This is what you asked for

[claypool4prez]

WIth the formation of Democracy for America, and through the efforts of many across the country a campaign was waged, known best as "The Fifty State Strategy," which would take bake red America.

Well in one of the reddest districts of North Carolina, I decided to take them up on their word, their committment to fight for change in Mississippi, Kentucky, Utah and Wyoming.

I was inspired by those efforts, and though as a man with no political experience I decided to run. Because it's my civic duty, because the bigwigs of the Democratic Party establishment were ashamed to, because the students I had taught were stuck in Iraq, and to prove an average guy with no funds can simply step off his porch, get the papers, run a campaign, and still win an election in this country.

You asked to take back red America, so I'm laying it all on the line to help do that.

Now, if you can find it in your heart, I'd love for you to quickly help me out.

Please!!

Vote Roy Carter on www.democracyforamerica.com/gras

Far too often Washington politicians use fear and divisiveness to distract the electorate and avoid talking about the real issues. In this critical election, I believe the American people will discover more that unites rather than divides our communities. A single mother living in a rural community and a college student in a small town are united by their struggle to afford a quality education. A factory worker and a small business owner share the same concern about the outrageously high cost of healthcare. I am running for Congress in the North Carolina 5th District and, when elected, I will work to bring our district and our country together while we tackle the tough issues. I will always be truthful about where I stand.

The Roy Carter for Congress campaign slogan, "People Above Politics," is not just a marketing phrase. It is a principle that has guided my life and a belief that drives my passion for public service. I believe that the measure of a good member of Congress must be more than just an accounting of votes cast. What matters most is what those votes stand for and whether or not they were used to better the lives of people.

My Republican opponent, Virginia Foxx, has failed to provide the independent and constituent-centered leadership that our district deserves. She is proud of the fact that she is the most conservative member of congress, and never misses an opportunity to blast even the most moderate of Democrats on Capitol Hill. Rather than defending special interest groups like Big Oil and Big Pharmaceutical companies, I will use my vote in Congress to support people-based initiatives that have a real impact on the working families of America. Unlike my opponent, I will work to strengthen and expand health coverage through programs like SCHIP. I will continue to be a champion for education and young people by fully funding Head Start and low interest loans for college students. I come from a farming family, and I will never turn my back on the farmers and workers in rural communities. My only obligation in Congress will be to represent the needs and best interests of the people who elect me to serve. I grew up in the North Carolina mountains, have raised a family there, and when it comes down to a difficult vote, I will put people above politics every single time.

My opponent voted against giving aid to victims of hurricane Katrina, against expansion of SCHIP, against the Voter Rights Act, and for escalating the War in Iraq. You can help put an end to the special interest politics of people like Foxx, by voting for me, Roy Carter, as Democracy for America’s Grassroots All-Star (www.democracyforamerica.com/gras).

- Roy J. Carter

Vote Roy Carter on www.democracyforamerica.com/gras




Thanks.


I'll leave you with this:

Once upon a time, in these mountains, we had ideas, ideas of equality and of progress both socially and economically, and we shared them freely.
We were once a truly great and virtuous land.
For decades though, those ideas have lost influence, and our true patriots have been silenced.

Patriotism was mistook for allegiance to one’s country, even if it was going to war without suitable cause.

And now we’re creeping towards the edge of crisis.

Foreign relations are in shambles, our economy on the brink of a recession.

Many have been robbed of their liberty.

Others are forced to work for insufficient wages, and are expected to provide for their families by giving them the bare minimum.

Too few live in luxury, while the masses have to decide between paying for medicine or purchasing groceries.


And our environment? That too is stained by pollution, deteriorating by the second.


Those are but individual arrows of a barrage that pierced the warm heart of a once promising America, where liberty was more than just a word engraved on a coin.


Our society can exist without a common belief, but we cannot exist without a common goal.

A common aim based upon common sense, which is invested in the common interest, and based on an appreciation of who we are, and where we came from.

Therefore we must work together for a common purpose, one that is beneficial for all.

The partisan divide that exist here in the fifth district of North Carolina, exist only because of eccentric creatures like Virginia Foxx, a bigoted and myopic, shady and ruthless, career opportunist who manipulates extraneous social issues to divide, thus scamming her constituents into voting against their own economic self-interest.
Her role serves no other purpose than to prove that government should prove no purpose.


Maybe it does for me, maybe it does for the rest of us.


Each of us can within seconds, think of a way where government could have helped us, and more likely than not it is because a private industry refused to help, or charged you a fortune.


