About this Second Amendment Thing

Another mass shooting, this one at a school where nineteen kids and two adults were killed has resulted in the usual media attention, speeches, investigations, and calls for gun control or the outright banning of guns. The war cry of the anti-gun group is "Guns kill people." The pro-gun group response is that "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." It seems to me that a more accurate statement is that people often use guns to kill people.

The pro-gun folks site the Second Amendment to justify their right to own and carry guns. It reads:" A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

A question I have is what is a well regulated militia today? When the amendment was adopted on December 15, 1791 a well regulated militia was a group of males of arms-bearing age who met at regular intervals in the town square to practice military maneuvers and shooting. The purpose for their existence was to augment the regular army in times of need. I seriously doubt that the framers of the amendment would consider millions of Americans owning and many carrying guns, never undergoing training, and probably never firing those guns after the initial purchase as a well regulated militia. And they certainly would not have intended to convey to psychopaths the right to purchase guns. 

As horrific as the mass shootings are, they really don't begin to tell the story of gun violence in America. The chart below paints a gruesome picture.

 

Factoring out the suicides, legal intervention, unintentional and undetermined numbers, we're left with 17,838 gun homicides. In the year 2020, forty nine people were shot dead every day of the year. That is more than double the number killed at the Uvalde school shooting, but those facts don't get attention because they're not mass shootings and normally don't include young kids. We've become desensitized. We accept 50 shooting deaths daily as a part of life in America, as long as they're not of the spectacular variety. 

IF we wanted to stop gun deaths - IF we wanted to go beyond strong rhetoric and minor legislation that would "make it tougher to get guns", what could we do? The answer is nothing...nothing that wouldn't have some group screaming that their rights were being infringed upon. Here's some examples:

-Background checks by the FBI going back 20 years for anyone wanting to buy a gun.

-Following an approved background check, a six month waiting period before purchase.

-A mandatory semi-annual psychiatric evaluation for all gun owners.

-Guns must be kept at federal warehouses where the owner gets and returns the gun like a library book.  

I doubt that anyone would submit to those requirements so instead we:

-Ban private ownership of all guns. A national police force would conduct periodic no-knock searches of all homes, garages, sheds, businesses, churches and anywhere else that guns could be hidden to collect those guns already in the hands of citizens. 

None of those suggestions will ever happen in the United States. Nor should they. They would result in a police state that would lead to outright rebellion. The best we can do is to enact reasonable measures that would make it difficult for psychopaths and criminals to buy guns, and I freely admit that I have no idea what those measures would be. 

Maybe something workable and constructive will come as a result of the Uvalde shooting. I hope so, but in the meantime I'll have my gun with me when I'm shopping at Kohl's, eating at Applebee's, or catching a movie at AMC. Let me finish with a warning to any nut job who may be planning to shoot up one of the places I've mentioned while I am there...I will not wait 77 minutes before returning fire.

The Final Lutin for Congress Newsletter

CAMPAIGN NEWSLETTER

May 26, 2022

LutinforCongress.org

“It is time to grab the bull by the tail and face the situation.” W. C. Fields

I am sure that all of you have by now heard the adverse results of the Primary Election in the 14th
District in Georgia, where Marjorie Greene has won easily on the Republican side with 69.5% of
the vote and Marcus Flowers won on the Democratic side with about 85% of the votes cast. I
will freely admit that I had expected MTG to go into a runoff, or at best to get about 55% of the
votes.

In total votes cast, MTG got about 72,000 and Flowers got about 20,000. That gradient is going
to be hard to reverse in November.

My own electoral performance was equally dismal, about 2.5% of the votes cast. Strahan was
the only Republican other than MTG to break into double digits, with about 17% of the votes. I
think that what this says, much as we might like to believe otherwise, is that MTG is exactly the
Representative that most people in this district want to represent them.

