Craziest Campaign Speech of the Year - Phil Davison

Wow, I had to post this transcript I made of Phil Davison's words to the Executive Committee, and infamously to the rest of us through video.  What a crazy speech that was.  It was like watching Matt Foley turned Treasurer Candidate from his normal role as a motivational speaker...in other words, like watching a train wreck.  But it makes for some good entertainment now, thanks to YouTube!  If only Chris Farley were still around to have seen it.

If you've yet to see it, click the YouTube link (the article title), and follow along in the text.

Phil Davison's words on September 8th, 2010:

Ladies and gentlemen,
of the Star County Republican Party Executive Committee,
good evening,

And thank you,
not only for your attendance,
but for allowing me the opportunity to speak.

My name is Phil Davison,
and I am seeking our party's nomination,
for the position of Star County Treasurer,
on November 10th...November of 2010 excuse me.

In terms of my background,
I am from the village of Minerva,
where I am serving my 13th year of elected service,
as a Minerva council member.

In terms of education,
I have a bachelors degree in sociology,
a bachelors degree in history,
a masters degree in public administration,
and a masters degree in communication.

In terms of elections across Star County,
I have represented our party twice on the county ballot,
in both the primary and the general elections,
when I ran for Star County Clerk of Courts in 1996,
and Star County Commissioner in 2000,
and I will not apologize for my tone tonight.

I have been a Republican in times good,
and I have been a Republican in times bad.

Albert Einstein issued one of my most favorite quotes,
in the history of the spoken word,
And it is as follows:

In the middle of opportunity...oh...excuse me...
"in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity..."
I'm going to repeat that so I have clarity tonight:
"in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity."

This is the opportunity we've been waiting for,
The Star County Treasurers Office is a mess,
It is in dire need of structure and guidance
And now is the time to seize this opportunity,

With an aggressive campaign,
and an even more aggressive campaigner.
If nominated tonight I promise each and every person in this room,
I will hit the ground running,
come out swinging, and end up winning!

Let's send the message tonight
To the people of Star County,
and to the people of the Star County Democratic Party,
We're tired of business as usual.

Drastic times require what?...
Drastic measures! YES! Who said that??
Thank YOU!
Drastic times require drastic measures!

We will not tolerate incompetence,
and irresponsibility any longer,
Now is the time to snap
the democratic stranglehold on the treasurers office. ?

And I hearken back to what my friend Alex just said.
He ran against the Treasurer in 1996,
It was a problem then,
Its a problem now.

Infestation

Politics is not touch football,
Politics is winner take all.
It always has been,
And it always will be.

If nominated tonight, I want to develop and expand my campaign,
For what I believe is the greatest strength of the Star County Republican Party,
and that is its people.

I believe, in the axiom,
That all politics is local.
And because of this belief,
I want to harness the thoughts and ideas,
That individuals in our party have.

Concerning Star County and its political subdivisions...
and use that to its fullest extent.
Knowledge is power.

Lets tap into this knowledge,
and use it as a tool to win the Treasure's Office.
Lets use this knowledge not only as a tool,
but as a weapon.

We must win this election,
If nominated tonight I will win this election,
And I'm going to say that again so there is no miscommunication tonight,
If nominated tonight I WIN!

Tell your Friends
Tell your neighbors,
Tell Randy Gonzalez,
I'm coming, both barrels, guns loaded.

I believe in the entities in the principles,
of the National Republican Party,
The State of Ohio Republican Party,
And the Star County Republican Party.

And if nominated I will not hide those beliefs,
On my march to victory on election day.
If nominated today I can guarantee with 100% certainty,
that what you are seeing from me tonight,
Is what everyone else outside those doors is going to get over the next eight weeks.

I used to be an idealistic figure,
I am now a pragmatic figure.
Government may be about service,
politics is about winning.

Tonight as a candidate, seeking the Republican nomination for the position of Star

County Treasurer, I humbly ask for your vote as members of the Star County Republican

Party Executive Committee.

Thank you!

