This weekend we celebrate more than just about any other. It is the birthday of our country and there is truly cause to celebrate. It was the signing of the Declaration of Independence that was put forth to make our country great – a country of liberty and freedom for every individual.
As we all know, there have been tremendous challenges, opportunities, and victories since 1776. More often than not there have been challenges in the past several decades – on the federal and state level.
While we celebrate through parades, barbecue, and some of us working on the 4th to pay Uncle Sam, it is essential that we remember what it all means. It is imperative that we get back to the meaning of Independence Day. True freedom. True liberty. True free markets. Government as a servant and never as the master or ruler of any decision we make.
We have an opportunity to make all of that happen this year. With great candidates from the top of the ballot downward, it can happen in New Hampshire. It can happen in any state. It will happen when everyone reading this commits to involvement in working to get there.
I look forward to continuing to keep your support and earn that of your friends and family over the next several months. I look forward to being a leader in New Hampshire in such a way that many years down the road we look back at 2010 and say, “Wow, this was a great election where we reshaped the meaning of liberty to its truest form.”
Join me. Join those around you who respect liberty. Let’s make it happen today in Manchester New Hampshire and throughout all of New Hampshire and the United States!
Here are upcoming events I’d love you to know about:
Meet Cam In Your Neighborhood!
Cam and volunteers will be walking throughout Ward 2 to meet voters and to get input on the issues important to you. Following are scheduled neighborhood walks. If you’re interested in walking, please choose a date below (or two!).
Sunday July 11th 1pm-4pm – Wellington Hill Road, Whittington Road, Heathrow Avenue, and more. Sign up to walk with Cam and friends at http://www.facebook.com/camelon#!/event.php?eid=130899623608856&ref=ts or if you do not have Facebook you can e-mail me at cameron@camstaterep.com
Sunday July 25th 1pm-5pm – Currier Drive, Burnsen Avenue, Tennyson Drive, Smyth Road, and more. Sign up to walk with Cam and friends at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=139544352726778&ref=mf or if you do not have Facebook you can e-mail me at cameron@camstaterep.com
If either of the dates are not available in your calendar, I have literature and can have maps/lists produced on the fly for you. Please let me know!
Cam’s Summer BLAST! Concert on Wednesday August 11th is going to be just that, a BLAST – Hear Cam and other great individuals discuss how they are going to work towards more liberty. Even more exciting is listening to the great entertainment (music with [voluntary] audience involvement and more) with Adam Payne, and more. Tickets include light appetizers. Additional food available on the Murphy’s Taproom menu. Visit http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=131918030171139&ref=ts to RSVP today. If you’re not a Facebook member, visit http://camconcert.doattend.com.
Again, THANK YOU ALL and HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! Remember the meaning of the holiday and you’ll ALWAYS be free!
Cam
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Cameron DeJong
Republican Candidate for State Representative
Manchester Ward 2
http://www.camstaterep.com
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I was very happy and excited to officially begin our quest to restore sound, constitutional government by filing for State Representative on Wednesday. Along with Win Hutchinson, I look forward to running a great race in Manchester Ward 2. I appreciate the great support I have received from friends, family, and other supporters throughout this great state that I am very proud to call home. I look forward to representing the Manchester Republican Party and New Hampshire GOP well – and more importantly, making those who respect constitutional and limited government proud of my efforts.
This Sunday is what is looking to be a huge barbecue fundraiser/kickoff. It all really started to come to fruition several weeks ago when Kevin Cornish, the owner of KC’s Rib Shack, made a suggestion that we allow him to supply the great bbq that his restaurant makes for our event. Fast forward several days later and we have a great catering operation supplying food to an event at a great venue – Macneil’s Banquet Room on 2nd Street in Manchester. If it’s not 2pm on Sunday June 6th, you still have time to come.
We’re not only going to have a great menu (Eastern NC pulled pork, chicken salad, baked beans, cole slaw, hushpuppies, sweet tea, and homemade desserts [cupcakes, gooey butter cake, and more!), but the speakers taking part are excellent. Running for US Senate and speaking will be Jim Bender and Ovide Lamontagne. Bill Binnie will have a campaign representative at the event. Running for US House in District 1 and speaking will be Frank Guinta, former mayor of Manchester. Bob Giuda may stop by for a few moments. He is an outstanding candidate in CD-2.
