September 4, 2007
by Mike Palecek

I'm thinking of running for Congress again. Just thinking so far.

I've got this ten-point plan I'll paste at the bottom here.

One of the points has to do with Mexicans and immigration. I think that is a big issue in western Iowa.

In my run for Congress in 2000 one of my major points was open borders. To me that is the way to go.

Anyway, what I would like to do is to start a website for my proposed campaign, speculative.

You can run for Congress without money. You might not win, but you can run. But you cannot run without getting on the ballot. It is a huge job to get the signatures I would need to get on the ballot.

And I guess I cannot ask people to sign up for me without knowing something about me.

I cannot afford to travel around the district. I have to work.

But I can put up this website, and I can write to the newspapers and radio stations around the district and ask that they tell people about the website.

I would be asking that people who agree with me would help me to gather signatures in their county.

This can all be done without much expense.

Back to the issue of immigration.

I would put the ten-point plan up on the website. These are things that are important to me.

But I would like to pull-out the point regarding immigration ? emphasize it.

I would like to feature stories about Mexican immigrants in the district ? tell their stories, who they are, the difficulties they have encountered to try to live here. Humanize them.

I think people see them as caricatures in some cases. That is so wrong. I think if people were to see Mexican immigrants as people, just like themselves, then maybe the racism can be overcome.

And even if the Anglos don't come to understand, these stories still need to be told.

And so, my idea would be to run these stories on the website, changing as often as I can get new stories, and to publicize the website in the meantime, hoping to reach the people of the 5th District with the message.

I would ask you, others, whoever we can reach, to report the stories, give me leads, etc.

The stories don't need to use real names or addresses if that is an issue.

So, I am asking you to join me in this effort to talk about the issue of Mexican immigration in the fifth district, to give an alternative viewpoint.

You might ask yourself if I'm doing this to try to get myself elected, to use the immigrants and their stories in that regard.

Well, I don't really think there is much chance of my being elected, to be honest. But who knows.

Actually, it's the other way around. The idea is to be a candidate in order to tell these stories.

I don't see myself as the candidate type, but I would really like to try to do something to right the wrongs that have been done.

I just think the election is a great opportunity to talk about these things, so many things that need to be talked about.

I would welcome your thoughts and suggestions.

Thanks.

Mike Palecek
Sheldon

(Article Continues Below)

Ten-point Plan.

1A) Of course, U.S. out of Iraq, yesterday. We should not have been there. The killing and dying has all been in vain.

1) Cut military spending and pay for things like alternative energy research, global warming research, inner city housing, infrastructure [bridges], schools, social services. The military budget is huge. I really think we could pay for all these things by taking out what we don't need in the military, which is most of it. When the Soviet Union folded, there was no "peace dividend", no switch from military programs to others - because those who were making money on the defense industry scrambled and made sure they did not lose money.

And the Democrats were like, oh, okay. It's not okay.

2) Investigate 911. We don't have the answers yet. Ever wonder why the Bush government did not want an investigation? I do too. This is big, this is huge. We need answers.

3) We need Democrats who are willing to push to prosecute Bush for war crimes, things like torture and lying to start a war and people dying because of that. How about stolen elections and anthrax and a dead Senator? We do not need to get past this until it's time to get past this.

4) Repeal the Patriot Act. Or at least read the damn Patriot Act and see if there is anything there we need. We just accepted it and said, oh, okay. It's not okay.

5) Decriminalize immigration. Where did you come from? Yeah, me, too. Or, perhaps put Native Americans in charge of the INS and go from there. We are Christians, some of us, right? We should help poor people, not throw them in jail. Lots of our Iowa towns lost population during the '80s farm crisis. Here are people who actually want to live in Early and Lone Rock and Spencer - and we don't want them? What's up with that?

6) Universal health care. Should have happened long ago. Go see "SICKO." Go sit in an emergency room, see what their first question is. It ain't "what can we do to help you?"

7) Pardon non-violent drug offenders. Let them go home to their families, watch their children grow up, have lives. The drug war was just another ruse, something for politicians to shout in a crowded theater to get themselves elected. It got more prisons built and more schools crumbling down, but it was wrong. Democrats are like, oh, okay.

8) Marijuana. What are we going to do about it? We need to think about it. What are our children supposed to think when we put people in federal prison for twenty years for marijuana and have "this Bud's for you" on the TV every day?

9) End the death penalty. It's simple. Don't kill.

10) End the requirement for young people to register for the draft. Don't kill.

*And how about something about unions and the minimum wage and a dozen other things that we don't even consider but would make perfect sense to consider.

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Mike Palecek [send him email] is an activist for peace and social justice. He served time in federal prison for civil disobedience and has run for US Congress. He has authored a number of books [click here to view] on behalf of the cause.