assistants, and your volunteers. Ask volunteers which tasks on this list they think they could do well and do easily. Then start delegating tasks to your volunteers based on who does what best. Aside from a treasurer for finances, a communications director for public relations, and a volunteer coordinator, you may also wish to appoint someone to create literature for the campaign, someone to create buttons and signs and bumper stickers, and someone to plan events such as press conferences and protests. You may also wish to hire a policy advisor who can give you advice on how to craft your platform, and how to write a proposal for a bill in a way that it could actually be implemented and achieve the effect you desire.

Phase 2: May through July of the Year Before the Election (Second Preliminary Stage)

     8. Obtain voter rolls that cover the district in which you’re running. Get precinct data for previous election(s), and set the information aside for later, for use creating canvassing routes.

     9. Start planning the petitioning stage. Download the petition forms if they're already available. These should be available through your county or state’s election board website. If they’re not available yet, make a note to yourself to keep checking until they are posted online.

     10. Gather maps of the district, the logo of the party, any texts you’ve written about your platform that you want voters to read, and other basic information about your campaign such as contact information, and set it aside for use later, creating pamphlets for your campaign.

     11. Make lists of towns in district, and make and print and hang up maps of the district in your campaign office and/or home.

     12. Figure out what your social media strategy will be. Make a short list of sites on which you want your campaign to be active - for example, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok - and get an account as soon as possible. Create a username associated with either: 1) the legal name of your campaign or campaign committee, or 2) a catchy phrase that is related to your most important issue or the issue that you protest about the most often.

Phase 3: Whenever Your Local Election Authority Posts the Relevant Forms (Floating/Waiting Stage)

     13. When your state or county’s election board posts information about signature collection dates and dates of primaries, add that information to your schedule and/or make a note about it below. Adjust your remaining plans according to that schedule.
     [Note for Lake County, Illinois candidates only: Future calendar information for candidates running in Lake County will be available at the following link: http://elections.il.gov/Default.aspx?fbclid=IwAR2ezfUJbTAzVdHpEitFjjQSU-K_tvr8gIloAG2mmSOM4xj6Psh4EbULT3g]

     14. Download and file the appropriate forms which declare your intent to run and will ask you to provide information about which party ticket you’re running under. These forms may include declaration of intent to run as a write-in candidate, and/or declaration of intent to form a new party. Fill out these forms, keep copies for your records, and send them in. You will need to find forms for each county in which your district sits.

Phase 4: August and September of the Year Before the Election (First Information-Gathering Stage)

     15. Get proof that the county election boards have acknowledged your candidacy. Keep this information somewhere safe, where you’ll remember where you put it.

     16. Gather information about times, dates, and locations of local town hall meetings and political discussion groups, and make plans to attend them, and decide what to say. If you think it necessary, develop these into short speeches, or even policy articles, to get an early start on creating a platform and your campaign literature.

 

Phase 5: October of the Year Before the Election (Second Information-Gathering Stage)

17. Gather information:

17a. Collect any photographs of you with friends, family members, and/or pets. Include photographs of you with people in the community, that show you helping others or communicate that you are an admired, respected, and trustworthy person who is engaged in your community.

17b.  Make a list of your past addresses. This may be useful outside of your campaign as well.

17c. Make a more general list of where you’ve lived, based on that list of past addresses; and include a list of your past jobs. Include any personal information you think media and voters would want to know about you.

17d. Make a list of honors and awards that you’ve received in the past (especially those relevant to politics and community engagement).

17e. Update your resume. Create a resume that includes your past work on other people’s campaigns, and your own; and create a separate resume that does not include your own campaigns. On the campaign version of your resume, list any groups you’ve been involved with, such as activist groups, political parties, or community organizations.

17f. Make a list of locations where you often see political campaign signs; especially those that were clearly put up by businesses. Use that information to make a list of businesses who might display your sign (for use in Phase 12).

17g. Make a list of potential locations where you could drop literature, for use later in the campaign (in Phase 15). These will likely include:

     - Little Free Libraries (the birdhouses full of books that you might have seen in your community)
     - Mall parking lots
     - Large grocery store parking lots (Wal-Mart, etc.)
     - Grocery stores’ bulletin boards (you may have to ask the owner for permission)
     - Tables at train stations (and benches, provided they’re indoors or it’s not windy)
     - Benches at bus stations and bus stops

17h. Make a list of potential locations where you could hold signs up and be seen by lots of potential voters, for use in the several months leading up to the election (in Phase 15).

17i. Make a list of newspapers and other media sources that are active in your district; especially those which you think would cover your campaign, interview you, or publish your press releases. This list should include news directors and editors at newspapers, reporters, editors at television stations and news wire services, and podcast and YouTube channel hosts and other independent media.

17j. Make a list of all of the towns and cities that comprise your district. If necessary, create a document for your volunteers explaining who is eligible to vote for you and sign petitions supporting your campaign.

17k. Create a list of political party chapters, interest groups, activist groups, unions, business alliances, or political action committees, in your district, with which you’d like to meet. Find out whether they endorse. Start building that list, so you can decide from which groups you will seek endorsement.

17l. Disseminate the above-mentioned lists to whomever in your campaign needs them.

18. Do your first phase of self-promotion:

          18a. Get hair and makeup done, and then have a professional photo shoot; then choose all final photographs which will be used for campaign signs and literature. Place those photos with your platform, party logos, and other things you’ll need for putting literature together.

          18b. Look into having a campaign website built, if you think it necessary. Start that process and set a target date for completion no later than the following spring.

          18c. Look into starting a blog, if you think it would be helpful for you and prospective voters. Think about whether you want to publish campaign updates, your writing about your platform, and other information, on that blog.

 

Phase 6: November of the Year Before the Election (Third Information-Gathering Stage)

     19. Use voter rolls information to create canvassing routes and maps for collecting signatures.


     20. Fill out forms and do financial tasks:
          20a. File with the F.E.C. (Federal Election Commission), so you can pay volunteers.
         20b. File Social Security / EIN (Employer Identification Number) forms, so you can pay volunteers.
          20c. Start planning your fundraising strategy, especially as it pertains to social media and your e-mail list. Start planning fundraising events as well.
          20d. Consider getting a prepaid card (such as Bluebird) at Wal-Mart, to fund targeted ads seeking donations. For example, start a CrowdPAC account, attach the card, and start a campaign.
     20e. Create a fundraising kit, consisting of information regarding how to donate to your campaign. Make sure that your staff and voters know how donations will be processed.

     21. Look into getting nominations from parties, and study their nomination processes and rules. Learn about the business meeting notes, and ballot review rules, which are involved in party nominating processes; and be ready to challenge the results of a nominating election in case you’ll have a primary opponent.

     22. Make decisions about nomination requests and acceptance:
          22a. Make final decision about which party ticket you’ll run under.
          22b. Submit applications for party nominations (if required)
          22c. Find out when and where the party’s nominations will be held, and add that information to

your schedule.

Phase 7: December of the Year Before the Election (Surveys and Endorsement Stage)

     23. Create or find lists of organizations and media outlets that endorse, and start collecting the surveys that they use to vet candidates. These are usually called “candidate questionnaires” or “candidate surveys”. Make sure you find a survey specific to, or specific enough to, the position you’re running for (for example, don’t fill out a survey for a state-level position if you are running for local or national office). Make plans to meet with such organizations.

