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I am running for Congress because I have a strong desire to create the laws that our American society will need as it traverses the just-begun 21st century; and the United States Congress is the best place to enact these laws.

I have noted, while campaigning and with examples, that the need for such law is now particularly acute:

Social Security — This is one of the few laws that are now working well, but it has to be protected from several strong forces that are unwittingly attempting to damage it.

Medical care — There is quality care available for some of our people, but not for all of them, and for everyone, it’s way overpriced (about twice as much per capita as the rest of the First World). I have a very detailed public-sector-financed and private-sector-delivered proposal that will address these problems and that, if elected, I’ll be working very hard to enact.

Iraq — I am a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and know, with that background, that the cut-and-run proposals to withdraw all of our troops from Iraq would cause immense and immediate damage to the Iraqi people (with hundreds of thousands, possibly even millions, dying) and to American credibility. I also know, however, that the initial get-rid-of-Saddam war (which produced a quick, honorable and effective result) has now morphed into a vicious and relentless civil war that’s begging for a solution.

The fundamental problem is that the Iraqi people don’t want the American-style strong-central-government pluralism that our country gave them post-Saddam. What they want is the lion’s share of governmental authority to be returned from Baghdad to their 18 respective provinces; this is what’s now working in the northern Kurdish zone of Iraq and it’s what should be the model for the southern and mid-country Sunni and Shia areas of their country. What’s needed is American insight and diplomacy, and this can come about if right-thinking and willing-to-work-hard representatives are elected to Congress.

Energy — We must end our dependence on fossil fuels quickly and switch to a smorgasbord of wind, hydro, nuclear and solar. But it won’t happen unless and until our Congress develops the resolve to make it work.

Environment — The current buzz about global warming is only the first, and among the milder problems, that’ll soon be showing up. Soil depletion, habitat elimination, fisheries destruction and increasing pollution will soon manifest unless our political leadership forges a new path. The root problem, and what the Congress and the world should be addressing, is global population. We now have 6.7 billion people on Earth, we’re projected to reach 9.2 billion by 2050 and we ought to be hovering around 4.3 billion. Congress is not only failing to address the world’s population explosion; it doesn’t even understand it.

The common thread in all of the preceding is a Congress that usually doesn’t understand our problems and, when they do, they usually don’t have the resolve to act appropriately. I do know what’s going on, and I’ll fight, if elected, to make things right, and that’s why I believe a vote for Tom Tierney in the forthcoming Sept. 4 primary is advisable.