First for Congress loyal supporters.

Josh First's campaign for the Pennsylvania's 17th District Congressional seat currently held by Tim Holden (D-Schuylkill) was officially kicked off today when First made a speech in the Rotunda in the Pennsylvania State Capitol, in Harrisburg.  The speech was attended by two dozen loyal supporters who braved the cold winter weather to join Josh.

Josh First
www.joshfirst.com

Congressional Campaign Announcement Speech
December 28, 2009

Pennsylvania State Capitol Rotunda

           Thank you for joining me here in this beautiful building, the Pennsylvania State Capitol, long considered one of America’s most attractive, symbolic, and compelling public buildings.  I chose this location because it is much warmer than outside, and because one of my heroes, conservationist President Teddy Roosevelt stood here when this building was dedicated in 1906.

           The purpose of this gathering is to make my candidacy for Pennsylvania’s 17th U.S. House district public, and to tell you about me and why I want to run.

Josh First

I am a congressional candidate for two simple reasons:

           First, I am running because I love America.  Admittedly, in many ways it’s the America of the 1950s and Leave it to Beaver that I love, but a simpler, better America nonetheless.  From that love I have concluded that the political Left’s overwhelming tidal wave assault on traditional American values and institutions is frightening and must be stopped.  Presently this Congressional district is mis-represented by Tim Holden, who along with Nancy Pelosi is part of that Liberal assault on our nation’s foundation, and he needs to be voted out of office.

           Second, Congress needs more people like me in it.  It needs fewer career politicians and more working Joes who have held down jobs, run small businesses, and who bring a clear view and common sense to the job.  Unlike an incumbent, I am not interested in concentrating and wielding power.  I am interested in dispersing power back to America’s citizens.  Taking away government power and returning it to our people:  Smaller government, cheaper government, less intrusive government.  Happier, freer citizens.  That’s my dream, anyhow, and I am stickin’ to it, and those are my two reasons for running.

First for Congress
loyal supporter

           Because all political careers must start with a story, let me tell you a story about a moment that changed my life, a moment that is probably more responsible for my standing here in front of you now than any other event or experience in my life.

           It was 1994, and I was an idealist twenty-something kid working on agricultural policy and regulation at the US Environmental Protection Agency in Washington DC.  At that moment, I was sitting in a large, bare, dull government-issue conference room, you know, the kind that is poorly lit by fluorescent lights and filled with outdated, clunky furniture and drab window shades that drive interior designers crazy.  After three hours, I was still sitting alone in that room with an EPA attorney named Mary.  Mary and I were there to hash out a settlement between the EPA and a successful family-owned pesticide company in California that had accomplished some significant violations with one of its flagship products, an insecticide based on the nerve gases of World War One and Two.  Bad stuff, scary stuff, dangerous stuff.  But useful, effective, valuable.

           I was advocating for “Settlement A,” and Mary was advocating for something much more severe, to the point where the company would be badly damaged.  Our negotiations had dragged on, and I couldn’t figure out why.  So, I asked Mary, why, why were we going round and round, with no resolution?

           And then Mary said that she and her husband were completely opposed to the intergenerational transfer of wealth in families.  That is, she opposed parents passing their own private wealth on to their children, and because this was a family-owned company we were dealing with, she wanted to ensure that their wealth was as damaged as possible.  She was holding out for the maximum enforcement action on this company, and she would not relent.

           What can I say?  I was twenty-something, relatively inexperienced, blown away by what Mary said, and in the end overpowered by this senior, experienced, strong-willed attorney, who despite having flawed beliefs and motives was nevertheless arguing for a punishment based on the facts.  She won that argument and the company did indeed suffer significantly, and I think that many American communities and businesses directly suffered as a result, as well.

           What I took away from that moment was an appreciation and rejection of the awesome, autocratic, unaccountable power of the American government bureaucrat, and how their individual beliefs can and certainly do shape American policy and law, and our individual lives, whether you and I voted for them, or not.

           If that one person at that one moment can make that one decision that effects so many people, I realized, then what has happened to the individual liberty that so many of us take for granted?  That was intended for us by our Founding Fathers, so plainly evident in our Constitution?