We are very excited about the 60/40 raffle and about the scavenger hunt contest. I look forward to revealing the prize for this on our invitation page, which you can access at http://tinyurl.com/cambbqfacebook/
I really hope that we can continue to build upon our already great turnout. We’re going to have many great events scheduled for the summer.
We have seen great successes with Rand Paul in Kentucky winning against an establishment opponent by over 20%. Let’s see the same things happen in New Hampshire this year. Please let me know if you have any questions. I look forward to seeing you on the 6th!
Cam
When I decided to run for State Representative this year, little did I realize that a revolution would be sweeping our nation. The recent defeat of Bob Bennett in Utah and the upcoming establishment defeat in Kentucky at the hands of Rand Paul (http://www.randpaul2010.com) both provide good signs that people are sick and tired of politics as usual.
Many people will vote for a member of their party regardless of who that person is. I have always believed that party labels often get in the way of where individuals truly stand. To me, a Republican should stand for a strong interpretation of the Constitution – as it was intended by our founders. Rand Paul in Kentucky understands this. In New Hampshire, there are several individuals who understand this.
I’ve had a good opportunity to interact with candidates for US House, Governor, US Senator, and more. While I support John Stephen for Governor (http://www.johnstephen.com), Jack Kimball (http://www.jackforgov.com) is an outstanding person. In the US Congressional race in Nashua, I respect both Jennifer Horn (http://www.jenniferhorn.org) and Bob Giuda (http://www.bobgiuda.com). Both would be a welcome change to “politics as usual.” In my home district, I support Frank Guinta (http://www.teamguinta.com) and believe that he “gets” the Constitution.
On the Senate level, there are several individuals with good ideas. I’ve met Jim Bender (http://www.benderforsenate.com) and Bill Binnie (http://www.binnie2010.com). Mr. Binnie seems like a good candidate. Mr. Bender gets support from many of my friends in liberty. Ovide Lamontagne (http://www.ovide2010.com) is also respected by liberty lovers. To me, this is a great “problem” to have. Very rare is it that we have so many great choices to carry the torch of Constitutional government forward. I have invited these gentlemen to the barbecue on June 6th (more at http://www.tinyurl.com/ward2bbq/) with hopes to get to know all of them better and for those in attendance to do the same.
Returning to the original paragraph, it will be Tuesday May 18th where we see the reality of the tea party movement in Kentucky. I strongly believe that the polling numbers showing Rand Paul ahead by double digits will remain the same in the final results. Given a Rand Paul victory, I believe we will see more constitutional candidates come out of the wood work and work in 2010, 2012, and beyond to restore our nation to its founding principles – liberty and freedom for all individuals. It’s certainly a breath of fresh air and I am very optimistic with what I am seeing.
I hope you share that optimism and are supporting candidates in your home town that share your values. I know that if we continue to build these blocks we will continue to see even more success. I plan to make it happen in my neighborhood and in Ward 2, Manchester New Hampshire. Let’s progress towards seeing it through all over our great state and nation!
Very confidently yours in liberty.
Cam
Last night I followed as dozens of my friends on Facebook cheered the victory of Scott Brown in Massachusetts. Many of these friends are what I would consider “Constitutional” Republicans – or in other words – those who share a very similar belief system to mine.
My response was that the best bet out of Brown’s win was that the health care legislation in the Senate would go nowhere. In that, we would at least have a really good chance of keeping control of our health care. However, will Brown help liberty or will he be more of the same? Looking at the issue of health care, it must be stated that Brown supported more government involvement in Massachusetts. One can hope this doesn’t carry over to Washington, DC.
I won’t try to predict what Scott Brown will do as a Senator. I will say that I liked the ideas of Joe Kennedy much more, but even the most unrealistic idealist had to understand that it wasn’t his election to win. Despite the difficult situation he had to attempt victory, this Kennedy understands the principles of liberty and I hope he remains active in the political arena.
So what is liberty and how will Scott Brown improve it as a Senator? Liberty to me means being less involved in the affairs of foreign countries. It means if anything, we need to be taking care of those in our homeland before anywhere else. The ultimate goal here being that individuals are self-sustaining and care is taken of them by their families, friends, and communities. Liberty to me means allowing individuals to have the ultimate decision making power over their own lives. Liberty means not being bought and paid for by the highest bidder (corporate favors come to mind). Based on what I have seen, Scott Brown supports more involvement in foreign affairs. Scott Brown, as I stated, supported a government involvement in healthcare as an elected official in Massachusetts.
