452 Doors

In December we knocked doors for hours a day as we sought signatures for our ballot petition.  It got cold a few times; the ink froze in our pens more than once.

In January, we continue to knock on doors and meet people.  The connections are amazing.


I met a lady on my last outing who is the sister of a Marine General who is an acquaintance of mine.  Brownwood, Texas connected through May, Texas by Quantico, Virginia via Italy.  She'll have a sign in her yard, and we move forward in the game of "name recognition".

I will concede that in knocking doors I have become a little worried.  The thing that concerns me:  the number of solid, grounded Americans - the core and living foundation of common sense and life experience - is growing old.  Many of the signers of my petition were born in the 1920's.  They open their doors and one can see iron mixed with the frailty.  They have sharp questions for me.  As with some of the Republican meetings I have attended, I am seen as a youngster - barely in my 40's.  But they are glad to see someone who looks them in the eye; they are glad to hear direct answers to their questions.  We will lose much when we lose the generation that was in their 20's when we faced down the tyrants of World War II.  I hope enough of their iron has remained so that we may face down the challenges of our time.

On occasion, behind a door we find a gold-mine of signatures.  One family, who had visiting family (but who all lived in the District as it turned out) invited me in.  I stood over their dinner table, the eldest son (and chef) a little impatient but tolerating the grandfather, who had many of those same, sharp questions for me.  Turns out he was a minister and author, and tenaciously patriotic.  Fortunately, everyone felt comfortable enough to keep eating while he and I conversed on the many weighty topics of our day.  He never left his seat at the head of the table, but he signed my petition, along with all five of the other registered voters present, and I departed with everyone's well-wishes.

Our campaign has very little money, very few volunteers, zero full-time staff.  As the candidate, I take responsibility for these weaknesses, and they may mean much in the external world of politics.  Yet the campaign is strong in those areas that are most important to me:  We have integrity, and when the campaign is over I will have nothing to be ashamed of, win or lose.  We have honest and good people supporting us, the kind of voters which cannot be bought or swayed by the dirtiness of the political game.  We have the knowledge that what we are doing may be little, but is meet and fitting for those of us who are moved to act.  We have you, the reader, getting to know us better even as you read.  And we have yet a little time, to push the campaign further by word and through our activities over the next few months, feeding the possibility of a win.  We may at any time receive a large donation; we may at any time welcome additional volunteers; we might gain some full-time staff.  We are waiting for such things to happen, and when they do, they will land on a firm foundation.  The ideals which we espouse in this campaign are the ideals of the Founders; the governance this campaign advocates is that of the Constitution.

Knocking doors has been good for me, and good for Wade Brown 2012.  People sense in their bones that we must change our ways or else lose the most beautiful aspects of our Republic:  individual liberty, opportunity, and a peaceful and homely land in which to raise our children.  As I speak to people, I feel their frustration with and utter rejection of the arrogance of the political class.  They are looking for a candidate they can support, a Representative who will represent them.  Most of the people I meet find that in me, which is both humbling and strengthening.  To those of you who already know me and are supporting this campaign:  many, many thanks, and please don't stop believing or supporting.  I continue to discover that this campaign can be won, especially if all of us stay in the game.

Godspeed,

-w

p.s. - We are at nearly 400 signatures and on track to get well over the required 500 signatures by the current deadline of February 1st, though the current deadline will likely shift even later.  A heartfelt thanks to those who have helped thus far, and since there's still 15 days left to collect signatures, the more the merrier!