     24. Find out who's running in your race, and meet the other people in your party who are running, and also attempt to meet candidates from other parties if you support them. Decide as soon as possible which candidates you want to support and endorse, and think about which of them might be willing to do the same for you by endorsing your campaign. Start building a list of every past and present candidate and public official and prominent person who has endorsed your candidacy.

     25. Endorse other candidates in local, state, and national elections, and publish those endorsements; for example, in new press releases.

     26. Fill out surveys for the endorsing organizations that you think are the most important, and send them in. If you started a blog for the campaign, publish your responses to the surveys.

     27. Ask for endorsements from local political figures and past candidates.

     28. Once you have received responses about the surveys and endorsements, keep this information with the information you set aside for creating campaign literature.

Phase 8: Some Time Between January and March of the Election Year (Floating/Waiting Stage)

     29. Democrats and Republicans should be conducting their primaries and deciding their candidates. Be aware of at least the primary dates and their outcomes, as this will affect who your opponents are. Primary dates will vary by state, so consult your local election authority for this information.

     30. Await responses from endorsing organizations. Schedule photo opportunities and tours of facilities or coordinated protests if possible; arrange to meet with people from those orgs to discuss policy.

     31. Download petition forms from your local election authority’s website. Check for them until they’re posted.

Phase 9: February and March of Election Year (Endorsements, Policy Study, and Printing Lit Stage)

     32. Use the voter rolls for your district, to come up with canvassing routes. Make maps if necessary.

      33. Find out which day is the first day that you and your volunteers will be able to collect signatures to get you on the ballot, using those petition forms. That day varies by state, but the signature collection period probably begins in mid- to late March, and ends in mid- to late June. Consult your local election authority for that information.

     34. Create a set of instructions, for campaign volunteers, regarding how to inform voters while collecting signatures properly. You can model those instructions after the document linked at the following address: http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/07/guide-for-volunteers-collecting.html

     35. Write letters to the editor, which are tailored especially to certain topics of recent community concern. Send them to newspapers to see if they'll publish them. Send some as yourself, but write additional letters to serve as examples of what you’d like your supporters to write to newspaper editors. Share those with friends and volunteers, and suggest that they write to newspapers in support of your campaign and/or your issues.

     36. If you want to expand the level of detail in your campaign literature, develop the previously mentioned policy articles and positions into a platform for the run. Start planning pamphlets and other campaign literature around whichever key subjects you think will dominate the narrative of your race.

     37. Design QR codes that link to all important websites about voter registration, voter information, and to the web addresses that pertain to your campaign and platform. Plan to include these QR codes in your campaign literature.

     38. Do any last edits to your platform, before updating it again as news stories develop between March and November.

     39. Get an account with a printing service (such as FedEx-Kinko’s or Shutterfly), and find deals on ordering campaign literature, flyers, signs, etc..

     40. Order prints of all the campaign literature that you will need during the next three months of petitioning / signature collection. Make sure the prints will arrive before petition collection begins.

Phase 10: Mid- to Late March of Election Year (Beginning Petitioning Stage)

     41. Find out how many signatures your petitions will need in order for your name to be included on the ballot. Crunch whatever numbers are necessary to come up with goals or quotas for your volunteers.

     42. Tell volunteers about the signature collection goals. Give them instructions or train them to collect signatures, and provide them with maps, routes, campaign literature, etc.

     43. Stay informed – and keep your volunteers informed - about early voting and mail-in voting, and voter registration, so that you and volunteers can keep petition signers informed about the election in the process.

     44. Start petitioning / canvassing neighborhoods, and giving out free literature.

 

Phase 11: Early April through Mid- June of Election Year (Ending Petitioning and Prepping for Final Push Stage)

     45. Design, and order for mass-printing and delivery, the following items:
            - Buttons
            - Stickers
            - Yard signs
            - Business cards
            - Door hangers (hooked pieces of paper and/or plastic bags containing literature)

     46. Write an “embargoed press release”. Write a press release announcing your candidacy, stipulate that the press release not go out until the press conference announcing your candidacy take place.

     47. Create a press kit, which includes most of the aforementioned information. Include photographs of you with friends, family members, pets, and/or people in the community, that show you helping others or communicate that you are an admired, respected, and trustworthy person who is engaged in your community. Also include information regarding how to schedule an interview with you.

     48. Two weeks before you plan to announce your candidacy, send the press kit and the press release to your media list.

     49. Contact newspapers and radio stations, etc., to ask if they'll publish the press release, and/or interview you about your campaign, or about a specific issue.

     50. Find a location at which you can hold a press conference. Once you have done that, schedule a press conference for some Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday between 10 A.M. and 11 A.M.; to take place two weeks after your press kit has been created and sent out.

     51. Gather your staff, and members of the community, to practice the press conference announcing your candidacy in a “dress rehearsal”, about a week before it takes place.

     52. Hold the press conference.

Phase 12: Late June of Election Year (Post-Petitioning Stage)

     53. Based on how many signatures you got, and whether you got on the ballot, decide whether you’ll continue your campaign. If you’re going to drop out or suspend your campaign, consider announcing that fact. If you’ll continue your campaign, keep following the steps below.

     54. Buy ads on the internet, and decide when they will run. Don’t schedule any past the end of June, in case you decide to end your campaign prematurely.

     55. Create pamphlets, to give away at meet-and-greets, which focus on the most important issues in the campaign, and especially detaining how people can volunteer, donate, and vote for you. If any media outlets reported on you or published your press releases, get QR codes that lead to links to those websites, and plan to include them in new campaign literature.

     56. Order new sets of campaign literature, and distribute it to volunteers to hand out to prospective voters.

Phase 13: July of Election Year (Signs, Planning Events, and Planning Publicity Drive Stage)

     57. Petition and canvass neighborhoods, and give out free literature. Register voters in the process, and inform them about how to do early voting and mail-in voting.

     58. Go to businesses to talk to the owners about your campaign. Ask businesses and people if they will your campaign signs on their yards. Provide them with those signs.

     59. Create a short questionnaire, which is small enough to fit on an index card, asking which of your issues voters are most interested in helping you promote. Allow voters to check boxes indicating that whether they'd like to receive campaign updates via e-mail, or prefer to be contacted by phone, or are interested in volunteering and/or donating.

     60. Book events for your campaign that can function as meet-and-greets as well as fundraisers. Make plans to detail your policy positions in speeches, and give out free literature (including questionnaires about what voters think you could do to improve your campaign, if you think it necessary). Set up tables for your volunteers to attend during the event, and invite people to sign up for e-mail updates, volunteering, etc.. Give out buttons and stickers, yard signs, etc., and leave a jar out for donations.

     61. Make list of all of your events between this point and Election Day; and write campaign updates and create images containing this information, which you can e-mail to people or share on social media. This will let voters in your district know when and where they can meet you in person without traveling too far in order to do so.

     62. Let friends and family know that you'll have to prioritize campaign-related communications until November, and that you can't take many social calls until after the election is over. Get any necessary social calls out of the way as much as possible, so you have more time to focus on your campaign during the final three months of the race.

     63. Try to get on television, whether on your own behalf, or for/with a party, or as part of a protest. At the very least, look for reporters who want to talk to a “man in the street” or a person qualified to comment on an issue they’re covering, or just try to photobomb journalists. Get in touch with independent news outlets, and see if YouTube shows, podcasts, and news radio stations will cover your campaign.