It has been a painful day of reflection for me since the primary election, but I am ready to pick
myself up and carry on. Long term residence questions are not settled, but short term I am
moving back to my place in Atlanta this weekend. In retrospect, I think that the campaign was
built on an erroneous premise, that Democratic and Independent voters would vote for me in
large numbers because any Democratic candidate has such a difficult electoral path to victory.

I appreciate all the help that I have received and all my generous donors, though of course I
could have used a few more of you. The campaign will finish up with some debt that I will need
to retire, and I will, as always, appreciate any help that I get in paying off about $3000 in credit
card debt and final accounting expenses. Any donations adding up beyond that total will go
toward partial reimbursement of travel expenses that I have been covering out of personal funds.

I will certainly continue to spend significant time in the district, and I am sure that I will see most
of you before long, but I will not maintain the punishing daily travel schedule that I have kept
until Primary day. Best to all of you! 

###########

Charles is correct when he wrote "I think that what this says, much as we might like to believe otherwise, is that MTG is exactly the Representative that most people in this district want to represent them." 

One can only shake one's head in wonder and bewilderment. Marjorie Taylor Greene is the antithesis of everything we try to teach our kids...acting responsibly, being truthful, behaving civilly, respecting others and utilizing reason and common sense. Her vicious attacks, name calling and lies clearly indicate she has no scruples or sense of decency. Her continually pushing baseless and long ago debunked conspiracy theories shows either a lack of judgement or deceit. And yet come November she will easily cruise to victory because the people of the 14th District want her. There is no point in asking why. For some questions there is no answer.

T'was the day after election

In a post I wrote on April 18th regarding Jennifer Strahan as a candidate for Georgia's 14th Congressional District, I wrote, "The ultra-right culture in this district is so deeply ingrained and wide spread that I doubt if anyone except Jesus could defeat Trump and by association Marjorie Greene." Though I actively supported a different candidate, Dr. Charles Lutin, I expected Marjorie to win, but not with 70% of the total votes. I had thought that a number of moderate Republicans, independent conservatives and even cross-over Democrats would vote in opposition to her simply to remove an obviously irrational individual from congress. It is clear that I was very, very wrong. 

On my previous post an anonymous reader this morning commented, "Congrats, your boy got 2%. Why don't you be a positive conservative and back the new leaders of the party like MTG?" Normally I delete anonymous comments but two terms struck me as worthy of thought..."new leaders" and "the party." 

What party? The disparate collection of headline-grabbing individuals, the "new leaders" like MTG are attempting to highjack the Republican Party and turn it into something else. What that is I don't know, but the hit lists - those who voted to impeach Trump, those who oppose the lost election theory, Biden and Pelosi being "communist Democrats who hate America, hate God and hate our way of life" strongly resemble MTG's "gazpacho police." Perhaps the goal is for the Republican Party, or what's left of it to form a military wing. Whatever it is, there is a movement, an evolution taking place. It somewhat reminds me of another movement some 60 years ago.

For those of you who weren't around at the time, the 1960s and early 70s was the era of the hippie movement. It had quite an impact on the American scene. It was basically young people (it almost always is) who formed a counter-culture that essentially rejected the social mores of the day. Free love, carefree irresponsibility, wealth denial, and trips to an Indian guru to seek wisdom were some of the hallmarks of the movement. One of their rallying points was the Vietnam War. Anti-war protests were daily events. "Make love not war" and "Peace" buttons and banners were seen everywhere. One incident about that era will always stay with me.

I had just completed six months of basic training at Fort Leonard Wood and was on my way home on a thirty-day leave. I was standing in the St. Louis train station wearing my dress uniform, and on my shirt was an expert rifleman badge I had been awarded for marksmanship with the M1 Garand. A group of young people were standing near me, when a girl left the group and walked over to me. She loudly shouted that I was a killer, tore the badge off my shirt and melted back into her group. I was too stunned to do anything, but I did think a lot about it on the train back to Milwaukee. Most hippies were not that obnoxious but as with any movement it was the extremists who set the tone and shaped the public image.

