Donald K. Allen for President

Top of the Week

May 5, 2008

I just returned from the “Independents’ Day II” meeting of independent candidates in Wilkes-Barre, PA. It began on Saturday and was hosted by Mario Fiorucci as part of his ninth annual “State of the World” free speech forum. In attendance were Joe Oliva, Daniel Kingery, Bill Ingram, Christopher Popham Smith, and myself.

Saturday consisted of an afternoon of the candidates fielding fifteen questions from Mario, with each of us having two minutes to answer each question. The session lasted from 3 in the afternoon until 7:30 that evening. Reporter Coulter Jones from the Wilkes-Barre paper, “The Citizens’ Voice,” listened in on our debate and will have a story in the next issue. She did a feature on Daniel Kingery in their April 28 issue.

Sunday we were blessed with perfect weather, since the rain came early on Saturday night. We gathered in the back yard of Mario’s Sugar Notch home. Although not comparable to the facilities we had at the University of Cincinnati last month, the turnout was better. A reporter from the “Times-Leader” and photographer were on hand to interview the candidates and photograph their presentations.

Several of the guests asked what they could do to help us get national attention, so that people throughout America would learn more about us and our campaign platforms. All the candidates have repeatedly e-mailed, called, and written to Fox, NBC, ABC, CBS, radio talk-show hosts, national and local newspapers. We all agreed that blowing our own horns is futile. You, the voters need to be contacting national media sources and start requesting that they give independents coverage. Letting us speak to the nation, however, is a serious threat to the two-party domination of our government. We might make too much sense and even talk about real issues of national importance, like NAFTA and the NAFTA superhighway, the unsustainable trade imbalance with China, and truly securing our borders. The three leading candidates might then have to take a stand.

You can help. Call, e-mail, or write to Lou Dobbs, Bill O’Reilly, Bill Bennett, Mike Church, Andrew Wilkow, Sean Hannity, Oprah, Larry King, Mark Levin, Michael Reagan, Alan Colmes, Tom Sullivan, and others. Tell them you want to hear what we have to say, and that the rest of America does, too. With the constant daily bombardment of the names Hillary, Obama, and McCain, even people with the least interest in politics will recognize one of those three names on election day, Nov. 4, and vote for them without a clue what they stand for. It’s simply media saturation and name recognition.

One guest today said that the five of us made more sense to him than all the debates, interviews, and advertising from any of the current party candidates. He was angry that none of us has a voice (yet) in this campaign. Our group of independent candidates has tacitly agreed that when one of us gets “traction,” i.e. national attention, that the others will band together behind that person and give him their full support.

My national support is growing, with three people soliciting petition signatures in Illinois, more here in Ohio, and petitions being signed at several veterinary clinics in South Carolina. Last week a vet from Connecticut called me to say he just received my letter and wants to support me as much as he can. He hadn’t even visited this website yet. He said just being a veterinarian put me way ahead of any politician, as can be seen on the page “Professional Attributes Survey” on this site.

We the people can make a difference and create “A New Beginning” with this election. I just takes a little effort from common people all over the country. Never think that your vote is “wasted” by voting for an independent. It may truly be wasted, however, by going along with party politics and putting another Democrat or Republican back in power. Think about it. What have they truly changed, and how likely is it that any of them will “change” anything?