Phase 14: August and September of Election Year (Meet-and-Greets and Debates Stage)

     64. Hold the meet-and-greet fundraisers you planned. Engage your audiences to obtain feedback on policy ideas, and to obtain contributions. Give a speech about what you will do when elected, take questions, and give out free literature (including questionnaires about what voters think you could do to improve your campaign, if you think it necessary). Set up tables for your volunteers to attend during the event, and invite people to sign up for e-mail updates, volunteering, etc.. Give out buttons and stickers, yard signs, etc., and leave a jar out for donations. If you like, film your speeches at these events, and publish them on YouTube.

     65. Find a video of the debate from the last race for the office for which you’re running, and make a note of who sponsored the debate. Contact any and all groups which have hosted or sponsored debates for your position in the past. These may include organizations such as the League of Women Voters (and for candidates in the Chicago area, they may include the Union League Club of Chicago). Find out if that organization is going to hold that debate again. Contact multiple organizations if it seems likely that more than one debate will be held. Find out the rules to qualify for the debates, and plan the remainder of your campaign based on accomplishing those goals. Also ask whether any the organizations involved in the debate, endorse candidates.

     66. Provide proof of your candidacy to the organizations holding debates. Document all of your communications with debate-holding organizations in your attempts to try to get into the debates. If possible, find out what the group’s bylaws and rules are regarding inviting candidates to debates, and see if you can find out whether they can be held legally accountable for violating their own bylaws. Government ethics boards might have this information.

     67. If you qualify for a debate, then:

          67a. Inform your media contacts about this as soon as possible.

          67b. Get a clear promise from the group that, once invited to the debate, you will not be disinvited. Get documentation of that promise, and publish it as widely as possible (for example, in a campaign update). If you suspect that you might be disinvited, publish a message making it clear that you will not tolerate being disinvited.

     68. Prepare for debates:

          68a. Research the most relevant, pressing, popular, and recent topics about which you’ll likely be asked.

          68b. Study debating tips, or assign a volunteer or a policy advisor the task of studying debate tips for you, so that they can teach you to debate.

          68c. Practice debating and do debate simulations. Have one of your volunteers play your opponent(s).

     69. If the debate hosts cancel on you, then go public with it, inform all of your media contacts and supporters, government ethics boards, the Better Business Bureau, or whomever you think could help.

     70. If you are unable to get into the debates for whatever reason, then consider calling independent media, and calling third-party candidates together, to organize independent debates, in which your voice can be heard. Invite the major-party candidates as well, and as many media outlets as will cover the event. Invite members of the public to ask questions, whether by voice or on comment cards. Film the event and publish it to YouTube.

Phase 15: October of Election Year (Final Planning Stage)

     71. Plan the first week of November in detail. Get off work that week if you think it will help you accomplish more in the last week before the election. Decide where you want to be when the election results come in. Political parties often host “election results watch parties” at bars and restaurants; find out where they are going to be held. On Election Day, plan to do as many appearances as possible, as fast as possible, but without spending too much time driving. Ask a volunteer or two to be your driver for the day, to help you conserve your energy.

     72. Write two short speeches; one for if you win, and another for if you lose. Plan to have these speeches with you at the end of Election Day.

     73. Find your list of places to drop campaign literature, distribute that list to volunteers, and do the last round of leafleting before the election.

     74. Do literature drops on people's cars, and drop off door hangers, in preparation for Election Day.

Phase 16: Election Day

     75. Visit as many precinct locations in your district as possible, having a volunteer drive you around. Shake hands with people, and pass out free literature. Keep an eye out for your opponents; major-party candidates sometimes hang out at voting precincts illegally in order to inordinately influence voters to vote for them.

     76. Find the victory speech and concession speech that you wrote earlier. Go to an election results viewing party, held by the party that nominated you, to wait for the results to come in. If the results of your election come in before the party is over, make a speech.

Phase 17: The Day or Two After Election Night

     77. Review the results. These results might not be available on the night of Election Day. If you are an independent or third-party candidate – especially one in a minor or local race – it might even take a week or two to find out exactly how many votes you got, in all of the counties in which your district sits. Consult these counties’ election authorities for this information.

     78. Decide whether to contest the results, or to concede defeat. If the results are close, then be careful to announce victory until you are sure that you won.

     79. Make a post-results announcement - either televised or published - about what you decided (and whether you are conceding defeat, declaring victory, or contesting the results). Whatever happened, thank your volunteers for their efforts.

     80. End your campaign formally, by notifying the Federal Election Commission, the I.RS., and/or your county or state board of elections, that your campaign has ended.

Phase 18: After the Election Has Concluded

     81. Resume your normal level of socializing and taking social calls, and take a break from political matters if you feel like it.

     82. Archive and store the literature, buttons, signs (etc.) from your campaign, and separate things that are keepsakes, from things that will be useful for any future campaigns you might be considering.

     83. You may have failed to complete some of these tasks during your campaign. If you are thinking about running again in the future, then make a note of which tasks you skipped, and whether you think that neglecting those tasks was helpful to your campaign or not. Make notes about what you would do differently in your next campaign. Think about whether you should have done some tasks earlier or later than you did. If you want, use this information to start planning your next campaign. If necessary, copy the text in this article, and edit it according to what you learned, thus creating your own campaign schedule for use next time.

Created Between March 12th and April 13th, 2021

Published on April 13th, 2021

Edited and Expanded on April 28th and 30th, 2021

Title Changed on April 28th and 30th, 2021
(from "How to Run for Congress (in Seventy-Five Easy Steps)"

Birthday Message and Update

     The following post was published to Facebook on the evening of February 24th, 2021, to commemorate my 34th birthday. 

     Hi everyone, and thanks so much for all the birthday wishes!

     As you all know, it's been a difficult year, for personal, economic, and health reasons. I just wanted to wish you all well, especially those of you who lost family members in the last year, as did I.

     I also wanted to let you know what I'll be up to in the coming year.

     I've now made 640 posts on my blog the Aquarian Agrarian, and the number of posts about child abuse and government child trafficking conspiracy theories has now reached 140. I will be creating a new blog called "PizzaFake or PizzaFact" with those articles, as a way to try to sort out, once and for all, which theories are real and which ones are bullshit.

     I will also be running for U.S. House and/or Illinois State Assembly in 2022.

     Additionally, soon I will come out with an article about nutrition, summarizing the research I collected in the last year, about coronavirus-related health and nutrition tips, plus other tips about why plant-based diets are beneficial. Spoiler alert: We might be eating a lot more actual shit, and bugs, and pus, than we think we are.

     Remember to drink Kombucha if you suspect you could develop cancer. Drink more water than anything else. Eat at least some green vegetables every day. Also, quinine (found in tonic water) breaks down into hydroxychloroquine. That is not the same thing as hydroxychloroquine sulfate (the Covid-19 medication), but it couldn't hurt to have some HCQ in your system. It reduces the chances of you getting malaria, anyway (until you develop a tolerance, that is).

     One last thought: The federal government has no authority to regulate health, aside from enforcing patents on medications and invented medical technologies (but not for as long as they're currently enforcing them). The discussion around coronavirus needs to expand beyond just "masks and vaccines". We need to be talking about:

     1) why the states with the highest infection rates also have the highest population density, and what can be done to reduce population density in those places;

     2) whether physical distancing in public might actually be more important than wearing masks;

     3) the fact that complying with a public mask mandate, effectively makes a "private" business no longer public;

     and 4) whether people who have already had Covid-19 should take the vaccine, and why or why not.