The war was their enabler...their catalyst. It gave them license to disregard established norms and to exercise their individual freedom by trampling on the freedom of others. When the war ended hippieism began to fizzle and then faded from the scene. Those hippies who aren't dead are today living the normal life of old folks, indistinguishable from main-stream seniors.

The rallying point of the present Republican Party movement is Donald Trump. He's the enabler; the catalyst, the would-be emperor. MTG and her ilk are eagerly lined up to do Trump's biding - to help fashion the new party with new leaders. I wonder, if Trump were to disappear would Trumpism continue? I think that it would for a while, but then like the hippie movement it would fizzle and die. But not completely. There is always that unexplainable mob mentality laying just below the surface ready to follow a Putin or Hitler or Trump or Greene. 

There's another election coming in November. MTG and Hershel Walker will be on the ballot. Looks like I'll be forced to vote Democrat again.

Keeping Up the Hope

Received a newsletter from Charles this morning, reproduced in full below. He does a good job of clearly spelling out what it will take to defeat Marjorie Green. It's still an uphill fight but it's doable. 

Campaign Newsletter May 18, 2022

How to Beat MTG, or

Memoir of a Republican that even a Democrat could love

I have been saying this for months, and in fact it is my campaign motto:  A Better Way Together.
If you accept that the goal is to defeat MTG in her run for reelection to Congress, it is going to take the Democrats and Independent voters to help make this happen.  Marjorie’s approval rating nationally is somewhere below 20%, but here in the 14^th District it is probably more like 35%.  So why is it hard to unseat a candidate who has an approval rating of 35%?
 
About 75% of the voters in the district voted Red in each of the last six Presidential and Congressional elections, and among Republican voters MTG’s approval is more like 55%.  So, 55% of Republicans is enough to win the primary outright unless a significant number of independent and/or blue voters cross over and vote in the red primary.  So, let’s assume that these crossover voters and moderate Republican voters make up 52% of the voters on primary day and MTG obtains 48% of the votes cast.  Then, MTG and the leading contender move on to a Runoff election where MTG still enjoys the support of 55% of the Republican voters who would then vote her into the general election unless a significant number of crossover voters again vote in the runoff election.  In other words, the candidate needs to be Republican enough to finish 1 or 2 on May 24^th but appealing enough to the Independent or Democratic voter to stimulate the voters to get out and vote in the Republican runoff election.  My Republican rivals in this campaign have barely even nodded to the moderate Democrats and Independent voters among us. 
 
You would have to ask them why not.  But back to the primary question in this posting. . .who could beat MTG in the primary and in a runoff to follow?  Why, you would need someone like--me!

Here I am on May 17th with Governor and Mrs. Brian Kemp at their appearance in Rome, GA on the town green.  Governor Kemp seems like a very decent man and he is definitely a good speaker.  Best of luck on May 24^th, governor.

The other picture on May 17^th is at the Rome, GA Airport Commission meeting with Airport Manager John Carroll and Commissioner (Doctor) Randy Sumner.  The monthly meeting covered airport usage  and improvement projects, but thankfully no safety problems.

Keep the faith, contribute a few bucks, follow me around the district as we finish out the last week of primary campaigning, and onward to the runoff election!

#############

If you haven't met Charles, all you know about him is a few written words. There is a video soon to be released that we think conveys his character and personality much better than words could ever do. Personally, what I like and appreciate most about Charles is his straight-forwardness and that he speaks his mind in a confident yet conversational tone rather than a speech-making mode. It makes me believe every word that he says. 

Please take the time to watch the video. It accurately represents the Charles Lutin that we and many folks have come to know. If integrity, honesty and common sense have any place in this election, then so does Charles Lutin.

