… Out Like a Lion.

It’s hard to resist the urge.

‘There’s only SIX LEFT… buy them ALL!!’

No. Breathe… I can just drive back to the store tomorrow. Besides, someone else’s dog might want to eat, too.

It’s been pleasantly strange for the past few days. The shelves have been pretty well cleared, but for the most part our family’s unique tastes have been met. Two people with dairy allergies, 3 people who are mostly vegetarian, and a diabetic… but the order doesn’t go into effect until Tuesday… I guess we’ll see how long that lasts.

“How will the stay at home order work in the Kansas City Area?” The Kansas City Star (03/22/2020)

Even for a foggy Sunday evening, the streets between here and North Kansas City are quiet. Hy-Vee was busy. And there was an A.A. meeting in-progress next door to the laundromat on Vivian. It looked like it was a full house. But now, as I think about it, every 3rd or 4th chair was empty. Even with Social Distancing, we MUST stay connected!

Always REACH OUT if you need HELP! Do not succumb to the effects of ONE disease, just to avoid being infected by ANOTHER.

Everyone here in the Kansas City Metro is taking this seriously, and it looks like only a few people are out stocking up at the last minute… for the most part, people around here seem ready for what’s next. Anxious because of the unknown, but determined to do what’s needed NOW… to save lives.

Maybe we ARE strange here in the Midwest. That Bunker Mentality is drilled into us as a survival instinct from an early age. “What do you do when you hear the Civil Defense sirens? Go to the BASEMENT and wait for the All Clear.”

Only FOOLS ignore warnings.

Like trying to play chicken with a train… the train won’t budge, so you’d better MOVE.

Because there IS NO OTHER WAY. Scientifically tested, verified year after year, and practiced DAILY. The risk is just not worth it, and there is no room for error.

At the end of the day, we ARE in this together. After the storm passes and we come out to face the unknown, we know there’s work to do… because some people will not be as fortunate as we are. Some people will do everything necessary and STILL fall short, and some people will survive through no fault of their own.

Regardless of our individual walks of life, whether we’re rich or poor, we ALL face the same threats. When the skies open up and unleash their fury, we are all EQUAL… and we should all be grateful that we are STILL HERE.

Kansas City is a beautiful city and we are fortunate to live in such a supportive community. Stretching across TWO STATES, separated by rivers and governing philosophies, the two cities seamlessly work together in times of need to overcome challenges of all sizes. And we know we will be successful when we support each other.

No one succeeds without the other.

We may be a little rough around the edges. We may be a bit strange and stick out in a crowd. But deep down, we’re all the SAME. Trying to do better for ourselves than what came before. To make the world a better place for my kids… and yours.

When we STAND united, we can whether ANY storm.

THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

If we must shelter in place, then we MUST. If we must avoid public places and start going without, then we must remember… we do so because people will die if we do not.

We must practice every act of safety recommended by our health care professionals NOW…

So we can be ready THIS FALL when it’s time for us to VOTE.

Above ALL ELSE, do not forget. Stay healthy for your FAMILY. Stay healthy for your COMMUNITY. Stay healthy for your COUNTRY and defend Democracy… make sure your voice is HEARD.

…

To do what is necessary, every citizen MUST be guaranteed FOOD and SHELTER.

No one should be evicted from their residence for the duration of 2020. Period. Security STARTS with a roof over your head. In this fight, we must protect what little we already have, and give some since of security to our CHILDREN… as financial problems destroy unity so fast.

The greatest threat to our National Security is a lack of FOOD. Not due to a shortage at the store, but a lack of FUNDS to feed our families. We can adjust to a new diet. We can put up with rations on staples and essentials. There is no adjusting to the pain caused by hunger as you drive past every fast food restaurant known to man.

If we are to endure the isolation prescribed for this moment, the People must be assured these BASIC THINGS. We cannot permit another fleecing of our National Treasure, as occurred in 2009, without insuring that WE are the beneficiaries.

The American People must come out of this ready to go BACK TO WORK. The bedrock of our economy is the American Middle Class… and the TAXES we pay will be bailing EVERYONE OUT. Our needs come FIRST this time. If businesses choose to participate in this endeavor, they must play by OUR RULES, and they will be rewarded for their honorable sacrifices in our time of need.

Heroes are found on the battlefield, and this war touches us all. This virus is just another battle in an already ongoing war. One fought with digital bullets, and fueled by misinformation…

That war ENDS this fall when we VOTE.

The American People can face ANY challenge when given the full faith and support of the Federal Government, and every business on EARTH prospers when the American People have money to SPEND. Our fates are inextricably linked.

We will defeat the virus. We will carry on. What that future will look like… we start building TODAY.

When we remove the fear born of uncertainty, we can start to focus on the needs of OTHERS instead of worrying about ourselves. Let us ensure we have a stable platform from which to launch our Nation’s economy, AFTER we’ve stood united and defeated this common foe.

The fire still burns just below the surface. A gust of WIND is all that is necessary for the embers to roar back to life!

Be SAFE and stand strong.