     We cannot go on thinking that what is private and what is public can be blurred together all the time - on health matters, on security matters, on civil rights matters - and think that we will be able to come up with a solution, and still talk to each other. We will not even be using the same words to refer to the same things!

     We cannot go on thinking that the federal government will swoop in and solve this problem, when the federal government doesn't have the authority to do most of the things it's talking about doing. Anthony Fauci's position, for example, is unconstitutional; he's basically a "czar", who should be regarded as having no real power, but we have declined to abolish his position. What the federal government is doing can easily be invalidated, overturned, ruled unconstitutional, made ineffective in certain states, etc.. So whether you like what it's doing or not, its authority is phony and/or temporary, and that's not good strategy.

     Also the federal government and the cities and the Democratic Party are all working in the interest of the most densely populated areas, so they're not likely to actually do anything about this problem. They work for the masses, and they therefore have no incentive to disperse the masses peacefully. That would require letting people own their own homes and work from home, which would fuck with zoning laws. But people know that is the direction we have to go.

     Leave each other in peace, in our own homes. For freedom and health.

    Post-Script:

     My YouTube channel JoeKopsick4Congress has been deleted, either for exposing President Biden's pedophilia, or for informing the public about Covid-19.
     I have archived the videos. They will be available at future date which is to be determined.
     I am working on a website called joekopsick.com. I will announce on this blog when that website, and my Pizzagate blog, are finished.

Written, and First Published (to Facebook), on February 24th, 2021

Published to the Aquarian Agrarian on February 25th, 2021

Post-Script Written on February 27th, 2021

E-Mail to a Conservative Voter on Abortion, Immigration, and Military Policy

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. My Personal Views on Abortion
3. Views on the Hyde Amendment, the Funding of Abortions, and Whether Abortion is a Right
4. My Views on State Restrictions Limiting Access to Abortion
5. Conclusions on Abortion
6. My Views on Illegal Immigration and Border Security
7. My Views on Military Spending and Foreign Policy
8. My Views on My Opponents
9. My Top Three Issues
10. My Views on Economic Systems, Markets, and Taxes
11. Conclusions

Content

1. Introduction

      On September 22nd, a voter living in Mundelein, Illinois, who described himself as conservative, e-mailed me to ask me to state my positions on abortion, immigration, and military policy.
     On September 23rd, I sent an e-mail containing the following reply:

     "In short, I am pro-peace (but with an invincible national defense), pro-immigrant (unless they're a violent criminal), and pro-choice (but against taxing pro-life people to fund abortions)."

     I continued:

2. My Personal Views on Abortion

     I am personally pro-choice, but out of respect for the views of pro-life individuals – and in the interest of finding compromise and reducing political conflict - I strictly oppose all proposals to use taxpayer funds to pay for abortions.

     I believe that promoting this position will help de-politicize the issue of abortion. That is important to me because I believe that abortion should be regarded as an intimate moral decision which should be made between a woman and her doctor, or a couple and their doctor. That is why I believe that abortion is too important to be left up to state legislatures, and that is why I cannot support any sort of sweeping ban on abortion.

     I would, however, support efforts to ban medically unnecessary abortions in the third trimester, as long as those efforts take the form of a campaign to pass a constitutional amendment to that effect. I also support banning infanticide (as well as forms of infanticide which are being euphemized as “partial birth abortion”, “post-birth abortion”, and “fourth-trimester abortion”).

     I don't dispute that a fetus is human, and I don't dispute that it is alive. I will even admit that the fact that the fetus is inside an invagination, means that it is its own body, and not just a part of its mother. However, the state cannot protect an unwanted fetus without interfering with the rights of its mother, and with her freedom to control what goes on within the perimeters of her own body.

     The right to life is important, but I do not believe that life is really worth living, if, in order to live, we have to sacrifice our right to bodily integrity (that is, our right to keep other people, and their bodies, penises, and fingers, out of our bodies and our orifices). If a fetus can be protected from abortion because it's technically outside its mother's body, then a man could theoretically be excused for raping a woman because he never literally entered her body.

3. Views on the Hyde Amendment, the Funding of Abortions, and Whether Abortion is a Right

     The Hyde Amendment is spoken about as if it protects taxpayer funds from being spent on abortion. And it does. But this distracts from the fact that it allows funds to be spent on abortion at all, in certain cases, which is the reason why some people are mad.

     If a type of abortion is not covered by taxpayer funds under the Hyde Amendment, pro-choice politicians will speak about that type of abortion as if it is illegal or banned, when it is merely prohibited from receiving taxpayer funding, and is still legal. In my opinion, what this means, is that, whatever your stance on abortion laws, we should all be able to agree that existing laws on abortion need to be clarified.

     Although I recognize the extreme unpopularity of opposing taxpayer funding of abortion in all cases (even in cases of danger to the mother's life), there already exist voluntarily funded abortion services. Therefore, there is no reason why voluntary funding cannot finance medically necessary abortions, and there is no reason why an abortionist cannot donate a medically necessary (or unnecessary) abortion and agree to cover the costs. That is why there is no reason why any federal or state government should continue to take money from taxpayers and give it to Planned Parenthood.

     I believe that obtaining abortion services is a natural human right, and one that we are born with, because pregnant women naturally have the ability to procure an abortion. But on the other hand, I do not believe that this idea implies the existence of any sort of right to demand that abortion services be performed for free. That line of thinking would impose an obligation and a cost upon abortionists, and turn abortion into a positive right (instead of a negative right, or a liberty). In my opinion, all participation in abortion should be voluntary; the funding must be voluntary, and the doctor must be free to negotiate his compensation.

     I believe that this position is essential to advancing a voluntary society; one which wants adults to be free but also responsible, children to be free but also safe, and resources to be controlled instead of people. Protecting the unborn may be worthwhile, but fetuses' lack of independence and bodily autonomy make that feat logistically almost impossible, so protecting the rights and freedoms of people who have already been born, should be the priority.

     While pro-life voters may argue that the ills of the world (such as poverty) result from the lack of respect for life and for the unborn, I would argue the opposite; that abortion results from poverty, and from the desperation that comes from an unsure future. The respect for the lives of the unborn, will return, as soon as people are given either land, a basic income, more opportunities to access skills and education, or the right to keep all of what they produce (because that is what is necessary to obtain the resources necessary to provide children with lives that feature more comfort than suffering). Reducing the number of abortions is important, but so is reducing the amount of suffering in the world.

     I believe that supporting legal but non-taxpayer-funded abortion, while reforming child trafficking laws and age of consent laws in a comprehensive manner, is the most important thing that we in America can do to protect children. I believe that abortions will drastically decrease once people no longer live in fear of their children being trafficked; once they have more hope and certainty about their future.

4. My Views on State Restrictions Limiting Access to Abortion

     Many pro-choicers mistakenly assume that the application of the decision in Roe v. Wade was supposed to protect them from the kinds of state regulations which limit their access to abortion. That is why I am spreading awareness, as part of my campaign, that Roe v. Wade – and Casey v. Planned Parenthood, which came later, and affirmed Roe – actually allows those state limitations, as long as they are described as “reasonable”.

