Why I'm Running for Congress

I'm Fred Johnson, and I'm running for the Democratic nomination in the 2nd Congressional District, here in West Michigan.  
 
I'm running for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is my frustration with the current level of debate in Washington.  After a summer of combative rhetoric from the Republican opposition, I believe that it's time to restore civility to Washington, and debate the serious policy choices we face as a country.  We need to get away from the poisonous politics of obstruction, and return to our historic tradition of working together to solve the problems we face as a nation.  I believe that the vast majority of West Michigan voters want practical solutions to the economic and foreign policy crises we currently face.
 
I currently serve the community in my role as Associate Professor of History at Hope College, in Holland.  In that role, and through my years of pursuing a Ph.D. in history, I have come to fully recognize the vital role that education plays in our nation's future.  

President Obama was right in his recent speech to students when he told them that they are, literally, the future of this great nation.  The future of our education system will determine the future of our economy, our environment, our society and, ultimately, whether we maintain our leadership in the world.  My highest priority as your Representative will be to return our education system to its rightful place - as the very best in the world.
 
As an eight year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, I am also a firm believer in the importance of rewarding and caring for those who have served our nation with such honor and bravery.  I will leave no stone unturned in my efforts to ensure the very best in health care for our returning veterans.  We must also ensure that those who join the armed services know that we will not put them in harm's way without a full consideration of the effects on them and their families.  While I will never back down in defending our country, it is critical that we make sound strategic choices about where and how our military are deployed.  We must always take care to define the mission sharply, plan for its execution and completion, resource the mission to its fullest, and achieve the objective as quickly as possible.
 
Finally - and perhaps most importantly - I am running with a strong commitment to see that we never again have an economic collapse like we had last September.  The days of rampant speculation, and casino-like operations on Wall Street, must be replaced with the sound, conservative practices which built America into the economic envy of the world.  While I recognize, and respect, Wall Street's role as the economic engine of America, we must also revalidate the sound economic practices of Main Street.  

Never again should the mortgages of families pursuing the American Dream be used as vehicles of rampant speculation.  Never again can we allow the excesses of Wall Street to have a cataclysmic effect on the country's overall economy.   We must put in place some simple "rules of the road" to ensure the long-term stability of our economy. The voters demand that we offer some simple protections to prevent the kind of recession we entered last September.
 
These are some of the many reasons I am running again in 2010.  Thank you for visiting our website, and please return often.  

We’ll be using this website as a forum for discussion of our future as a nation.  There will also be a blog to allow all voters to interact with the campaign, and with me.  I’ll provide full, detailed positions on all the issues confronting us.  We’ll let you know about campaign events, and all the various ways you can help with the campaign - and I hope you will.  
 
Thank you for your desire to participate in our great democracy, and I look forward to meeting you on the campaign trail.