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Marathon: Running for Congress

Getting On the Ballot
 
As I was eligible, like a lot of other unfunded third party, independent and non-establishment major party candidates, to get on the ballot by petition, this is a path to run for office and my path to help preserve American democracy, civil liberties and what economic sensibility and stabilization still exists in the system, and to expand on all of these and keep us out of needless interventionism (not that some interventionism isn't needed).  However, I have found that trying to use a petition to forward political goals is abound with ironies.  Such as the irony of being reminded all too often that there are very few public places in democratic America where petitions are allowed or encouraged, including government venues.  From fending off hecklers to being ignominiously ignored by more than a few passersby, from sometimes general harassment to being hounded by guardians of government institutions for having the gall to partake in the right of petition as granted by the First Amendment of the Constitution, the experience of gathering signatures was generally good, regardless, as the overwhelming majority of citizens, whether they signed my petition or not, were civil and good-natured.  By and large, I enjoyed the experience, but there's always that 5% that are going to make things, at times, not fun, to put it nicely. 
 
I sometimes chuckled at the times that people said or implied that they were voting Democrat or Republican no matter what; in other words, no matter who had the "D" or the "R" pinned on her or his lapel, and I would bet that 10% of these party-line voters could not even name their representative in the House of Representatives, not that they would need to know given their "logic."  There were a few that told me, emphatically, that we have a two-party system, but none of those waited around to answer my responding query: "Exactly, where is this 'two-party system' found in the Constitution?"  Of course, they moved on quickly rather than answer that question.
 
The 2700-name petition that's gotten me on the ballot, lasted for a course of almost two years, and it allowed me to meet thousands of people, many for the first time.  Just like in 2004, when a similar petition was used, and I won the G.O.P. primary against a "no-name" burger businessman, but somehow "lost" the primary, the experience will come in very handy in the primary of 2014 as I go up against yet another "no-name" Republican as probably my main competition to be the general election challenger to Adam Smith.  Nevertheless, right now, I am exhausted, but I'll be back in the saddle come June and the pre-primary season.
 
-- Mark Greene, Candidate for Congress, Washington 9th District (Revived Citizens Party)

[revised on 5/19/14]

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