     Although I have not yet published any proposals regarding those limitations, I will say here that I: 1) oppose laws which unnecessarily delay abortions; 2) support laws which require the patient to be fully informed; 3) oppose laws which require the patient to be overloaded with information about the procedure; 4) oppose laws which would require the patient to view the ultrasound or other images of the fetus before the abortion; 5) support laws which ensure full consent to the procedure; 6) support laws which would protect the privacy of the patient and the confidentiality of the doctor-patient relationship; 7) oppose laws which would interfere with the patient's right to have someone there to support them; and 8) support laws requiring reasonable minimum standards regarding safe and sanitary conditions for abortion procedures.

     Additionally, I would: 9) oppose laws explicitly requiring funerals for aborted fetuses; but 10) support laws which would require the sanitary and secure disposal of the fetus and other medical waste resulting from abortion procedures.

5. Conclusions on Abortion

     Although I am pro-choice, I do see a reduction in the total number of abortions performed, as one of my goals. Moreover, I am critical of Planned Parenthood and its mission and history, and I do not believe that abortion should be a for-profit industry in the United States.

     I would use my knowledge, regarding the appropriate jurisdiction for the issue being discussed, in order to act as sort of a “referee” on the issue of abortion, as well as on other constitutional matters. I would help sharpen the arguments of both sides, so that everybody understands exactly what's being debated, and what types of legal reforms would be permitted by the Constitution.

     We cannot allow politicians to “Hyde” the truth, by continuing to confuse us about what abortion laws like the Hyde Amendment and Roe v. Wade actually do to the legal status of abortion in America.

     I know that abortion is a very important, controversial, and emotional issue, and for people on both sides of the aisle. I hope you can appreciate my efforts to find areas of legal agreement with pro-life voters, even though I take a different moral standpoint on abortion.

     It is very important to me to find common ground between the most disenfranchised groups of voters in the country, which in my opinion are non-voters and disaffected people, independents, and the four most popular minor parties (Libertarians, Greens, socialists, and constitutional conservative voters). Each of these groups need to be given something that they want, as they have been rendered powerless by the duopoly of the two major parties for too long (and even forced to hold their own debates for president, with the help of the Free and Equal Coalition).

     In my opinion, the fewer things the left wants, that the right is forced to pay for – and the fewer things the right wants, that the left is forced to pay for – the better. I believe that political polarization, and the violence in the street between the left and the right, will drastically decline, when we build a fully voluntary society that respects the consent of the governed, and if pro-lifers were no longer being forced to fund a procedure which they consider to be murder.

     You can learn more about my views on abortion and abortion policy, by visiting Section 29 of my long-form platform, at the following link:

     http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2019/08/thirty-point-basic-platform-for-us.html

6. My Views on Illegal Immigration and Border Security

     I support allowing undocumented immigrants to stay, as long as they are not reasonably suspected of having committed a violent crime. Those who are suspected of violent crimes should be arrested, charged, given fair trials, and if found guilty, deported to their home countries for imprisonment.

     Despite what some sources on the right may claim, undocumented immigration is not at an all-time high; as a matter of fact, it is at a thirty-year low.

     Additionally, many undocumented immigrants are here, not because they committed a violent crime in order to get here; but instead, because they were brought here as children by their parents, or because they were lured here with the promise of agricultural jobs but then prevented from going home at the end of the harvest season. Overstaying visas and entering the country without permission can both be done, and usually are done, without harming anyone; that is why our immigration laws must distinguish non-violent people seeking refuge from gang members crossing for illicit purposes.

     We must bear in mind that undocumented immigrants are often forced into the shadows, and into lives of crime, as results of having to live, and figure out how to earn a living, as second-class citizens (not even citizens). While it's true that immigrants receive welfare, many undocumented immigrants cannot even consider applying for welfare (or voting) because it would risk revealing their citizenship status.

     Undocumented immigrants who swear off welfare, and want to work, are forced to choose between working under-the-table, or else obtaining a fraudulent Social Security number in order to work. This could be described as “Social Security fraud”, but it is one of the few ways that undocumented immigrants can work, while paying directly into the system. And undocumented immigrants rarely, if ever, receive those funds collected for Social Security.

     The extent of immigrants' dependence upon the welfare system, is being exaggerated, and the contributions which they provide to our economy (like sales taxes, and low-cost labor, which compensate for much of that public assistance) are largely being ignored.

     America is so sparsely populated that it could fit 120 to 150 million more people before hitting the planet's average number of people per acre of land (which is about 4.8 acres per person). Immigrants are are being given hysterectomies against their will, and made to drink toilet water in I.C.E. custody (which Rep. Ayanna Pressley proved in person). Most of these people are refugees, yet they are being treated worse than common criminals; as the people in the “migrant caravan” were accused of harboring I.S.I.S. terrorists among them. Those allegations were never proven.

     Critics of undocumented immigration argue that the people coming in are not going through the proper channels. However, the proper channels (i.e., the legal immigration process) sometimes take 10, 20, or even 30 years to get through. Also, over the last several years, immigrants' ability to come in and declare refugee status, has been threatened. Immigrants are being funneled away from checkpoints where they could easily come into the country, and funneled towards the most dangerous parts of the desert, near the most-patrolled parts of the border, where they would have to consider entering illegally.

     Peaceful undocumented immigrants are being scapegoated for America's economic, welfare, and “overpopulation” problems. They are being raped in custody. Their religious jewelry is being confiscated. They are having their children taken away after guards promise they'll give them baths. They are being provoked and pepper-sprayed while they struggle to pull their children out of harm's way, and criticized as if they had put their children into harm's way. This needs to stop immediately; it is a human rights violation, and if an anti-Semitic person ever becomes president, all the infrastructure will be in place to cause our immigration policy lead to a repeat of the Holocaust.

     The American experiment will fail if we do not learn the lessons of the Holocaust. Whether a citizen or not, a peaceful person who finds himself in America deserves an adequate opportunity to provide for himself, without requesting public assistance, or even getting into the Social Security system. The Nazis knew that limiting people's freedom to work and travel, made them easy to control, and easy to move around and subject to forced labor. People must be free to travel and work, without paying taxes, passport fees, and license and permit fees, to corrupt governments, in order to do so. Requiring payment for the permission to work is not only exploitative; it is insane, because you cannot earn money if you cannot work. We cannot go on pretending that it makes sense, that an immigrant must be both independent and a government subject, at the same time.

     I oppose making English the national language, and I oppose arresting undocumented immigrants on minor charges to fabricate excuses to deport them. America's

     I would support a legislative version of D.A.C.A. (Deferred Action for Child Arrivals) rather than executive actions on the matter (which would only inappropriately extend presidential and federal authority on immigration). I believe that Congress should understand a narrower interpretation of its authority to “establish a uniform rule of naturalization”; Congress establishes the rule, but it is the states' duty to enforce that rule. I would argue that the education, housing, welfare, and settlement of immigrants should be dealt with by the states and the people.

     Finally, I support the designation of Sanctuary Cities and Sanctuary States. I am not a supporter of J.B. Pritzker, but I will continue to urge the governor of the State of Illinois (whomever he or she is) to consider using the Jeffersonian nullification argument to invalidate any and all unconstitutional federal actions to enforce immigration laws in the states. These would include the Homeland Security Act of 2002, the law which provided for the creation of I.C.E. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) in 2003.

