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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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
In my field of work, I keep politics outside. It is not appropriate and it is not fair for me to bring politics into the workplace.
Recently, I have had several customers talk about their disdain for the government takeover of health care and also the commercials promoting the Census. While there is certain temptation for me to get into conversation with everyone about these issues, I find this blog to be a better avenue for discussion.
I recall writing an article in 2000 about the Census, calling it “senseless.” A google news search now reveals a lot of sources calling it the same in 2010. I am often irritated by the commercials that are played in every town in the United States. They proclaim that it is important to send your form in right away to ensure that your town gets its “fair share” of funding from the federal government. Not only do they have goofy actors doing their bidding, but politicians (i.e. I have seen the Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin on television) as well.
Let’s look at the idea of “Fair Share” for a moment. The Census recognizes 25375 “places” in the United States. Places consist of towns, cities, villages, etc. If every one of these places got a “fair share” of $1000, that would be $25,375,000 in “fair share” spread around. Tell me how a country that is trillions in debt can give a fair share of that amount? Of course $1000 for a city like Manchester NH would amount to “only” a penny per person. So it’s not even realistic.
To me, it is a total outrage. The intend of the Census is not to find out how many toilets you have in your house. It’s not even to find out how many males, females, whites, Hispanics, African-Americans, etc live in your house. It was put together to count people, simply people, in an effort to appropriate US House seats. There very well may be 120,000 PEOPLE living in Manchester NH in 2010. That’s all that matters for Congressional representation.
I hope to see a continued outrage at the way the Census is being administered. I hope to see people fill out one question – how many people live in your household. That’s it. Nothing more. I also hope to see a stop to the millions being spent on “crafty” commercials trying to entice people nationwide to get their “fair share.” Remember, your fair share takes away from my fair share and my fair share takes away from your fair share. So let’s be truly fair and cut the mess out with this entire bogus concept put forth by our federal government when it comes to the senseless Census.
Cameron
For weeks it had become strongly rumored that John Stephen was going to enter the Republican primary for Governor of New Hampshire. It was exciting news to me as John is someone I have really come to respect – a lot.
Two years ago when I thought about running for the state legislature, John Stephen was one of two politically active individuals (Joe Briggs being the other) who showed a great deal of moral support towards my efforts. This is while other candidates I have supported were much more reserved in supporting my ideals and what I was doing.
John offered to put a sign in his yard during the 2008 primary and his campaign manager at the time was looking at ideas on cross promotion of campaigns had we won our respective primaries. We had several great conversations and I could sense a certain authenticity in John Stephen that I didn’t see every day in politics. Perhaps most disheartening to me at the time was not my failure to advance to the general election in 2008, but it was John Stephen’s loss to Jeb Bradley in the Congressional primary. I believed in John and was behind more as much as I have been behind any candidate for public office.
In 2009, John Stephen continued to be supportive of my efforts. Always complimentary of my efforts, it led to my ultimate excitement to support him for Governor.
Don’t get me wrong, just because John Stephen is a “nice guy” and supports what I have done does not automatically equate to an endorsement. John also has the right views on the issues for New Hampshire. He has worked in state government and knows the ins and outs of the process. He wants to return New Hampshire to the state that it once was. A state where there is no threat – ever – of a state sales or income tax. A state where spending is understood as the real problem and that we need to cut spending in order to survive. John deserves everyone’s support today. His campaign web site is up at http://www.johnstephen.com
Yes, I would agree with my friends that Jack Kimball is an outstanding messenger for smaller government. I would agree that either he or John Stephen would make an outstanding governor. However, John Stephen has proven to me personally that he is a person of integrity and is an individual of great principle.
Please join me in wholeheartedly and enthusiastically supporting John Stephen for Governor of New Hampshire in the September primary.
Thank you!
Cameron DeJong
I believe that people can change. I further believe that in order for us to see liberty succeed in our society, some individuals will have to change their mindsets on a variety of issues.
When I was 16 years old and a junior at Northside High School, I discovered liberty in politics for the first time. It was financial guru Harry Browne’s articulate message of liberty that took me from being a Freshman/Sophomore fiscal liberal to fine tuning my message towards one of consistent freedom.
I recall my United States history teacher telling me that I would grow out of my constitutional Republican ideals as I matured and got into the so-called “real world.” Here I am today, as consistent in liberty as ever. I still believe through all the change in the world that the best ideas are founded in individual freedom – socially and economically. I believe that the best vehicle with which to spread the ideas and to reach those means is through working with like-minded individuals in developing plans of action to show voters how liberty is indeed the best answer.
That said, we sometimes get very excited when a new person or idea comes forth. Scott Brown comes immediately to mind. He was an afterthought when polling well behind Martha Coakley. Then he jumped into a pick up truck and said the buzz words “Tea Party.” During this time, his poll numbers increased. As a state political figure in Massachusetts, Mr. Brown supported the government-run health care system that is in place today. He was moderate on a variety of other issues. However, the excitement of his polling increases were minimal in the minds of activists who wanted to see the seat formerly held by the late Ted Kennedy go to a Republican.