Reply: The Election, my final reflections

The thing that makes me more calm are the statistics for voter turnout.  This time America really did come out and speak their voice, with over 110 million votes and over 66% voter turnout.  I believe in the democratic-republic system so geniusly prescribed by Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Washington, and the other founding fathers, and if that system elected Barack Obama in the end, then I believe as all of you do that we can only rally behind our new president in patriotism, supporting him where we agree and opposing him where we differ in ideals.

Something else I realized last night.  I really can't complain about my life so far, most everything has been good.  There are a few notable catastrophic events that took place such as the Gulf War, the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11, and Columbine, but overall the economies have always been good, there has never been a draft, and the information revolution occurred while I was still young, so I have been able to be a participant in practically the whole of it.

Interestingly, I was born during the Regan administration which totaled the first 5 years of my life.  Then we had Bush senior, making 9 years of my life under a Republican president.  Then we had Clinton for 8 years, and then Bush for another 8 years, totaling 17 of my 25 years under a Republican.  With this in mind I am interested to see what 4 added years to the democrat side of the equation will bring.  I will be 29 when the next election for president is held.  What am I going to accomplish for myself, my family, and my country in those 4 years?

It will be interesting to see if other Americans are asking the same questions about themselves ("ask what you can do for your country") or if they will be asking what their new president and government will do for them ("ask what your country can do for you").  While I am excited to see that Americans on both sides became more involved this time, they have yet to prove that they will stand up and take action for themselves to improve their lives and their situation.  I guess time will tell.

Tijs

--
Tijs Limburg

Ron Paul - A Disaster for America

Ron Paul's Ideas Illogical

It was when I first heard of Ron Paul rejecting the idea of international trade and wanting to block trucks coming north from Mexico from entering the country, which is now allowed, that I wondered why he would attempt to run for president.

I then heard him say that the Federal Reserve was unconstitutional, unnecessary, and the cause for the "worthless" dollar.  I say worthless because his statistic of the dollar being worth 4 cents for every 1920s dollar would make everyone think just that.

However, consider this.  We have all heard our grandparents tell of a bottle of coke costing $0.05 in 1920.  This is confirmed by most recorded accounts. (see http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodfaq5.html#cocacola)  

Sounds pretty cheap, eh?  Especially compared to the price of a similar bottle of Coke at $1 today.  However, further analysis proves sightly different.  Many analysts estimate the average wage in 1920 to have been somewhere around $30 a month.  So lets estimate that to $1 a day in 1920s dollars.  To buy a Coke, it took 5% of your gross daily income.  

In today's terms, let's use the minimum wage of $5.85 in today's dollars to compare to the daily wage of $1.  Working a full time job at minimum wage, you would earn $46.8 gross.  (It should also be noted that many workers in 1920 probably worked longer than 8 hours a day.)  So in those terms, the cost of a $1 Coke of today takes just over 2% of your daily gross income to buy.  In effect, the cost of a Coke today is 238% less than it was previously.

Which would you rather have?  A Coke for $0.05 costing 5% of your daily wage, or a $1 Coke costing 2%?

Another argument that Ron Paul brings to his campaign is the idea of doing away with the Federal Reserve.  Such a move would be ridiculous.  Since its formation in the post 1929 crash era, the Federal Reserve has insured that we have not suffered  a depression as the one experienced at that time.  This is even more important considering the 1987 Crash -Of which this current month is the 20th anniversary. 

The 1987 Crash was the worst in US history.  The Dow fell a whopping 23% in one day, out-shadowing the 1929 Crash.  However, the Federal Reserve was in large part responsible for keeping the economy from going into a depression.  In fact, if you were to have bought shares after the 1987 crash, you would likely be up ten fold today -A much different result than in 1929, when by July of 1932, the Dow had lost 89%, and did not close above the peak level in 1929 until nearly 25 years later in 1954.

How can someone who is running for president justify his stance on dissolving institutions such as the Federal Reserve?  And more disturbingly, how can even 1% of the Republican voters be following him? (according to the latest Fox News poll.)

I think the economy will develop into a very important issue for 2008.  I just hope that the rest of the 99% of voters, republican or democrat, will be more informed of the workings of economics.