     You can learn more about my position on immigration by reading Section 22 of my platform, available at the following link (the same link as the one provided above):

     http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2019/08/thirty-point-basic-platform-for-us.html

7. My Views on Military Spending and Foreign Policy:

     I agree with former Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson, and with current Green Party nominee Howie Hawkins, who say that they would support (respectively) a 40% and 50% reduction in total military spending. I agree with them, as the U.S. spends as much on military as the next 15 or more countries combined.

     I support dismantling our more than 800 overseas military bases, and withdrawing troops from more than 150 countries. The fact that four out of five countries currently host at least one American soldier, means that our republic has failed; we have an empire. The imperial presidency is a key cause of this, which is why I would do everything in my power to stop Congress from continuing to hand over to the president, the duties to legislate on military affairs, which were rightfully given to the legislative branch and not the executive branch.

     I oppose all foreign aid, and even the designation of other countries as our “allies”, as George Washington urged us to avoid entangling alliances. We cannot continue giving the State of Israel (the #1 recipient of U.S. aid, among countries we are not at war with) $4 billion per year. It should not console us that some of this money is not spent on military purposes; these gifts still result in American weapons falling on the heads of children who committed no crime except being born in the world's largest open-air prison. With U.S. foreign aid gone, American remittances to Israel, and trade with Israel, will still number in the billions of dollars, annually. So there's no reason not to suspend that aid.

     Still, foreign aid only amounts for about one-tenth of one percent of the total military budget. So let's move on to the second most important reason (after our presence in so many countries) for our out-of-control military budgets.

     I believe that overspending on military technology is a key cause of bloated Pentagon budgets.

     In 2015, the U.S. and the State of Israel sold weapons to terrorist groups in Syria and Ukraine. Those groups used those weapons to kill Jewish people. This is the type of “blowback” which Texas Congressman Ron Paul described during his 2008 and 2012 campaigns for president. Paul noted that Ronald Reagan understood how irrational, and difficult to understand, Middle Eastern politics can be. Paul reasoned that it's better not to get involved. I agree.

     When the U.S. lost a drone to the Iranians, it was not only humiliating and risked our safety, it showed how careless we are.

     I don't want America to get caught in a trap of developing advanced weapons, and then selling them to untrustworthy actors (or otherwise losing control of them), and then having to fight against an enemy that's using our own weapons that we just recently developed. This causes us to have to develop even more advanced weapons.

     I imagine that it would be very difficult to estimate the cost of this cycle. It would require estimating virtually the entire cost of the arms race which our government has sponsored during its history. Which is a lot, considering that, before it became an imperial power, America took Switzerland's lead, and remained “neutral” (by trading with and lending money so many of its potential enemies). Nowadays we simply arm, fund, and train (and finally, provoke) those people directly.

     The World Bank and I.M.F. (International Monetary Fund) function basically as institutions designed to lend only to those governments most capable of extorting their own people for tax revenue and to those armies most capable of crushing others. The military-industrial-banking complex must be dismantled.

     If elected, I would sponsor a bill that would prohibit the U.S. federal Government from making a contract with any arms manufacturer which wields more than 10% of the market share in the United States. I believe that such a law will help achieve antitrust in the weapons industry; and diminish the influence of large arms producers on businesses, media, and government, while avoiding the risk that such a proposal could be criticized as a Bill of Attainder which singles-out the wealthiest arms producers.

     I should also note that I believe that the theft of military technology, and cybersecurity, should be considered the most important concern in regards to intellectual property theft by China. The idea that Chinese piracy of consumer goods, and the enforcement of the Company Law, are “Chinese intellectual property theft”, is making this issue needlessly complex and confusing. Exaggerating Chinese I.P. theft turns Chinese entrepreneurs and consumers into the enemy, when its military should be our main concern.

     I believe that taking these positions will help reduce the military budget quickly, without sacrificing our national security or our safety. The sooner we can withdraw from abroad, the less time insurgents will have to plan attacks as our personnel leaves.

     I would support efforts to revise and reduce our state of dozens of simultaneous overlapping national emergencies, most importantly the emergency over the Korean conflict which allows thousands of our troops to remain in that country.

     Additionally, I would support efforts to abolish the C.I.A., the Department of Homeland Security, and I.C.E.; and return any of their duties which are not unconstitutional, to under either the Department of Justice, the Department of State, or the Department of Defense.

     I would also support efforts to end all continuing undeclared wars and occupations in which the U.S. military is presently involved, as well as efforts to withdraw all troops and bases to within 90 or 100 miles of the fifty states and our overseas possessions (given that no war has been declared, and that therefore we are ostensibly at peacetime). We must bring the troops home, so they can be with their families, spend their money at home instead of abroad, and open businesses to help fill-in our hollowed-out economy.

     America's experiment with imperialism, and the New Cold War, need to end, before more lives are lost in needless proxy wars. Russia and China have adopted capitalism to various degrees; yet we go on as if Russia were still the Soviet Union, and we call the Chinese pirates for wanting American businesses to share their technology as the price of doing business in China. The wars in Syria, Afghanistan, and other nations, owe themselves to needless antipathy between, and demonization of, the United States on the one hand, and Russia and China on the other.

     America must not let either its blinding hatred of communism, or its blinding love of Israel, to dictate which countries should be our enemies and which should be our allies. We should have peaceful trade and diplomacy with all nations. As long as Israel is free to spy on the United States, the U.S. is free to spy on France and Germany, and America and Russia keep being accused of sabotaging each other's elections, we will have no reason to expect that military budgets will get any smaller.

     If declaring alliances openly becomes inevitable, then I would advocate distancing ourselves from the United Kingdom, the State of Israel, and Saudi Arabia; while seeking closer relations with countries such as Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Liechtenstein, and New Zealand. I mention these countries because they all have high degrees of both economic freedom and economic mobility, and high percentages of English speakers, but lack the militant and imperialist histories for which the U.S. and U.K. have come to be known.

     I will additionally advocate for reconciliation with the Islamic Republic of Iran. The U.S. duplicitously armed Iran and Iraq against one another during the second half of the 1980s, and currently surrounds Iran with some 40 military bases. America overthrew Iran's democratically elected leader, Mohammed Mossadegh in 1953. Iran, on the other hand, has not initiated an attack on one of its neighbors in over 200 years. Furthermore, America has exaggerated the criticism which has been leveled at Israel by Iran's leaders; America's leaders have wanted war with Iran since 2006, but when they appear to want war, we treat it as unacceptable. An American court ruled that 9/11 victims' families could sue Iran, but a Belgian court ruled that Iran could not be sued. The “28 Pages” revealed the Saudis' involvement in the attacks; 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals. Iran had nothing to do with it. Iran is Israel's enemy; that doesn't mean that it has to be ours too. If not for our alliance with Israel, that country of 80 million people would have a lot fewer reasons to be angry at our military policy.

     If elected, I will explain to my colleagues why I believe that Iran is a more civilized, and less barbaric, nation, than Saudi Arabia is, and I will explain why I believe that an alliance with Iran stands to be more beneficial to both peace and America's energy interests, than our current alliance (and trading relationship) with the Saudis.

     Iranian hostility towards America will subside when we stop funding Israel, and Iranian hostility towards Israel will subside when the Jews in the Holy Land negotiate a just and lasting peace with the Arabs and other peoples living there.

