Lawson for Congress

You know it’s getting close when a 20 year incumbent needs to attack his opponent, and his political ideology, head on. Anyone who’s in office for that long should be able to stand on the merits of his own record rather than launching attacks. Here is an excerpt from a letter that he recently sent out to his supporters.

…Proclaiming to be the protégé of failed Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, Dr. Lawson has a laissez faire, libertarian approach to government and the economy that I believe is fundamentally wrong. Our current financial crisis clearly demonstrates that the hands-off, anything-goes mentality on regulation employed by the Bush Administration and supported by Dr. Lawson simply does not work and is, very frankly, dangerous to our economy and way of life.

David Price has been playing politics here in the 4th district for the last month - constantly trying to tie Dr. Lawson to the Bush Administration in any way that he can. All of this started happening when we launched our TV and Radio Ads thanks to your support.

But this time he has gone too far.

To attack our political philosophy like this, and constantly show a clear disregard of limited government principles that our nation was founded upon says something to me. It should say something to you too.

We need to get this man out of our government.

David Price is stepping up his campaign in a big way, and we need your help to continue the fight.

Please make a donation today to support our efforts - we have 2 new TV ads and a massive mailer ready to go with your help.

Mr. Price, you just called out the Revolution.

B.J.’s recent entry on David Price’s love of pork, and the quoting of President Grover Cleveland within, got me thinking about another great President who understood the proper role of the Executive Branch and the importance of strictly following the Constitution: President Calvin Coolidge.

Silent Cal (as he was called because in private he was a man of few words) is my second favorite President (the first? Jefferson, of course). I admire his commitment to principles and constant defense of the Constitution. I also think he’s one of the most interesting Presidents we’ve ever had and as such, I often try to impress girls at parties with Coolidge trivia (this probably explains a lot). Here’s one of the most well-known bits of Coolidge trivia:

Legend has it that Dorothy Parker once said to him at a dinner, “Mr. Coolidge, I’ve made a bet against a fellow who said it was impossible to get more than two words out of you.”

Silent Cal’s famous reply? “You lose.”

Beyond his ability to whip out clever zingers, Coolidge’s defense of the Constitution was unwavering. In 1920, while he was still Governor, he vetoed a bill that would have allowed the sale of beer or wine of 2.75% alcohol or less, in defiance of the Eighteenth Amendment. This was despite that Coolidge himself was opposed to Prohibition. In his veto message he stated “opinions and instructions do not outmatch the Constitution. Against it, they are void.”

These wise words can and should be applied to every policy considered by our government.

Still, Coolidge had and continues to have his critics, just those those who support a Constitutional federal government today. In response to Coolidge’s critics, historian Robert Sobel offered up the following explanation of Coolidge’s view of the role of the federal government:

As Governor of Massachusetts, Coolidge supported wages and hours legislation, opposed child labor, imposed economic controls during World War I, favored safety measures in factories, and even worker representation on corporate boards. Did he support these measures while President? No, because in the 1920s, such matters were considered the responsibilities of state and local governments.

I have only one problem with Dr. Sobel’s analysis: those matters are still the responsibility of state and local governments and Constitution, and more specifically the Tenth Amendment, restricts the vast majority of matters to state and local governments, but more importantly to the people.

That’s the way it’s suppose to be, at least, but in the last 100 years or so the Constitution has become more and more ignored and today we are suffering the consequences of a federal government running wild, from higher food prices to illegal immigration to crushing debt.

Dr. Sobel isn’t wrong, though… it’s the consideration, not the Constitution, that’s changed. The Constitution is no longer considered and it’s time to change that and restore the Constitution.

A restoration of a Constitutional government and individual liberty is the solution to so many of our problems. It’s time to realize that it’s “we the people…” — not the federal government — that are going to solve the problems we face.

But we’re going to have to fight to get the federal government off our backs first so we can once again have the kind of federal government that protects life and liberty, but otherwise stays out of our way and out of our lives.

Or, as President Coolidge said, “one of the most important accomplishments of my administration has been minding my own business.”

The fight against the National Bio & Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) continues to march forward and gather steam. In the last few weeks I have had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know members of the Granville Non-Violent Action Team (G.N.A.T.) and they, along with B.J., have inspired and encouraged me to speak out about NBAF.

So, in the last couple of weeks, I have composed two Letters to the Editor: one for the Durham Herald-Sun, and one to the Raleigh News & Observer.

Below is my letter to the Durham Herald-Sun, which addresses the attempts by the NC Consortium for NBAF to speak about the security and transparency factors of the proposed facility even though they are unqualified to speak about either:

NBAF risks public health
March 6, 2008

Regarding the Feb. 27th article “Official Supports Bio-Agro Defense Facility”, Dr. Warwick Arden, Dean of the NCSU College of Veterinary Medicine, like many members of the N.C. Consortium for the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF), is unqualified to discuss the security and transparency aspects of the facility. He is not a member of Homeland Security and, as such, his assurances of how the Department will behave are meaningless.

Further, there are several facts that Arden cannot deny. For instance, the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, which will be stored at NBAF, in England in 2007 is believed to have been caused by an accidental release from a facility there. Accidents, after all, do happen.

In September, New York Congressman Tim Bishop, whose district includes Plum Island, encouraged his constituents to reject locating NBAF on Plum Island. This was despite that the facility on Plum Island has been in place for over 50 years.