With the Rising of the Tide

Again I say…

The American People deserve a third option on the debate stage this fall.

The truly “Revolutionary” part of my candidacy is simply who I am… I’m just some guy from Kansas.

A husband. A stay-at-home dad. A home owner. A citizen who is concerned for the future of our Nation. A person who’s always had a strong affection for our political system, but could never bring myself to the point of being able to SELL OUT my moral values.

As a young man, I drank and ran with the wrong crowd. Being a musician, many of my colleagues believed that was a job requirement. But my experience with drugs and alcohol is one of the better stories. Many of my friends battled addictions and lost more than I have. Millions more across this Nation are not here today to tell their tale.

I consider myself blessed… in so far as that is under someone else’s control. My actions have always determined my fate, but I know my actions are influenced by circumstances beyond my control. I’ve made my decisions in life based on the options before me, framed in the context of the surroundings I’ve found myself in. As it is with music, if the options before me will not produce the vision I see in my mind… I seek better options. And I do not settle until I’ve realized my goal.

If we continue to use the SAME TOOLS, we will see the SAME RESULTS…

… and we will never know what SOUNDS we’ve been missing if we just hit REPEAT.

Who is the best candidate to take on Donald Trump? Which candidate is he truly afraid of facing this fall? Will either of the Democrats be able to crack 50%? Is that the option we want facing Donald Trump in November… the candidate who can hold on to his BASE?

If our decision is not CLEAR CUT, there will be DOUBT in the result. This will NOT empower the American People.

Party Politics of the previous era are now gone… TODAY. Because ONE PARTY is all that remains. The other has been hijacked by the current occupant of the White House, and now complacency and rot have started to set in.

The politics of FEAR and DIVISION. Quite literally. Don’t forget: WASH YOUR HANDS!

“… I would call out the military.” –Joe Biden

“… and we are going to pay for it ALL.” –Bernie Sanders

Whoa now! Why are we supporting Unilateral Presidential Executive Actions? Without Congressional support, many of these proposals could only be enacted in that manor…

Isn’t that what we’re fighting AGAINST?

Did we not learn what can come from Presidents who are willing to go it alone?

…

Let us find COMMON GROUND on ALL these issues, and not lose sight of the main objective that this Nation must secure if it is to SURVIVE.

The future of our Nation is SECURE when every citizen’s RIGHT TO VOTE is ensured.

ONE CITIZEN=ONE VOTE

Remove the corruption. Restore HONOR in governance.

I believe in EQUAL Justice Under Law.

End the Electoral College

Be Prepared

Tonight my heart aches because of the Coronavirus. Not because I have it, and not because I am one of those “at-risk individuals with an underlying condition like diabetes.” I hang my head tonight because of the shadows cast by this Administration, the ones that have lurked behind them all along.

I didn’t decide to run for President because it seemed like a fun thing to DO… I was worried that something of this magnitude could someday happen.

While I sincerely hope that this is not that event, it is apparent that preparedness is not the strong suit of our Commander-in-Chief. His ‘King of the Hill’ leadership style may have served him well in the world of real estate, but it’s now obvious that that management style does NOT work well as a governing philosophy… something that every American Citizen should have already known… it’s IN our Founding Documents!

An incoming President has 4000 jobs to fill before DAY ONE.

FOUR THOUSAND… advisors, secretaries, officials, specialists, doctors, scientists, nurses, historians, technicians, Cabinet Members, and Diplomats… and SO MANY more that my ADVISORS will have to inform me that I’ve forgotten them. THAT is the only way things get done! A collection of the BEST and BRIGHTEST with the VISION to see what needs to be done BEFORE a situation arises, BEFORE drastic and costly decisions must be made.

In times of crisis a true leader doesn’t make the life-saving decisions… the people he put in place before the crisis began do. They are a direct reflection of the values held by that leader… whether he be corrupt or a saint.

The Career Public Servants of the United States of America are NOT a burden on our pocketbooks, they are our INSURANCE POLICY against losses caused by catastrophic disasters. The bean counters, pencil-pushers, organizers and planners… LOGISTICS! How do we get the test kits to Walnut Shade, MO? How do we prepare for an escalation BEFORE it happens? Being prepared means we set up pre-determined locations with supplies… inventoried, stockpiled, and ready to GO. And all of it has to be maintained… by GOVERNMENT WORKERS.

It’s the DEEP STATE!

A forklift driver named Joe… who’s in-charge of rotating stock in our warehouses, filled with MREs and BOTTLED WATER.

Now, due to a CUTTING of the size of our government, many of these responsibilities are farmed out. Contracted to CORRUPT companies who are just looking to take advantage of the TAX PAYERS. Corrupt legislators… who are FIRST and foremost, corrupt POLITICIANS… rewarding their DONORS with multi-million dollar contracts, so they can secure FUNDING for their reelection.