And it’s because we’ve been shunned or neglected, when trying to obtain healthcare or livable wages, by the private industry that we demand a voice in Congress that will look out for our wellbeing when the private sector turns its back.


But our current representative is deaf to the cries for help, and she is afraid to step foot amongst us to hear out our legitimate grievances.


That is why she depends on funding from special interest, but now lacks support from the commoner people. For they do not approve of her, her record, her approachability, or her courage to face her opposition face to face, eye to cross-eye,


Our so called leader has become unresponsive to our needs, selfish in her lifestyle, incompetent, and unworthy of casting votes on behest of a people who disagree with her more often than not.




We protest against a from of representation that exist without the blessing of the represented.
We demand to be represented by one of our own, by someone who grew up here, who knew our grandparents, who taught our children, and who would never turn his back on us.


As a high school teacher and football coach, in some of the poorest communities in the region, I’ve witnessed first hand the sojourning of economic advancement.
Year after year students would step into my classroom in worn shoes, with the same tattered jeans and ragged shirts.



So unlike Foxx, these foothills and mountains have always been my home, and therefore I can’t sit idly by as things continue to take a turn for the worse.
A new representative is required, who knows that not only should government protect every citizen, it must more importantly look out for their personal well being.


It is the right of human being for which government was established.



They won’t talk about it on the television much, but there’s still a war going on
Our brave soldiers deserve to come home. I owe it to my former students and players, and their families to bring them home.


Previously, moments like this call for a braver exertion from the homefront than had ever been asked for.


However the days of war bonds, women going to work in factories to build equipment for their husbands, and children dressing up as soldiers and playing in the yard, are long gone and were meant for times when war itself was appropriate, and the fate of the world and humanity depended on it.
Sadly, we are the aggressor, the world has not been made safer, and America is no sfer, nor or our dear children.

My proposition is peace.


But we’re not going to leave Iraq with chicken-hawks like Virginia Foxx casting votes.


She shuns the poor, condemns the rights of our kids to healthcare, all the while looking the other way as this corrupt administration commits war crimes. And she remains loyal to those scoundrels for what amounts to little more than a schoolgirl crush on George W. Bush.

Virginia Foxx has blood on her hands, and they shall remain stained until she is willing to give up her crush and vote for the common good, to bring home our loved ones, in one piece, not in body bags.

Her heart no longer feels, her soul has turned black, her brain is stuck on stall, and her reputation is dead. Her days in office are numbered though.

We’re building momentum now and it’s flowing down the mountains like the storm waters of justice.

The High Country necessitates for a representative who will appreciate her past, and who will carry into office a hope for her future. I intend to be that sort of representative.


I run, because I’d be ashamed not to.


I jumped in the race because it’s the right thing to do.
I will not, and could not settle down, and retire after a lengthy career as a teacher and community volunteer, in any semblance of comfort until our fight for justice and equality is finished.

Cynics say we cannot win in this district, or that I’m wasting my time.
But for whatever reason, the fight isn’t over for some of us.
And we choose to fight for a return of justice, Habeas Corpus, civil liberties, affordable college and healthcare for all, and a swift, safe, return of our troops from foreign battlefields.

Tell you children; tell all your loved ones, that the righteous have returned.
The hearts that were broken, the thoughts that have been derelict, are revived.

Right here, just take a look around. We’re ready to stand up higher and higher and take on whatever stands in the way between affordable healthcare, better schools, and renewed economic prosperity.

We are not alone though, this movement is taking place across this land, from shore to shore.
We are inspired by those, like us, who aren’t going to simply hand over Mississippi, or wave the white flag in Utah, throw in the towel in Alabama, or call Kentucky a lost cause.
They write off this district only because we’ve allowed them to write us off.

No more. No more, I say.


The righteous have returned, because we’ve waiting in the shadows for too long, waiting for the hard times to end.
And now, before the most vital election in our history, we’ve stepped out into the sun, and it’s shined its light on us.

No longer shall we remain silent.

We’re back, and we’re not backing down.
Here in this district we’re experiencing a reawakening of those ideas, a renewal of civic enthusiasm, and a revival of clout displayed by our concerned citizens.




Those involved with our effort, not only at the university but across these mountains, have remarkable intestinal fortitude and it’s their efforts, that give those of us out here, once forgotten, hope for a better tomorrow.


And now we must march forward, and never look back.

I’m laying everything on the line, and I ask you to join me now, and, stand up with me.