The Glamour of a Campaign Trail

Georgia's 14th Congressional District is located in the Northwest portion of the state. I've been unable to locate information as to the physical size of the territory or the number of cities/towns in the district. Population estimates are in the 735,000 range.

Dr. Charles Lutin, a candidate for Representative of the district has a pretty good idea of how much ground the district covers, and how many towns there are. He's been driving its length and breadth on an almost daily basis for the past six months. It's not unusual for him to attend a morning activity in a town in the district's north, then to be in a southern town in the afternoon only to return to the north later that afternoon or evening. Very recently Maribel and I were with him in Ringgold, Dalton, Rossville, Fort Oglethorpe, Chickamauga and probably a few other towns that I've forgotten. 

The man seems to be tireless. When I asked him how many days his schedule covers, he laughed and said, Days?.....four hours is more like it." He has volunteers throughout the district who are constantly alerting him to gatherings in their part of the district...activities anywhere from a ribbon-cutting ceremony to a farmers market. Anywhere there are a dozen or more people, he tries to be there. 

I asked him yesterday if he could provide to me a sort of a "day in the life" itinerary. I received his schedule for yesterday at 5:22 AM this morning. This is what he sent:

#####

On the Campaign trail in Northwest Georgia- A Day in the Life of Charles Lutin - May 17^th, 2022
 
4:30- Wakeup call
 
Exercise- maximal pushups (172) and maximal pullups (22)
Breakfast- granola and yogurt
 
4:45- Read news (Washington Post), work Sudoku puzzle
 
5:00- Read emails and respond
 
6:30- Write Newsletter post
 
7:15- Drive to YMCA
 
7:30-8:30 Exercise Class- 25 minutes of movements with hand weights, variety of squats, lunges, etc. then 25 min on exercise bike
 
8:45 Return home, shower
 
9:00- Telephone calls, check emails, send a couple of emails
 
9:30 – Drive to Downtown Rome, visit, meet and greet with a few Romans and visitors
 
10:00- Gov Brian Kemp campaign bus arrives, several local dignitaries and Gov Kemp speak
 
11:00- Check PO Box for contributions (none, boo!) then walk downtown for fifteen minutes and visit Sara Hightower Regional Library to read the local news
 
12:00- Walk to Episcopal Church, then to Ana’s Restaurant in Rome.  Lunch with Rev John Herring (Pastor) and Rev David Boyd (Assistant Pastor) from Rome St. Peter’s Episcopal Church
 
1:00 Fifteen-minute walk to car, then ten-minute drive home
 
1:30 Wash up, nap
 
1:45 Read emails, respond, phone calls
 
3:30 Leave for Rome Airport Commission Meeting at Thornton Rec Center, visit with Commissioners
 
4:00 Meeting commences

4:50 Airport Commission Meeting ends, drive to Chickamauga for Walker County GOP meeting
 
5:45 Arrive at GOP meeting, transfer yard signs to Tom Filipowicz, visit with the Walker County GOP members.  Dinner at the meeting—chili and cookies (It was GOOD!)
 
6:00 Meeting begins at Advancing Education Center in Chickamauga, John Gordon (candidate for GA Attorney) is first speaker.  Main campaign promise is to find and prosecute anyone responsible for stealing the election on 2020 away from rightful winner DJT.*
 
Second speaker is David Belle Isle, candidate for GA Secretary of State.  Main campaign promise is to eliminate election fraud, Dominion voting machines, and ballot drop boxes because of fraud he alleges occurred in 2020*
 
*(I cannot speak for Charles as we have not discussed in depth the issue of the “stolen election” but I know that he does not subscribe to that theory. Tom Filipowicz)
 
7:45 Left meeting in Chickamauga
 
9:00 Arrived in Rome, visited with neighbors Nancy and Myra, had a glass of wine
 
9:30 Lights out

#####

I don't know where he's at at the moment, but I'll guarantee that he's out and about somewhere, shaking hands and talking with people. Maribel and I will be out today putting up Lutin for Congress yard signs. We want this man representing us in Washington. We hope that there are lots of voters who agree.

