Went to Jeanie Forrester‘s campaign kickoff event last night at Church Landing in Meredith, NH. It was rather well attended and seemed to be a very interested crowd – perhaps a good portend for someone who has never run (as far as I know) for political office before.
However, anyone like me who treasures and practices my 2nd Amendment Right has to get a kick out of someone who has stickers like this right out front (THIS ALONE differentiates her from her opponent(s)!), along with the fact that she owns a pink Glock:
However, that is just one issue; from her literature and listening to her remarks, she will be running as a solid conservative. Take a watch yourself!:
Unlike her opponent in the primary (Republican Fran Wendelboe) and her opponent in the general election (current Democrat, Deb Reynolds), she is not tainted by the back room politics that have gone on for years. As with a lot of "regular folk" (re: Jack Kimball easily comes to mind, joined by Jim Bender), she is truly concerned and upset over the antics of the Democrats in Concord and DC and has become convinced that good people have to go and do something about it and not leave it to the typical crop of politicians. In fact, she came out swinging, launching salvos at both of her rivals:
In the Sun today:
…“Sadly, she continued, both of my opponents represent that political culture that gets bogged down in pet projects, special interests, petty politics and self-promotion,” which leads to “an arrogance that abuses our citizens. They are so tone deaf to our needs,” she charged, “that they can’t even recognize when they speak with forked tongues.”
…Turning to Wendelboe, among the most visible and vocal of all Republican lawmakers, she said “you can’t jockey for position and run for every office that comes down the pike, jump in front of every microphone you can find and presume the voters will take you seriously.”
this may well turn out to be a three ringer but with clear distinctions! I can tell you, Reynolds has certainly voted for and enlarged State Government in participating in the gluttony of greedy politicians believing your money is theirs and your life is something that they know better how to manage than you do. On the other hand, while Fran Wendelboe has a decent record in Concord and has done some good work in Concord, I can tell you from personally attending Belknap County meetings, there have been times (documented on video) that she has not acted in what I believe to be a conservative fashion.
All that aside, what rings more true to the ‘Grok is the substance of her stances and beliefs. Thus, this from Forrester (in the Citizen) goes over easy:
…said she was running because she believes government has become "an obstacle to our prosperity and our freedoms."
…"I will lean on policymakers to explore creative, free-market solutions that reduce expenses while maintaining service. It can be done," Forrester told a crowd of about 200 supporters in the Winnipesaukee Ballroom at Church Landing.
Indeed! For instance…
…in talking with her afterward, she believes that the Mitch Daniels (Gov of Indiana) experiment with Health Savings Accounts (which have saved Indiana tens of millions and has the good side affect of creating better health care consumers and on the part of state employees). People are put first, free to make the best decisions for themselves and government gets out of the way and out of the actual decision making. This is a home run as a free market solutions are concerned (the Eldest loves his and is very concerned that Obamacare is going to basically take it away).
If she continues along this path during the campaign AND is not swayed by Concord politics, I could rest a bit easier. Her guiding principles are the following:
For most conservatives, #1 is almost a given – I’ll be looking forward to hear what she has to say for strategies and tactics on this. Certainly, #2 will be absolutely necessary for #1 to happen.
#3 is one that fits in with the first two – in my opinion, it is because we have decided to outsource our responsibilities (along with the siren song of Progressives of "Government can do it for you!") is one huge reason that Government has grown to the size where it is almost self-feeding. It also plays into #5 as there cannot be, in my estimation, more personal freedom without an uptick of self-responsibility; the two go hand in hand.
Worth exploring more….