Stand by me, for no more wars, and for an immediate end to an illegal occupation of Iraq.
To improve education, properly fund it, and lay the foundation for the next generation of leaders.
Stand up with me and we’ll take on the corporations, and their CEOs with bank accounts full blood-soaked money, made off of this war.
Stand we me, stand for something, or we’ll fall for everything, again, just as we unfortunately always have.

We must not struggle for a better life on our own, we must act as individual fingers, balled up in a fist that can pound down the doors of ignorance and injustice.
Together we shall prove unstoppable, if not we shall remain drifting waiting for another day like this to come.


But this is our day for change, and you be proud of it, for you will have just as an important role as I.


This shall be a campaign for the lover of peace, and the pursuer of prosperity.



The winds of change are blowing atop these mountains.
And with them they carry a burden to cast away apathy, and recover from the cynicism
For this is our greatest chance, a rare opportunity indeed, to simply reach out and grasp the change.
And it is change that is required.

Fundamental changes in the way we treat our neighbor, the way we think, the way act, the way we eat, they way we perceive, and the way we vote. For it’s time to vote for issues that unite rather than divide.



Those changes shall be based on love and respect, compassion and empathy.


Stop and think now.


Substantial change requires a movement, but successful movements aren’t lead by lifelong political opportunist.


They’re led by ordinary folk, just like you and me.
The people lead the movements, and ours is a movement about more than simply winning an election. This campaign is being waged to make sure that people, of all walks of life here in the High Country, have a voice, and that it is heard.
People above politics. People before corporations.
People looking out for other people, caring for others, as it should be.


That’s the difference between me and my opponent. She doesn’t care about others, certainly not about the poor, and she has a voting record to prove it. Just look at it.


If she were to truly understand the consequences of her votes, of her actions, and of the ethically bankrupt ideology with which she clings, she would humbly step down off that platform on which she stands on, and runs on.




So soon shall be the dawning of a new day. A day when those of us, impoverished and oppressed, heard the call took heed and became one unitary force.

A fiercely progressive force that shall storm the ramparts, and oust our inherently crooked representative.

Thus we look forward to the future, and to change, and above all a restoration of principles, oversight, responsibility, approachability, and more importantly sincere values.


Doing what’s right is much harder than hopping over to the other side of the fence to fill a personal bank account and please a trophy spouse

I’m not going to go up there to make friends, not with those ideologically handcuffed republicans who are ruining this country, and certainly not with those insurance and oil lobbyists.

They’ll be shaking in their thousand dollar shoes when they receive word ole’ Roy is coming to town.
Folks our greatest enemies aren’t hiding in desert caves, our real enemies are the ones standing in the way of universal healthcare.


What I have is a grassroots effort, one not funded by special interest, but rather fueled purely by passion.

It is time to turn to turn that passion into action.

To take to the streets, to rally, and to shout the truth from every mountaintop.
This isn’t my campaign for Congress; this is our campaign for Congress. This is our campaign for progress.

If every man, woman, student and child demand representation that will command and earn their respect, that shall be their first step in obtaining it.

We’re going to reach out and bring others to our cause with a zeal that’s never before been witnessed, with a passion that will make headlines and a commitment that will carry over for years to come.
We will hit every street, travel down every gravel road, climb every mountain, and walk every field spreading the seeds of redemption.

Engage your friends, engage your family with affection, for if we truly do care for them, we wouldn’t dare let this opportunity to free their minds pass them by.
This shall be perhaps the final battle, and to remain neutral is to willingly no longer matter.

We’re going to win, not only by conveying issues, but by sharing our values and appealing to the heart. And most importantly, by telling the truth.

They cannot shun the truth, nor attempt to forget it.

For it is the truth that shall set the High Country free, free to spread advantageous ideas, free to dream new dreams, and free to rekindle the dreams our ancestors dreamt when they settled in these mountains to start a new life.

And they’ll be proud of us, and we’ll have earned it and will be able to sincerely smile again.
Rights shall be wronged, and the wicked shall be cast out of office by those who know far to well the difference between progress and stagnation .


Make no mistake this shall be a campaign against those who covet power, by those who require liberty.

- Roy Carter

www.roycarterforcongress.com

[DS1]

1. I'd vote for you, but I don't live in NC

and why is your DU username named after the awesomest bass player in the history of the world, Les Claypool?


Good luck!

To answer your question, your website is what I want in a politician.

[gateley]

2. Guess what? I already did!

You were one of my three choices -- just went back and gave you my final vote.

Good luck with your campaign! If I lived in your area, you'd get my REAL vote, too! :thumbsup:

[flashl]

3. Good Luck in your efforts. nt