“Puerto Rico Power just hired 2 contractors with little experience…” Vox (10-26-2017)

**In the LAND OF PLENTY, where it falls off the tree and ROTS on the ground… people in Puerto Rico couldn’t get WATER after a storm.**

“20,000 Pallets of bottled water left untouched…” CNN (09-20-2018)

Like that storm, experts could see from its earliest days that the potential for loss of life could be HIGH… and this Administration just continues to make it up as they go along. Changing weather maps to make it seem alright. ‘Don’t worry! He knows what he’s doing… why? Do you think he DOESN’T know what he’s doing?’ And now, his downplaying of the severity of potential disasters will cause more unnecessary loss of LIFE.

Even IF he did know everything, he wouldn’t be able to do it all by himself. Roosevelt didn’t take out Hitler alone… he couldn’t have. Imagine if Truman would have come into office with the goal of eliminating the DEEP STATE on his first day…

‘All of this GOVERNMENT WASTE! Going toward some covert military project… in Manhattan?! That’s gotta GO!’

Our LIVES are now in the hands of a President, in-office only because of LIES and DECEPTION, and elected by a MINORITY of the electorate. Our collective fate is being determined by a man who values HIS self-interest over that of everyone else.

When I say #EndTheElectoralCollege, I don’t simply say it to get under his skin (and it obviously DOES!), I say it as a call for STABILITY. A reinstatement of the ideals we have ALL come to cherish. Though the actions of our Presidents have been at times misguided, they have always been carried out with one goal in mind- SECURING this nation. Every action taken by Donald J. Trump as President of the United States, has served the interests of ONE MAN…

Now that man will be Russia’s President for the REST OF HIS LIFE, and he will continue to influence our geopolitical sphere for MANY years to come.

2016 was not the FIRST time… it certainly won’t be the LAST.

To stand SILENT and watch her FALL, makes you COMPLICIT in her demise.

We must End the Electoral College.

50/50

That was the vote in the Virginia House of Delegates on February 21, 2019, on a proposed rule change that would have forced a vote on ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment…

… it failed.

speaker_cox_3 — Kirk Cox, FRM Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates

A bill supported by over 80% of the people of Virginia. It would have PASSED had a vote been allowed… but it wasn’t even allowed out of committee.

ONE YEAR LATER, after the delegates were held accountable at the ballot box for their INACTION in the legislature, Virginia voted to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, thereby meeting the Constitutionally required threshold of 38 States.

Just last month, the United States House of Representatives voted to clear the way for final ratification by removing the original deadline, and now…

ONE MAN, in the United States Senate stands OPPOSED.

While it was shocking to see the Virginia Speaker of the House deny equality to more than HALF of his constituents, it was even more shocking to see the Democratic Presidential Candidates stand SILENT as it played out. FIVE WOMEN. 37 States. Only one more to go…

What a lost opportunity to educate the public… about Equality and the legislative process. About Income Inequality and Economic Disadvantage.

A lost opportunity to bring us closer to that more perfect Union.

“ERA bill dies for good…” -Washington Post (02/21/2019)

I have NO DOUBT that if the Democratic Women running for President would have stood on the steps of the Virginia Statehouse in solidarity with the ERA activists, they would have swayed ONE MORE VOTE. With the national media bringing SUNLIGHT to the situation, we would now be standing one year CLOSER to equality.

Then again… we would STILL be standing right HERE, no closer than we are TODAY.

The Majority Leader of the United States Senate does NOT support equality.

The Majority Leader of the United States Senate stands OPPOSED to the MAJORITY of this nation.

The Senate Majority Leader is opposed to the Rule of Law, as conceived by the Founders of this nation, and will not move to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.

38 of the 50 States… 76% of this nation now DEMANDS it.

It does not matter his rationale, the PEOPLE have spoken.
Equality should be the Law of this land.

The Senate must Ratify the ERA.

When storms rage, you cannot simply seek SAFE HARBOR, as your ship will be smashed upon the shore. You must sail headlong into the winds and face it, with full faith in the strength of your ship & its crew… and press ONWARD. Even if that means just treading water, because the alternative…

… well, the alternative is no alternative at ALL.

In years past, leaders have spoken of the ‘Fog of War’. In this digital era with the adversary we are engaged with, the entire WAR is FOG. There is no battle. There are no physical sides being drawn.

When we forget who we are, and what we STAND for… our enemies win. When we begin to selectively administer Justice and forget that we are ALL created equal, we FALL BACK… being pushed closer to the rocky shores of our PAST.

We know where we have BEEN. We must remember where we are GOING.

Well-trodden paths are safe and familiar, but they will only lead us to where we’ve been… back to where we are TODAY. Even in the dark of night, even in the deepest fog… we know our path is TRUE when we listen to our moral compass, as it always points us HOME.

We cannot allow ourselves to be complacent. We must fight to hold on to what we’ve already secured. The Constitution outlines a process for RATIFYING Amendments to the Constitution, it does NOT outline a process where ONE MAN can override the overwhelming majority of the PEOPLE.

Anyone who stands opposed to the opinion of 76% of this nation, should not be referred to as Majority Leader… and this fall, the PEOPLE will show him that.

Equal. MUST. Mean. Equal… or we will lose this fight before it’s even begun.