At the Creedmoor town hall meeting last week, Dr. William (B.J.) Lawson, a physician who’s running for Congress against NBAF-supporter David Price, argued that we should collaborate with laboratories around the world already studying these diseases instead of building a “Taj Mahal” for these diseases in our backyard.

The reality remains unchanged. NBAF presents undeniable and unnecessary public safety and health risks to our area that any potential benefits from the facility do not outweigh. Unqualified assurances from Arden and other members of the Consortium will not change that.

While my letter to the Herald-Sun tackled a recent article they published, my letter to the News and Observer tackled what hasn’t been in any articles yet: the fact that David Price supports NBAF and has lobbied Homeland Security to bring it here. Here it is, as published (except for the bold part):

What Price supports

I have yet to see a single article that points out that U.S. Rep. David Price supports the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility and as chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security has been lobbying the Department of Homeland Security to bring it to the area.

He has done so while ignoring the dangers of the NBAF, a facility that will store animal-to-animal and animal-to-human diseases that will pose health and safety risks to local livestock and residents.

Thankfully, at least one candidate has stepped up to retire professional politician Price and give the people of the forth district a voice in Washington once again — B.J. Lawson, a Duke Medical School graduate from Cary who filed his candidacy last month.

It seems that after serving in Congress for over 20 years, Price has lost touch with the people he’s supposed to represent. I say “supposed to” because a glance at Price’s campaign donors shows whom he now truly represents: a laundry list of corporate and special interests, including some interests who might benefit from NBAF being located in the area.

It’s time for long-overdue change. Someone in Congress actually looking out for the best interests of the people would be Price-less.

The part in bold was actually removed by the newspaper, but as people wake up to what David Price is doing, they’ll begin to look for alternatives. B.J. Lawson is that alternative.

Watch our local newspapers, as many other local residents are speaking out about the proposed facility and making solid points about its dangers. I encourage everyone to do the same, and don’t stop at NBAF. Letters to the Editor are a great way to speak your mind about whatever issue is important to you. To write the Durham Herald-Sun click here. To write the Raleigh News and Observer click here.

Most Americans make New Years resolutions, and most break them. I never have for that reason. I’ve always felt that if I made one I’d just turn around and break it. However, this New Years I did make a resolution for the first time ever and that resolution was to do something that would make a difference for my country.

On January 2nd, 2008, I met BJ Lawson.

I arrived at BJ’s house at around 8 o’clock. I had never met BJ in person before, much less been to his home, but I knew exactly which house was his from the cars already gathered in the driveway.

A few days earlier I had e-mailed BJ after finding out he was running with a simple message: “if there’s anything I can do to help let me know.” He had promptly e-mailed me back with an invite to come to his house to meet with him and others tonight. I pulled into his driveway and walked towards the door.

I rang the door bell and BJ answered. I shook his hand and introduced myself and he invited me inside, immediately offering me something to drink. I took him up on his offer and poured myself a cup of coffee before walking around the living room to introduce myself to everyone, with BJ’s assistance.

Three things I realized within five minutes of being there:

1. I’d never felt more welcome in someone’s home in my entire life.

2. There was no television downstairs. Lots of books, and a couple Macintosh computers, but no television.

3. All of these people were patriots.

In a day and age when apathy runs rampant, being in a room with so many freedom-loving people who so deeply care about their country and are willing to fight for it filled me with so much hope.

In some cases they were literally willing to fight for it such as in the case of Victor, an Iraq war veteran. In other cases they were people who had been fighting for decades for their country by being politically and socially active such as Howard, who among other things was a big Goldwater supporter in the ’60s.

There were people from BJ’s company, MercuryMD, who helped him create jobs for Americans. There was Chinnapan, a talented graphic designer and Indian-American who spoke of his travels to India and how America is viewed by the rest of the world. He explained how in India the U.S. dollar has always been so highly regarded and how fast that’s changing due to how weak our dollar is getting as a consequence of our flawed monetary policy.

But, more than anyone else the person I was most impressed by was BJ. I remember thinking “here’s the kind of person I need to strive to be.” At just 33 years of age BJ has already accomplished a lot. He has a fantastic family, and if you’ve ever doubted the old saying that “behind every great man, there is a great woman” you need to meet BJ’s wife JoLynn. He has a beautiful home, is a Duke alumnus, has a background in engineering and medicine and has been an entrepreneur having started his own company.

He’s also just an all around great person. Friendly, warm, charismatic, smart and patriotic. He truly loves his country and he’s willing to fight for it.

BJ Lawson is not a politician and that’s a good thing. He’s a real person with real concerns about our country. He’s a statesman and a real Republican. That’s exactly the kind of person we need representing North Carolina’s Fourth District.

It can happen, too, because he can beat David Price… and with everyone giving their all for liberty he will. When I walked into his home I walked in with the highest hopes but still with the thought burning in the back of my mind “I don’t know if he can beat David Price.” When I walked out all I could think was “He’s going to do this. He’s going to beat David Price.”

As I stepped out the door into the cold that night and walked to my car, after saying my “goodbyes” to BJ and all of the other patriots I had met that night, I was filled with a warmth inside (which is also my excuse for forgetting my coat). I held my head high and walked to my car with a smile on my face and a new found optimism. Filled with hope for my country I was already so proud to be part of this and so ready to start the fight for change the next day.

When I got home, after what may have been the best drive home I’ve taken in my life, I slipped into bed. My last thought before I fell asleep, thinking about my New Years resolution, was “this year we make a difference. It starts tomorrow and it’ll only be the beginning.”

That night I slept better than I had in months.