Books

I love books. I'm a big reader.

When people ask me why I'm running for office, I tell them the truth: I read a lot. I read a lot of books about the various problems facing the world and then I read a lot of books about various solutions to those problems. I like to solve problems. I don't see other candidates or existing office-holders tackling some problems or approaching them with the right solutions. I would like a chance to try.

I mention that because I would like to hear from you, good citizens of the Fighting 31st, what books do you want your elected officials to have read? Let me know in the comments.

I just finished a book "From the Bottom Up" by Chad Pregracke. It's the true story of Chad and how he decided to clean up the Mississippi River. There was trash, so he went out on his boat and picked it up. The rest is just elaboration. It was very inspirational and it reminded me why I'm running for office. Sometimes there are simple solutions that we just haven't tried for some reason.

While I'm on the subject of books, let me heartily endorse the Book Thing of Baltimore (www.bookthing.org). Free books! Stop by on weekends and drop off your old books and pick up as many free books as you can handle. It's awesome!

BP Madness

I try not to repeat myself on this blog and I try not to fire off tirades against the Republican party. I'm about to break both of my informal rules.



BP executives were hauled in front of Congress today. Predictably, the politicians loudly stated their disgust with the whole mess.

The good thing is that we at least know who to blame: BP. And the other good thing is that they have been forced to put $20 Billion dollars into a fund to help the many, many victims of the accident.

And in the midst of the largest environmental disaster in American history, members of the Republican party want to apologize to BP for taking their money!! Are you kidding me?! This is not some kind of tax to go for pork barrel projects in the local Congressional districts. This is compensation for people who are directly victimized!

The Republican congressman apologized for his apology later (or flip-flopped as they say). But the scary thing is that it wasn't an accident, it was a talking point. This is a party that truly believes it is wrong for a big corporation to have to pay the victims of their crimes. This is a party which tried to take a political shot at the President and the Democrats for doing the right thing.

This is why I am a Democrat. If you commit a crime, you need to compensate the victim. I don't care if you are a common street thug or BP. Protect the Future. Vote Chiappelli.

The Constitution of the United States

I’m a big fan of the Constitution. It is the bedrock upon which my profession is built. It is such an Enlightened document that I can understand people’s confusion about whether it was divinely inspired or not.



The Constitution was written by a great group of people.

It was also written by suspicious people who had the challenge of figuring out a way to live together peacfully. Our Founders did a great job. They created a government of limited powers. Any powers that the Federal Government has is specifically spelled out. They even left in wiggle room, like the "Necessary and Proper" clause, for future unforeseen circumstances.

The Constitution does not deal with beliefs or with morals or with religion because the Founders came from very different backgrounds. Slavery being the largest elephant in the room. Some of the Founders believed that slaves were property. Other Founders beleived that slaves were people. That's a pretty big difference of opinion.

Yet they managed to create such an enduring Constitution because they did not try to decide which belief was better or who had the better religion.

The safest Constitution is the one which protects your freedoms from me. Because I know that my freedoms are safe from you.

Which leads me to the biggest difference between myself and my opponents: They are Constitutional hypocrites.

I've had the opportunity to hear my opponents speak several times and one element which keeps reoccuring is the belief that by expanding civil rights and constitutional freedoms, those rights are weakened somehow. Delegate Dwyer has been the most vocal with this ridiculous position but the others are careful to toe the line.

This is a direct affront to the Constitution. Our freedoms should be spread as widely as possible because that truly provides each of us with the greatest protections. Freedom is not like gold. You don't hoard it and become rich. It's not something that there is a limited supply of and if we share it with our neighbors our supply of freedom is lessened.

Protect the Future of our Constitution. Protect the Future of our Freedoms. Vote Chiappelli.