           And that, my friends, is how I got here, because after that moment I went on to hold several other positions at EPA where I increasingly fought to re-regulate and de-regulate businesses, not increase their regulations, and ultimately after tiring of fighting against an overwhelming bureaucratic culture I decided to return to Pennsylvania, where I believed I would be closer to the issues, closer to the people, closer to where the rubber meets the road and where I could see the fruits of my labors and always be ensured that I was able to talk with those people who were affected by government.  My record of fighting for better, fairer, more sane regulation is partially enshrined in the Federal Register for those of you who are interested in opposition research and the high art of writing in “bureaucratise.”

           Folks, there is no good political campaign without placing some blame, and friends do we ever have some blame and criticism to place on our incumbent mis-representative, Tim Holden.

           Like Mary the bureaucrat, Tim Holden has some terribly misguided beliefs, and like Mary, those bad beliefs are also working their way into laws that affect us in negative ways.  Imagine government healthcare run by the Marys of the world.  Tim Holden will allow that to happen.  He won’t vote for it, he’ll just vote for it, because he wants it both ways.

           Holden voted for Nancy Pelosi to be the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, he votes with her 96% of the time, and my goodness if that isn’t an indication of how far out his politics are, way out on the far-left fringe, he voted to bring the recent health care bill up for a vote before then voting against it after Pelosi already had the votes to get it passed.  He voted for the nuclear debt bomb stimulus package that will attach financial shackles to all of our children for decades to come.  I mean, what bad idea hasn’t Tim Holden voted for?

           Now, let me ask you, is there a gosh darned thing that Nancy Pelosi believes in, stands for, or votes for that the citizens of central Pennsylvania have in common?  Heck no!  Nothing, thank goodness.  We are the heartland of America; she is way out on the Left Coast of America.

           Nancy Pelosi is pretty much Political Enemy Number One in these parts, and yet Timmy, our Timmy as he likes to be called, he just keeps on voting for her and with her.  Nearly one hundred percent of the time.  In the sophisticated political science terms I learned at Penn State, Holden’s voting record is a “freak show.”  Holden is a Liberal Trojan Horse, right here in our quaint little hard-working community.  He is a phony.  It is time for Tim to go.

           Tim Holden is Nancy Pelosi’s pet, her puppet, and her pawn.  Holden is owned 96% by Nancy Pelosi and just four percent by the citizens of his district.  Tim Holden is a phony. It is time for Tim to go.

           And the game that Tim Holden likes to play is to parse his voting record, you know, to break it down into individual votes, to avoid the obvious problem, because he doesn’t want his constituents to digest the fact that 96% of the time, almost one hundred percent of the time, he is voting with Nancy Pelosi.  We’re not going to let Timmy parse his record one vote at a time.  Sorry, Tim, I am here today to tell you that your game is up, your dodge is over, your constituents are on to you, and we are going to hold you accountable for the gigantic mess you have gotten us into and for your utter betrayal of our values with your left wing pals in Washington DC and San Francisco.

           The sleeping giant has awakened.

           My experience in government, having worked in the belly of the beast and fought it, and my experience as a small business owner fighting to feed my family and ensure a secure future for my children, qualify me well to be the next Congressman from the 17th district.  A far better congressman than the one we have right now.  I will be a congressman who wants fair taxes for people who actually pay taxes, who wants increased farmland protection so that our nation can feed itself clean, healthy food, a national security issue if there ever was one.  A congressman who will actually help break foreign oil’s grip on America by converting the vast coal fields right here in our district into alternative transportation fuels, made from America, in America, for America.

           But my friends, we have to get our neighbors to wake up, wake up and realize that this suffocating socialism that Tim Holden symbolizes is like a giant snake slowly wrapping around our neck.  If we don’t vote him out and restore some balance to at least one branch of federal government, then the wacky Left will be running our nation for many years to come, with all kinds of bad policies and laws that diminish our freedoms and enslave our children to big government.

           My friends, I urge you to talk with your neighbors, get out the vote, and of coursehelp us with this campaign so that we can re-take the district, help re-take America, and return our great nation to its basic values.  Or at least back to Leave it to Beaver.

           Thank you very much for your time. Happy New Year and may God bless each and every one of you.