I am running for office because I truly believe that leaving our government and it’s institutions in the hands of the Republican and Democrat parties is unsustainable and destructive. Together they have polarized our nation, corrupted and eroded our foundational principles and institutions, and have made it clear there is nothing they won’t sacrifice in their pursuit of power. Together with the SAM Party I seek to change the current political paradigm.
Both parties have failed us. Choose any issue and the underlying story is the same. Identify it, polarize it, capitalize on it. This paradigm of division works well for agitating the electorate every two years and for raising funds, but it is in fact the antithesis of what is required to govern. They have cultivated a brilliant system, one in which they have convinced so many that there are only two choices, and where even when one loses they are still “in the game”. Furthermore, the success of each requires the elimination or at least silencing of the other. Make no mistake, the evidence already exists that we have begun to walk down that treacherous path. Nothing will improve unless and until both parties are meaningfully rebuked for their self-serving and toxic conduct. It is time to make it clear that what they offer is beneath us.
Even the staunchest Republican and die-hard Democrat must by now see that their respective parties routinely cripple their own ability to achieve even their most prominent objectives. We are a nation that ventured to the moon and back, and yet today we can’t accomplish even the routine and mundane.
The overarching theme of my campaign is the restoration of trust and integrity in our government and institutions, because without it government loses the ability and authority to function. Major focuses of the campaign include Education, Immigration, Government Reform, and Justice Reform.
Our education system is failing. It has been corrupted by our politics and many of its worst practices and ideas. Politicians and those around them realize they have exhausted their audience, that there are few adults left to persuade, and so they have turned to our children. We must expel the politician’s tentacles from our schools. I support more freedom in education as well as the reinstatement of a robust civics education program, the absence of which is being observed daily. Further I would like to explore the possibility of a youth service program, somewhat like the G.I. Bill designed to repay service to community with funding for college.
Immigration, although it has fallen out of the spotlight, is a critical issue, especially given how it impacts so many other areas of concern from education to healthcare to economics right down to the foundational concept of the rule of law. I have provided an outline of my perspective on immigration on my website for consideration.
Government reform is absolutely essential, not in the vein of replacing our system of government, but rather in returning to it. Politicians have come to believe that they are so important that their ends justify their means. What has been forgotten is that the means are what validate and sustain the ends. We must restore a respect for our uniquely American system of government.
Reforming our justice system has been at the forefront of our national consciousness for some time, and yet when I look at the political landscape nearly everything the politicians have done on the issue has made things worse. From the Bail Reform fiasco to Mayors abdicating their duties to District Attorneys ignoring the laws they’ve sworn to uphold, all of it undermines justice and our civil society. If the elected do not adhere to the law, then why should the governed? We all believe in and desire to see justice done, but you cannot serve a principle by sacrificing it. Anyone seeking or serving in office must lead by example to restore these essential principles. I will.
Every single time the elected place their political objectives above the oath they swore, above the constitution they serve, and the people they are meant to represent, they do irreparable harm to our nation, harm that echoes for eternity and which will ultimately accumulate to a point that it ends the American experiment. We must begin to escape this, we must choose a place to start to do so, and I along with the SAM Party humbly offer that opportunity in New York’s 18th Congressional District.
PAST IS PROLOGUE, PRESENT NEED NOT BE FUTURE
As I listen to the opening of the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings on the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) it highlights how all-consuming and all-corrupting our politics has become. The main themes of the argument against the nomination appear to be the timing of the nomination and the impact that it may, or may not, have on the survival of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
In regard to the timing, it is entirely a political argument, not a structural or procedural one. It exists in large part because of the cancerous divisions that our politics have created in our institutions, our government, and in our public discourse. In large part the Republican Senate created the argument itself in its chosen course of action when Merrick Garland was nominated by then President Obama. At that time the Senate and the Presidency were divided and the Senate chose, within it’s rights and authority, to not hold hearings on the nomination. This was a political choice, one which the Republicans wanted to escape the political responsibilities and consequence of by making the argument that the hearings should not be held in the final year of a President’s second term. Let’s wait for the voters to speak, they said. They handed the Democrats the argument they level today. Yes, the circumstances are somewhat different, but the drive-by appearance is the same. Now those words come back to bite them, just as Harry Reid’s elimination of the 60 vote threshold for approval of other judicial nominees has returned to bite the Democrats. The Republicans should have had the courage and conviction to stand firmly in their position without employing what they knew were arguments of appearance rather than substance. However, had they simply said we are within our constitutional rights to not hold the hearings they knew they would likely pay a price at the ballot box that November in many races, and they sought to dodge that cost. The fact is that costless courage is not courage at all, but rather cowardice, and cowardice carries its own price.