     America's belligerence has driven Russia and China closer together, and it has driven Iran and Iraq closer together. That is what playing countries against each other does. America's enemies are lining up against it; we must do something to avoid Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and Syria uniting. Several of these countries spent the 2010s conducting coordinated military exercises with each other.

     The last thing that America wants is to be left alone - without any allies but the U.K., Israel, and the Saudis – to fight the entire population of the rest of the world, in an apocalyptic doomsday scenario. But that is how World War III is going to shake out, if America doesn't reconsider its alliances, and stop treating the poor people of China, Venezuela, and Palestine (etc.) like terrorists just because they're struggling to survive cheaply in a country that recognizes so precious few of their rights.

     America lost Vietnam and got overextended by invading neighboring countries. We killed 2 million people in Iraq and then got overextended again. The Trump Administration failed to incite wars against the regimes in Venezuela and Iran; this coming from a president who, like George W. Bush before him, vowed to end regime change wars and nation building.

     America's ability to win a war, and its ability to bring freedom or democracy to other nations, should be called into question. As Francis Scott Key wrote in “The Star-Spangled Banner”, “conquer we must when our cause is just” [emphasis mine]. If our cause is not yet just, then we must refrain from conquering.

     I will make it clear that President Obama's actions in Syria and Libya were almost certainly unconstitutional, and impeachable offenses.

     If America is going to bring slavery to countries we occupy, instead of fair and free elections, then we should simply give up our supposedly “humanitarian” mission to bring democracy to the world. How are we supposed to bring democracy in the first place, when we're supposed to be a republic? We must limit and end the imperial presidency, by repealing the War Powers Act, and requiring congressional declaration of war before troops can be committed.

     You can learn more about my policies on military and surveillance by reading Sections 3 and 4 of my platform, at the following link (same as above):

     http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2019/08/thirty-point-basic-platform-for-us.html

     You can learn more about international military coordination by reading the following articles:

     http://apnews.com/0d2f7ebbf673fccf3f2c643cc495a177

8. My Views on My Opponents

     I hope I've answered your questions. I apologize if I've provided too much detail. I want to show that I think very deeply about these issues.

     I'm pretty certain that I think more deeply about the issues than my Republican opponent Valerie Ramirez-Mukherjee does. I'm surprised to find out that you disagree with her views on abortion; I didn't know that she had any views on any issues!

     I say this because the “Issues” page on her website has very little detail. She supports free enterprise, is pro-choice, and she's pro-climate. But what else? What are the details? I watched a 40-minute video interview of her, and not a single federal law was mentioned, either by name, or in any direct manner. I'm not sure if it's Mukherjee or the people running her website and presenting her, but the lack of substance and detailed proposals in her campaign is startling and concerning in my opinion.

     I believe that I would provide a much greater level of detail in explaining my positions, and that the ability to do this will give me an edge, which will be necessary to compete against Schneider, who has the privilege of already being in Congress, and, as such, is privy to the intimate details of the laws.

     Another concern which I have about her, is the fact that she lives outside of the district's current boundaries. That is frowned upon, but it is not illegal or unconstitutional.

     My concern about this, though, is that voters in the northwest parts of the district (like people in the Round Lake area) might not be able to vote for Mukherjee again in 2022, if they vote for her in 2020. That's because the 2020 Census will result in redistricting, which will require new district lines to be drawn around the incumbent congressman's house. Like partisan gerrymandering, this is just another way that “politicians pick their constituents, instead of the other way around”.

     Simply put, if Valerie wins, then the 10^th District will likely shift to the southeast, to get Valerie's house inside the district. So if your friends to the north are thinking about voting for Valerie, just tell them that it might be the last time they ever do it!

     I, on the other hand, live in Waukegan, the most populated city in the district, so my election would result in far less change to the current shape and location of the 10^th district than the election of Mrs. Mukherjee would.

     It is not acceptable that Valerie is running to move the district; this is unfair to voters who live on the other end of the district from where she lives. If Mukherjee is free to run in a district that is several miles away from her house, then that means no law would stop a candidate from running (in a census year) in a district that's on the opposite side of the state from where they live. Without new laws limiting this behavior, we should expect to see the same kinds of tricks in 2030 and 2040.

     Mukherjee should sincerely be asked whether she ran for the 10^th District seat out of fear of being easily beaten by her own congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. The number of congressional districts in Illinois will probably go down after the next round of redistricting, not up. That means that there is no chance that extra congressmen will be needed in Illinois, so this is the most inappropriate and unnecessary possible time for candidates to be running outside of their districts.

     Regarding my other opponents, I've been saying that Brad Schneider is a fake environmentalist and a fake progressive. He has taken money from companies that are polluting Lake County. He also lied to my veteran friend about Syria, and his aide either lied to me or made a factual error about the length of pharmaceutical patents.

     Schneider also very likely had something to do with the League of Women Voters' decision to un-invite me from their debates, after they had formally invited me and specifically told me that their bylaws required them to invite me because I had officially registered as a write-in candidate. Schneider has between $10 million and $40 million, making him one of the richest members of Congress. I suspect that Schneider threatened to refuse to participate in the debates unless the League dis-invite me.

     You can read my pamphlet criticizing Schneider at the following link:

     http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/02/where-does-congressman-brad-schneider.html

     My other opponents in the race are David Rych and Bradley S. Heinz. Rych received the Libertarian Party's nomination, but failed to make it onto the ballot. He is now running as a write-in candidate. I'm not sure whether Bradley Heinz is still running or not, I haven't succeeded in contacting him.

9. My Top Three Issues

     The three issues most important to me, in regards to federal legislative reforms, are national debt payment, medical price relief, and protecting kids from trafficking and kidnapping.

     My plan to pay off the national debt is called P.O.U.N.D., which stands for “Pay Off the U.S. National Debt by 2047”. I would reduce military budgets, localize entitlements, and make taxes more efficient, to balance the budgets, and produce a trillion-dollar surplus budget, paid directly into the hands of our creditors, every year until the national debt is fully paid off.

     My plan to achieve medical price relief is called E.M.P.A.T.H.I.C., which stands for “Eliminating Medical Patents to Achieve Technologies for Human Immortality Cheaply”. I would drastically reduce the length of medical device patents and pharmaceutical patents, so cheap generics can come onto the market sooner, leading to increased affordability and accessibility of medical goods. I would aim to further reduce medical prices by eliminating unnecessary taxes on medical goods and services, such as medical device sales taxes, and taxes on the income of doctors and nurses. I also oppose the taxation of earned income in general.

     My plan to protect children is called S.K.A., which stands for “Safe Kids Amendment”. This would be a constitutional amendment to establish a national minimum age of consent for sex and marriage, at either 17 or 18; whichever the states can agree upon. I believe that the many variations and exceptions in age of consent laws, statutory rape laws, and child trafficking laws, which exist among and between the states, are major contributing causes to interstate child trafficking. I believe that making age of consent laws more uniform across the states, will result in less interstate child trafficking, and that irregular travel by minors will become more noticeable as well as more difficult to justify. Most importantly, I believe that this proposal will result in more prosecutions of child trafficking and kidnapping, and prevent the federal government's prerogative to enforce federal age of consent laws, from overriding the state's prerogative to prosecute someone who has fled the state with one of its children.