Thoughts from Fairview, GA

To: Dr. Charles Lutin 

Sir. My name is Amos Daremore and I am writing to you because I live in Fairview and I know that you have been campaigning in a lot of towns but I don't believe you will come to Fairview (nobody comes here unless they's lost) and I don't know where you will be an' me and the Misses (Emma that'd be...she's lookin over my shoulder she says because she can spelt better 'n me but I know it's cause she's nosey) are hopen that you will win the election. No offense to Marjorie Greene mind you, she is a firecracker an' that's fur sure but she's all the time going off at the wrong time an' in the wrong direction.

I hear tell that you been askin folks what they think about things and what they would like. If'n I ever see you in person I will tell you what I would like and what I think Fairview needs but if'n I don't see you I will 'spress my thoughts in this letter.

First off, the most important thing that Fairview needs is more dogs. All kinds a dogs of all colors and sizes, all the way from them there big long legged Grape Danish down to them tiny Chinawas from Mexico. An' they gotta bark...all kinds a bark'n from yip yip yip to WOOF! WOOF! We need more barke'n dogs because there are some times, granted not often, but some times when me n' Emma will be a'settin on the front porch or in the back yard an' we don't hear nothin but birds! Can you imagine that! No bark'n dogs - just birds! Why, if you can believe it there are even a few houses in the neighborhood where they don't even own a dog! Not a one! Who ever heard of such a thing? So please DR. Lutin Sir, if'n you get to Washington could you please make it a priority to ship us some noisy dogs?

Another problem we have is this...there are some bubbas who are driving their F150s and Ram trucks in the neighborhood with sound suppression devices intact (we used to call 'um mufflers in the old days). That's dangerous! If yur walkin on the road you can hardly hear 'um commin! There should be a town ordinance sayin that they have to remove them mufflers an' drive their trucks as noisily as possible like most of the young bucks in the area do. Besides, everybody knows that the louder the truck the bigger the man.

One final request if you please. We need more junk vehicles in some front and back yards.  There are quite a few that have junk cars, busses, trucks and campers already but we need more in order to keep our property values depressed. Some igorant folks have even said it's good to have a clean and maintained neighborhood. HAH! What good is ownin property if'n you don't have stuff layin all over it? In fact at a community meeting one damned fool (Emma says that God forgives me that) talked about a clean neighborhood being a source of personal and community pride. Well, let me tell you! Emma stood up and said, "Well la-de-da and whoop-ti-do to YOU!" That shut him up tighter then a drum! She had him so flummoxed that he didn't know his ass from page 2 (Emma says God forgives me that too). This here is Fairview...it ain't one a those fancy subdivisions with sidewalks and streetlights an' gates an' rools an' regulations! Besides, everybody knows that junker cars an' other stuff includin dawgs in a yard  means that a REAL MAN lives there.

Dr. Lutin Sir, if you have read this far I thank you for your time. I hope that if you go to Congress that you will not forget us little folks and will remember my requests.

Respectfully, 

Amos P. Daremore

Ten Days until Georgia's Primary Election

The primary election for many offices in Georgia takes place on May 24th. Early voting begins today. I really do not want to write about politics any more. I want to write about an estimated 225 year old water oak tree in my yard. George Washington was President when the tree was a sapling. I want to try to correlate events in history through time with the growth of the sapling. 

I want to write about Maribel and me closing in on five years of living in Georgia, and our impressions of the area after those five years. But I can't seem to make myself write about those or any other topics...and perhaps not until the election is over.

I'm 81 and have never been so emotionally invested in an election as I am this one. What's driving me is that the Republican Party is broken, the radical-right is making a mockery out of themselves and the party, and the Democrats are doing everything they can to take advantage of it. I know that many right-leaning people, especially those living in the south don't agree with my political views, but I'm going to keep beating the same drum until the last vote has been counted. 

