The Viral Candidate - Introduction

 

What if a public-school teacher ran for President of the United States?

Just to be clear, I am talking about me. What if an average American ran for president?

 Twenty years ago, this would have been unthinkable, as there was no inexpensive and effective method to disseminate information to enough voters. The PAC’s will certainly ignore anyone who has no interest in increasing their wealth, so where would the money come from?

Now we have social media, the internet, and GoFundMe. I can share information with the largest voting block without spending a dime; merely becoming viral will get me the support and start the discussions to bring voters around to a new (and old) way of campaigning. GoFundMe will allow a person with student loan debt and making less than living wage to go around the country and talk to fellow Americans about what they need.

This is the first thing that will separate me from the pack: I want to listen. I want to know what you need. What we are afraid of has been thrown at us for decades and addressing them on their own is one of the many band-aids on the bullet wounds in our nation. I want to listen to ordinary people about what has happened to their communities and what they want them to become.

Imagine America…

I want to make people’s lives better all over the country, and I won’t make any money doing it (other than that gorgeous presidential salary for 4 years of work). Okay, so I’ll make more money doing this for 4 years than I have made in the over two decades of full-time employment in one of the wealthiest areas in the country.

I want to run as the Founding Fathers would have approved; no political party and my Vice President is whoever comes in 2^nd in the general election. This means, essentially, that I’m asking people to use ranked choice voting to determine whose experience will aid me in my quest to be a one-term, highly effective president.

Remember America…

              There are so many problems that need an injection of cash that, for profit reasons, businesses will not take on. This is where my favorite economic thinker comes in: the role of the government is to provide for the good of the citizens and regulate the economy, so the people aren’t exploited and can use their enriched lives to pursue happiness with their liberty protected. This is something we have not done in this nation for quite some time…since the 50’s really. And even then, large swaths of the population were left out of this prosperity.

We can learn from our mistakes, and the Enlightenment thinkers that we have stopped reading, and work together to make a nation that works for all of us, has a stable economy, and a community spirit that we used to have, and must have again.

Let’s Make Our America Work for Us!

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              Now that you’ve read my introduction, you probably have a lot of questions. First, how can someone who has only been to a handful of states and countries possibly run the country? Well, obviously I’m not going to do it alone, and I have enough common sense to want experts and seasoned people from the field to inform my decisions. How will I find these people? By travelling the country.

              I do not want to run until I’ve seen the nation. I have a dream of this nation ensuring all the basic needs are provided for all its citizens. I know what that can look like in some places, but there are so many different communities and climates in the nation, that the only way to know if it will work is to see the area for myself. I, like many of you, am a kinesthetic learner and need to see and work with something to learn about it in a meaningful way.

              How will I see the nation? Luckily, after I teach summer school, I do not have a contract lined up for the next school year. Therefore, I propose to start travelling this fall and do it if there is the interest and money to continue. Obviously, I don’t have any money because I’m a teacher, so I would set up a GoFundMe to travel around the country without overspending. I will use my own car and drive around, staying in hotels and with kind strangers along the way. I will document it all on YouTube, which I would start as The Viral Candidate.

              This series will either be dreamy fiction or a powerful nonfiction…only time will tell. Follow me on an idealistic journey around the country, talking about what people really need and how the government and industry can give that to them.