     You can learn more about those parts of my platform by visiting the following link, and reading Section 8 (on the national debt), Section 25 (on health policy), and Sections 27 and 28 (about reforming education and protecting children):

     http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2019/08/expanded-platform-for-us-house-of.html

10. My Views on Economic Systems, Markets, and Taxes

     I support a free enterprise system with open markets and free trade, and I am strongly against all forms of subsidies, bailouts, and crony capitalism. I believe that when corporations do bad things, it's usually the government's fault, because the government charters the company, provides it with an L.L.C. designation (insulating it from protection and lawsuits), and legalizes its behavior (as long as the company pays its taxes).

     But on the other hand, our markets are broken and rigged, so constructive criticism is necessary. I also believe that “alter-globalization”, the “social market economy”, Georgism, Mutualism, and post-scarcity economics, are all valid critiques of market economies. I believe that we can learn from these schools of thought, to make our markets truly free again, by eliminating the dangers posed by monopolies, subsidies, bailouts, and other forms of government intervention in the markets.

     Below is an article I wrote about how our markets are rigged. It also contains some thoughts about why a lot of the criticism of socialism that we hear is really just propaganda. I believe that allowing people to voluntarily practice socialism, will result in less property destruction, because socialists will no longer be forced to participate in an economic system which they believe is working directly against them and against their ability to access resources and acquire property.

     http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2019/11/critique-of-idea-that-we-have-free.html

     Supporters of free markets want all forms of social and economic exchange to be voluntary. I am forming the Mutualist Party of Illinois because I feel that the Libertarians don't go far enough; the standard needs to be mutually beneficial voluntary exchange with fully informed consent.

     Read the following article to learn about why I'm forming this party.

     http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/07/announcing-formation-of-mutualist-party.html

     I believe that teaching voters about the economic systems of Mutualism and Georgism, will help provide a constructive critique of market systems. The rule of law, the Constitution, and market systems will collapse, if they are not constructively criticized, and reformed in manners which will give young people a reason to put their faith in these institutions.

     Teaching people that there are economic systems besides and between capitalism and socialism, will help reduce the two-sided violence in the streets, by “opening the Overton Window”; that is, by leading to a more open discussion of a more diverse set of political and economic viewpoints. Our need to hear and understand each other clearly, will lead to calm, open, polite, measured discussion becoming the norm.

     [However, it's likely that reforming state laws so as to allow Ranked Choice Voting, more proportional representation, and/or the conversion of legislatures into parliamentary systems which feature coalition-building, will be necessary, to allow a society so diverse in political thought to flourish. But I would be supportive of any efforts to spread Ranked Choice Voting, and I would urge my colleagues to consider drastic measures such as calling a constitutional convention and adding or subtracting a house of legislature.]

     On taxes, I agree with the argument that a more progressive income tax will cause more wealthy people and businesses to leave the state, and with the argument that flat income taxes and sales taxes are regressive or effectively regressive.

     I am a Georgist; a student of Henry George's view that governments should tax the unimproved value of land, rather than earning money, trading (i.e., buying and selling) and property improvements. We must stop taxing productivity, and start taxing waste and destruction.

     You can read my article about how enacting Georgist solutions could help solve Lake County's property tax problems, at the following address:

     http://www.lclp.org/articles/geolibertarianism/

11. Conclusions

     If you'd like to see how your views line up with mine on 25 issues, visit the following link, print this survey out, and score yourself to find out what percent of the issues we agree on.
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/05/political-questionnaire-are-you-joe_12.html

     If you're not satisfied by my responses, or have found too many areas of disagreement with me, I understand. I have been saying for at least ten years that we need more true progressives and true conservatives running. I understand that you are a life-long conservative, and that I, as a pro-choice left-leaning libertarian, am not that.

     If you read this, and look at David Rych and Bradley Heinz, and still feel that the 10^th District race needs a real conservative – and you think that you just might be that conservative – then I would be delighted to have you as one of my opponents in 2022. If you'd like to run, you can learn about how to do that at the following link:

     http://www.elections.il.gov/ElectionOperations/CandidatePortal.aspx?MID=Uba%2fQ1TTruc%3d&T=637364325003965911

     But I hope that my dedication to constitutional principles, and to reforming the constitution properly and permanently through the amendment process (instead of pursuing temporary change through executive orders and parliamentary procedural tricks), will make up for those differences of opinion.

     I'm always glad to help voters learn who my opponents are, how to run against me, and how to sharpen their arguments. I want to help people, and I believe that the best way to do that is to give them back the choices that have been unfairly taken from them without their ever knowing. I will do this by helping to make sure that important issues are discussed in depth from many different angles.

     Even though I am not culturally conservative, I hope that my dedication to educating people about how elections work, about the Enumerated Powers, and about the limitations of government, will demonstrate to you and other 10^th District voters that I am committed to inspiring interest in the law, and in guiding new voters to learn about political topics and economic ideologies that inspire them and challenge the way they think.

     If the legacy of slavery has made it impossible for most Americans to love the Constitution as it is, then I will do what I can to make it possible for Americans to love the Constitution for what it could be. America's best days are ahead of it, as long as our children are not forced to try to understand a government that is so large, centralized, needlessly complex, and involved in regulating so many different types of activities, that it will be effectively impossible to teach them how it works. I have been saying in my campaign that we cannot teach our children how government works, if it doesn't work, and if it doesn't work the way it was intended to work.

     I will tell voters that, unless and until the federal government proves itself capable of competently handling money, mail, and military - I call them “the three M's” - nearly all other activities and industries should be regulated by the states or handled the people. To do otherwise would require a constitutional amendment specifically authorizing the Congress to legislate upon a new matter not previously delegated to the Congress in the Enumerated Powers (Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution for the United States of America).

     Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope it didn't take too long.

     If you appreciate my attention to detail, and to making sure voters know my position in full, I'll remind you again that I was invited to the League of Women Voters debate, and then uninvited.

     It's hard to imagine what kind of debates they're having, when only a right-leaning Democrat and a left-leaning Republican are allowed to debate. My presence in those debates would expose problems that both parties are ignoring or lying about. That is why I feel that it is not truly a debate unless I (or Mr. Rych or Mr. Heinz) am included.

     If you would like to see me in the debates, please call or e-mail the Lake County chapters of the League of Women Voters - or contact Jeanne Kearby, the representative of the local League chapters who called me – and ask them why they changed their bylaws in the middle of the debate season to specifically exclude me.

 Highwood / Highland Park chapter of the League of Women Voters:

    http://my.lwv.org/illinois/highland-parkhighwood/contact-us

     Lake Forest / Lake Bluff chapter of the League of Women Voters:

     http://www.facebook.com/LeagueOfWomenVotersLakeForestLakeBluff/

     Jeanne Kearby:

     http://www.facebook.com/jeanne.kearby

      If you think I'm a better candidate than Schneider and Mukherjee, please give me a call at 608-417-9395, or e-mail me at jwkopsick@gmail.com.

     Maybe we could go to a Lake County Republican Party meeting together, and ask them why they nominated someone who lives outside of the district, who has taken no clear stance on any major issue, instead of someone who knows the issues in depth and vows to help get a generation of disillusioned young people believing in the Constitution and free market principles again (or at least comprehending them so that they know how to criticize them better).

     I would aim to teach as I campaign, and teach as I explain my votes while in Congress.

     I look forward to your response.

Written on September 23rd, 2020

Published on September 25th, 2020