Regarding the impact that the nomination may or may not have on the ACA, it is in fact a misguided argument and one by which the elected yet again seek to shirk their own responsibility and the consequences of their inadequate work. The argument is framed as such, the ACA does good things so we must keep it. The SCOTUS’ job is not to evaluate a law’s “goodness” or to apply public opinion, but rather to evaluate the appropriateness of its content and construction within the bounds of the US Constitution. Democrats it would seem, if taken at their words, would have us keep a law that should be struck down because it yields worthy ends, while ignoring the corruptive and destructive nature of the means that produced it. A justice who rejects the ACA isn’t ending it, but rather returning it to the hands of the politicians who did not properly honor its content and their own sworn duty in the first place. SCOTUS, if it intends to keep with its appropriate and essential role, must objectively evaluate the Act against the Constitution and proper legislative procedure and if it is found deficient, then it must be returned to the Legislative branch. The elected must then do their job and act upon it, and finally, the people must bear their responsibility and have their say in response to those actions. If any of us are willing to concede to keeping ill-prepared law because it does good things, then we have sacrificed America on the garish blood-soaked alter of politics.
And so a new political theme emerges: If you wish to avoid scrutiny and consequences for your own poor labor, then work to direct that scrutiny elsewhere. So many in the legislative branch seek to push their responsibilities upon the judicial branch. That is improper and a shirking of their own duties. You cannot hastily pass flawed legislation, count on the bureaucracy and administrative behemoth of government to keep it alive, and then blame others for its failings. In doing so the people who govern us announce themselves as the scoundrels they are. Legislators who are scared that their work will not survive, should invest more of their effort in producing better work product. Even at this moment, the Congress and those who wish to see the ACA and many of it’s worthy objectives live on, are they working to develop improved legislation that achieves the ends but this time by means that will sustain it? No, and why should they, there are political games to be played and an election on the near horizon. Don’t worry though, they will get to the real work after the election. Hold that thought, the next election is a mere two years away, the real work will again have to wait.
Every single time that the elected place their political objectives above the oath they swore, above the constitution they serve, and the people they are meant to represent, they do irreparable harm to our nation, harm that echoes for eternity and which will ultimately accumulate to a point that it ends the American experiment. If you want a preview of our governance for decades to come simply watch these hearings. We must begin to escape this, we must choose a place to start to do so, and I humbly offer that opportunity in New York’s 18th Congressional District.
(Originally published on Facebook, 10/13, 9:17 AM)
Scott Smith Holds Campaign Kick-Off (Full Video)
Scott Smith holds a Campaign Kick Off Event at Thomas Bull Memorial Park in Montgomery, NY, September 8, 2020. Smith is the Serve America Movement (SAM) Cand...
Scott Smith holds a Campaign Kick Off Event at Thomas Bull Memorial Park in Montgomery, NY, September 8, 2020. Smith is the Serve America Movement (SAM) Candidate running in New York's 18th Congressional District. The candidate explains why he is running and elaborates on the priorities of his campaign. Learn more at www.MrSmithForCongress.com
In this video I describe the dangers of our current division-based political paradigm as well as highlight some very concerning facts about my opponents.
The Scott Smith for Congress Campaign has worked to keep the Press/Media informed, but have they been informing you?
Forget, Repeat, Forget, Repeat.....
In government, politics has become the main event, doing the actual work is a distraction. Governing responsibly and effectively has become Washington's side-gig. Even now, politicians angle for advantage and try to attain objectives they have been unable to achieve under non-crisis circumstances. As a result, we have been caught flat-footed by COVID-19, how much better prepared could we have been if government focused on it's work?
The problems we are experiencing regarding preparation and implementation were foreseen, but never actually addressed. This is a GOVERNMENT failure. It's not a Republican or Democrat failure, it's a Republican AND Democrat failure.
A quick survey of articles from the time of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic quickly makes clear that major hurdles to an effective response at that time were: dependence on raw materials and reagents from foreign sources, a lack of adequate vaccine production capacity within the US, and inadequate reserves of critical supplies. Sounds familiar doesn't it? The press reported, the elected opined and held hearings, and everyone insisted they would see to it that it did not happen again. Yet it did. Many in government now were there in 2009.
Nothing would be significantly different if we were in the midst of a Democrat administration. We'd be hearing the same words just out of different mouths. Those condemning the Trump Administration excused the Obama Administration, and vice versa. Otherwise we'd be in exactly the same situation. If we don't get past the same routine, then 10 years from now there will be another pandemic threat and we'll get to watch it all over again.
The true test of this administration, in fact the true test of us as a nation, is not this contemporary pandemic, but rather the next one. Will we have changed the story that lies ahead or will it be groundhog day all over again?
Any office holder or candidate for office must commit to the following priorities in this regard:
Repatriate production of medical supplies to the US
Repatriate vaccine production to the US
Fully Stock the SNS to the level necessary to address a Pandemic
Get Government out of the way in advance and when necessary
There will be short term pain with this, but it is nothing compared to the pain of failing to act. How many times must we revisit the potential consequences before we recognize the risk and see the value of the investment?
Mother nature creates, and she does so with elegance and ferocity. Some of her creations do us harm, and for that we can't really blame her or hold her accountable. However, there is something much more lethal to us all as individuals and to our nation. That pathogen is politics. There are two distinct strains, each equally devastating, and together synergistically so.
Lastly, politicians suddenly finding shadows of the character and integrity that their office demands, only when faced with a pandemic, does NOT justify maintaining them in office.