Excitement is a great thing and we should all be forthright in expanding our energy when the causes are right. We must be careful in the meantime. We must take a more diligent approach to ensuring that the candidates we support support the principles of freedom. Scott Brown has already proven that he does not subscribe to the principles of freedom by supporting a billion dollar job bill in Massachusetts. His moderate stance on this and other issues may win him new fans, but we must remember those he was “preaching” to in order to get elected. But still I say, we must take individual responsibility to know our candidates philosophical viewpoints and know if they are or are not consistent before jumping on their bandwagon.
To me, the principles of freedom and individual liberty can and must not be compromised. Sure, we may have a variety of means with which we present our message of liberty. Debra Medina in Texas and Rand Paul in Kentucky are suggesting liberty in a variety of terms that I believe will lead to the same, beneficial end result.
That result, must however, be the same. Maximizing liberty and freedom should be forthright in the minds of anyone who subscribes to the true, original meaning of our founding fathers. We must be philosophically consistent and know those around us and know if they are preaching a bad gospel or are really on our side.
Further, we must continue to work without delay in helping everyone share our belief that a society where individuals are truly free is a society that is most prosperous for all.
Cam DeJong
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
The move towards liberty continues to accelerate. While some of the candidates involved are not quite there on what I would call a “liberty litmus test”, we do have a lot of potential to turn the direction necessary for maximum individual freedom.
Scott Brown in Massachusetts is an example of someone who I don’t agree with on all issues, but I believe to be more of a friend to liberty than would be his Democratic opponent. The main issue in his race is that of health care. He can be elected next Tuesday and help block the government takeover of healthcare – called by many “Obamacare.” While we need a tremendous overhaul of health care in America, I believe a lot has to do with deregulation (i.e. deregulate the use of alternative medications) versus more government intervention – and ultimately higher costs. Sure, I don’t agree with Brown on foreign policy and other issues, but the health care debacle in Washington has us closer to centralized government than any other issue at this time.
In Texas, Debra Medina showed a good streak of liberty in an articulate debate performance against Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Rick Perry. Medina helped demonstrate what is wrong with those currently in power – including how out of touch they are with America today.
In Kentucky, Rand Paul continues to impress the masses with a mostly consistent message of liberty. Just months ago, he was double digits behind Trey Grayson. Today, his message of individual liberty and freedom has resonated well in Kentucky and he has become the person to beat in the GOP primary. Now with Manchester, NH political superstar Andy Demers working on his campaign, I think we will continue to see great things.
More candidates throughout the country should continue to open more eyes to liberty. Peter Schiff in Connecticut hasn’t quite swung the door open in the public opinion polls, but it may be only a matter of time.
The list continues, but the point is that the move towards liberty has been greater than I would have ever imaged a few years ago. The key is that those who are leading the liberty movement need to be checked by every liberty loving voter to ensure that they are true to the principles of freedom and liberty. In New Hampshire, I hope we see more and more individuals come forth for the liberty movement. I generally support Frank Guinta and also think highly of Bob Giuda and Jennifer Horn in their races for US House. In the state races, Jim Forsythe will be an outstanding candidate for State Senate. There are countless others I am sure.
On the state representative level, when the filing time comes, I hope I am just one of dozens – if not hundreds – of liberty candidates looking to serve the citizens of New Hampshire.
For me, it all starts in Manchester NH. I hope you see the potential for liberty as I do and that you work for it wherever it is you may be in 2010.
Let’s work harder than ever to make liberty happen!
Cam
Friends -
What a great Christmas it has been with friends and family in New Hampshire. I hope each of you has been able to enjoy the holidays as much as I have.
For the past month, we have been asking for donations so that we enter 2010 ready to make liberty happen in Manchester Ward 2. As of today, we have raised $305 of the $2000 goal. The contributions are very greatly appreciated and I can not thank everyone enough for their generosity this time of year.
It is important that we hit the goal by the end of the year. While a large portion of the campaign will be spent going door to door meeting voters, it is essential that we market the message of liberty in such a way to appeal to the voters we are not able to meet. Liberty is a great thing and it is important that it is articulated as such.
Issues of today in Manchester include the controversial increase in LLC taxes. This is a very unnecessary tax that will punish small businesses. I have spoken to small businesspeople who would consider moving or closing their businesses if this tax is not ended. We must look to cut spending. Spending is where the ultimate problem with government lies. I can assure you that there are plenty of areas from which to cut spending.
With individual liberty, great things can happen!
If you can help out financially today, please visit http://www.camstaterep.com/donate.html
Thank you and happy holidays!
Cam