To stop the Democrats we need to fix the Republican Party, and to do that Donald Trump and his cult followers must be marginalized...must be relegated to the status of private citizens. The only way to do that is to vote his far-right supporters out of office. Trump and the radicals are intimidating most of the more moderate conservative elected officials (and citizens) from speaking out; from beginning the task of rebuilding the Republican Party. 

Marjorie Taylor Greene is one of the chief irritants festering in the Republican Party. Her defeat on the 24th could be THE EVENT that starts a return to normalcy in the party. There are a number of Republican candidates running against Marjorie. Dr. Charles Lutin and Jennifer Strahan are realistically the only two who have a chance of beating Greene. We've done the research, and the person who best represents what we believe in is Charles Lutin. 

But it's not just a choice between Republican candidates. A real danger is that the Democrats believe that Greene's outrageous words and actions have made her vulnerable, and have poured millions of dollars into the coffers of their Democratic candidate Marcus Flowers. He's getting much more television time than all of the Republican candidates combined. 

Maribel and me will be heading to the polls early next week to cast our votes. We're hoping that the 14th Congressional District will see a large turn-out of voters and that those voters want a conservative representative in Washington who will focus on Georgia and our district and our wants and desires. MTG ain't it. The liberal Marcus Flowers ain't it. Charles Lutin is.

How NOT to win Georgia's 14th Congressional District election

Dr. Charles Lutin, I've got to give you an A for effort in your attempt to unseat Marjorie Taylor Greene as Georgia's 14th Congressional District Representative, but the fact is that you're doing it all wrong, and have been from the time you decided to run last October. Here's what I'm talking about.

To begin with, last November you should have gone off to Cartersville and bought yourself a 'campaign vehicle' for $92,679.60. I don't know what a campaign vehicle is or why it should cost so much money but that's what MTG did. 

And you're spending all of your time in Georgia, in the 14th District. You should be in Texas, or Florida or California or Mar-a-Lago or wherever there is an opportunity for an interview and photo/op on national television. That's what MTG is doing. 

And while you're in those anywhere-but-Georgia places you should be talking about issues that don't necessarily make sense and have nothing to do with Georgia, but that's not the point. The purpose is to get your face on camera and get the publicity, good or bad. That's what MTG does.

And what have you been doing? For the past six months, day after day you've been driving the length and breadth of the 14th Congressional District in your non-campaign vehicle. You've visited and re-visited towns like Cedartown (population 10,190), LaFayette (6,888), Dallas (14,042), Summerville (4,435), Trenton (2,195) and many more. MTG doesn't do that.

And what are you doing in those towns when you're there? You waste your time talking with majors, city attorneys, sheriffs, city clerks, business owners, municipal workers, church pastors, American Legion officials and even library directors. All because you want to know what they're thinking...what do they like about their country, their state and their home town? What do they think needs to be improved; what help do they need? 

You eat lunch at local family-owned restaurants, often by yourself, and while there you talk with staff and customers, introducing yourself and asking the same questions that you asked city officials that morning...what do they need; what would they like to see changed? Tomorrow afternoon you'll be in Dalton attending the annual Golden Gaitor Walk, and in the evening in Cohutta (population 764) to take in a bluegrass concert, and I'm betting that at both places you'll be meeting and talking to people, asking those same questions. MTG won't be there.

So, you've spent the last six months traveling over a large territory, meeting the people, hearing and seeing their problems first-hand. All because you believe that things generally are not going in the right direction; that government has lost sight of the people, and you would like to see Washington and the Republican Party get back on track. That doesn't fit with today's definition of a politician. 

You are not a politician, and Georgia's 14th Congressional District doesn't need a politician. MTG has proven that. What we need is a servant of the people in Washington who will keep their finger on the pulse of the district. Who will as time allows visit the towns and talk to the people. Sound familiar? What we need is Dr. Charles Lutin in Congress. 