I hope and pray that Scott Brown will realize that the tree of liberty goes much deeper than the issue of health care. I hope that he sees that the role of the federal government should never be that which he helped legislate in Massachusetts.
More importantly, I hope that my friends in New Hampshire and beyond realize the same. I dearly hope and pray that Scott Brown becomes a knight in shining armor for liberty and not the beginning of a terrible rerun of the Republican disaster of 1994.
Freedom does bring us all together – if we understand the power of the word.
Cameron
Everyone is saying it. “Time flies!”
It is amazing how fast 2009 went by. In fact, I remember 2000 and the Y2K scare like it was yesterday. With the time flying by, what has happened?
I’m fortunate to have been able to get a great education at Elon University and work for a great company today. I am fortunate and thankful for the great friends and family I have. When I moved to New Hampshire several years ago, the fear ran through my veins. I didn’t know if I’d make the new bonds necessary to excel. I am thankful for the fact that I have been able to do so.
We have a lot of work to do in 2010 – as a nation, as a state, and me as an individual. We all set our great new year resolutions. Whether it be to “stop eating out all the time” or to “exercise five times per week”, it is usually commendable come the end of the year when you can say “I did it!”
But on the national and state level, there is “fat” and “too much eating” that must be trimmed through a program that does not include eating out on the taxpayer’s dime and includes exercise in the form of cutting spending in unnecessary places.
A workout program would include focusing on the areas in the Constitution. We should remain within the bounds of the Constitution. Let’s equate that to working on the six pack of abs. Not only do we have to work hard to cut the spending, but we have to keep our eyes on the spending that we keep going and ensure that the shape remains intact. Six pack abs are not easy to obtain and keeping them can be as challenging with the numerous outside interest groups. In New Hampshire government, I plan to stand up for the “six pack abs” and will never give in to any outside forces trying to influence me otherwise.
A proper diet means that we may not go out to eat for fast food every day of the week. In state government that could be correlated with coming up with a new law to “fatten the books” every day. Do we really need to legislate every aspect of the lives of individuals? I would argue that we need to legislate much less. That could mean that we put a hard stop on eating out and cook at home. “At home” in this instance means leaving the decisions up to individuals and families in their own homes. I’d take a home cooked meal (individual/family freedom) any day over the influences/decisions of the masses (eating out).
Crazy analogies? Sure. But the point is the same. We can always set our resolutions, but we must also plan to stick with them throughout the year. If we get to December 31, 2010 and can say that we met our resolutions to the highest degree, we’ll feel great as individuals – not only for our six pack abs and our great healthy diet – but also for the state and federal governments running within the means of liberty and the Constitution.
Here’s to a happy and prosperous new year!
Cam
I was communicating with a friend this morning about spending in New Hampshire and in Manchester.
The point was well made that much of the problem with local spending comes from the out of control spending in Washington DC.
From billions in foreign spending and misguided crime fighting under the alias of a “war on drugs” (former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson will certainly address this when he speaks in Concord on January’s 23rd), there is deep concern.
Lets imagine this wasteful spending is ended. Would it be eliminated from the budget or passed along to another department? Should we spend billions more on education and health care? Those are questions our elected officials in DC must answer.
When it comes to NH, we are very much affected by money in DC. The proposed seatbelt law comes to mind immediately. We are told that if we follow the wishes of the federal government, money is sure to follow. DC also does a job of hanging fruit in the mask of money if states adopt ideas in way of education, social policy, and so forth. Even more outlandish is the idea of the federal government offering a matching fund to states and municipalities, something many elected officials at all levels have trouble saying “no” to.
So answer me this. Does the money in DC grow on a tree? Or does it come from you and me? Certainly it comes from us. So the consequences of such legislation are found in more debt and less freedom. Do we really want more centralized government or would you join me in respecting the decisions of the state, outlined by strong belief in constitutional principles.
Back to the initial conversation. What do we do domestically if we were to stop unconstitional spending? The fear from outside the circles of liberty is that we would stop spending overnight on everything found to be unconstitutional. That to me is not realistic. I would encourage a process of weening off of government programs domestically and in the process show what a true free market can help provide in a true free society. If we do not open our minds and hearts to liberty, the unintended consequences as we perceive them will bankrupt our freedoms and finances.