Dr. Charles Lutin - A Candidate I Can Vote FOR instead of against

Maribel and I had a good lunch today at one of out favorite restaurants. It was even more enjoyable because sitting directly across from us was Dr. Charles Lutin, a candidate for Georgia's 14th Congressional District. Before I get into the lengthy discussion we had, let me establish some background as to how that luncheon came about.

I've got political lawn signs in my front yard. That's the first time I've ever done that. Those signs are on my lawn because of complete frustration with the political situation. My signs and my vote probably won't mean a damn, but at least I'll have the satisfaction of knowing that I did what I could to express my sentiments. I wish that those signs were there for positive reasons (well, one is but I'll get to that later), but the fact is that I don't at all support two of the three candidates.

Let's start with Brian Kemp, Georgia's incumbent governor. I don't like Kemp (and most southern governors) because of his stance on the Covid issues of masks and vaccinations. The only action I credit him with is his pushing back at Trump when Donald asked him to manufacture 11,000 votes. His sign is on my lawn simply because Trump doesn't like him...called him a "disaster", and endorsed David Purdue, who gushingly announced how proud he is to have received Trump's endorsement.

As to why Kelvin King has made the line-up, take a look at the list of candidates for the U.S. Senate. There are eight of them, six are Republican. No way am I voting for either of the Democrat's, and of the Republicans they all seemed to come out of the same mold, spouting the same right wing rhetoric. Of the six, Kelvin King seemed to be the least offensive and for that reason, in addition to Trump endorsing Hershel Walker, King's sign is on my lawn.

So I've got two signs on my lawn that are there essentially not to support the candidates, but to oppose Donald Trump. Sounds petty...right? Sounds like a petulant little kid, right? I see it much differently. I see it as taking a stand against a man who lost the House and Senate; who has divided Americans to an extant that I haven't seen since Vietnam, and so factionalized the Republican Party as to render it inert. Marjorie Green herself said that the Republican Party is in a civil war, the opposing sides being those who are for or against Trump. And he so botched the Covid pandemic that thousands of Americans needlessly died. Why have people ignored or forgotten that prior to November 2020 while campaigning Trump said, "Covid! Covid! Covid!...that's all they say! After November you'll never hear about it again!" He completely dismissed the danger of Covid and continued to do so for the remainder of his term. Why does he get a free pass on that? 

The third sign on my lawn reads - Dr. Charles Lutin...Congress. I first became aware of Charles when I was looking for a candidate that I could support who was running against Marjorie Taylor Green. There's no need for me to go into Marjorie's antics...everyone knows of her. 

I found good information about Charles on Ballotpidea and on his webpage, enough to make me think that this was the moderate conservative I'd been looking for. His was a yard sign that I really wanted so I phoned the number on his webpage and spoke with him for some time which led to an exchange of emails and ultimately lunch today.

During lunch I questioned Charles in depth over a wide range of subjects. Maribel and I were impressed with both his depth of knowledge and the opinions on various issues that he had gotten from speaking with everyone from city officials to citizens in restaurants and on the streets. His focus has been on the 14th Congressional District, and he was able to name town after town and the issues each faced, mostly dealing with infrastructure. My questions to him dealt generally with the more global issues; everything from immigration, critical race theory, gun ownership, abortion and a host of other issues. His every answer to my questions were laced with reason and common sense. None of his answers were extreme, which led me to ask what differentiated him from a moderate Democrat? His answer came quickly and forcibly..."fiscal policy". Like every conservative, he wants to limit spending to necessities rather than the Democrats 'give-away' programs.

Most experts are predicting that MTG will win on the 24th. She has the funding and the notoriety that the other candidates are lacking. Dr. Lutin is not so sure. Based on his discussions with people throughout the district he feels that she can be beaten. We hope that he's right, and that he will be the person to do it.