Hi, my name is Jaynee Germond and I am running for US Congress, OR District 4 because I cannot continue to sit by idly, watching our economy and our rights spiraling downward. Our representatives in Congress are not helping; rather they are the ones causing the deterioration of the economy and the destruction of our constitutionally protected rights.
We the People, are struggling to make ends meet with the money that our government allows us to keep, while our paid officials- our hired employees- are squandering our hard-earned money.
Our country has been consumed by party politics, and we need to get beyond the 2-party system, which has blurred so much that it is now unrecognizable, and look at being Americans. The 2-party system has gotten us where we are today, with the ‘good of the party’ taking a back seat only to “what will get me elected next time”.
I want to bring back a Congress that wants what is best for America first and foremost. Term limits would help that to become a reality, but term limits would require a Constitutional Convention. If a Constitutional convention is called, Congress is not limited in what they could change in our Constitution and the results could be devastating. "We the People" need to understand that we already have term limits and they are called elections. When our officials come up for re-election and they are long-term, career politicians we need to vote them out. If we limit our reps to 6-10 years maximum we would be much more productive in DC. There wouldn’t be the impetus to worry about your own election as much.
I belong to the Republican Party. Although, some may consider me Conservative, I am actually a Constitutionalist. This means that even though I have personal beliefs about some issues, the Constitution is specific about how and by whom those issues should be handled. One of those issues is abortion. I am personally pro-life and would love to see it all banned. However, it and all healthcare, is not an issue with which the Constitution empowers Congress. These are powers that are remanded to the states
When I take the oath of office , I will swear “that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”
An oath is not to be taken lightly and I stand by that. Though a Christian, I am not running as a Christian, but as an American. A Christian’s guidebook is the Bible; an American’s guidebook is the Constitution.
I think this is going to be an exciting year, because change is in the air. People are tired of “business as usual”. People realize that all of our so-called representatives in DC are failing us. People of all socio-economic and political backgrounds want our liberties not only upheld, but regained!
If we simply kept our money to take care of our citizens and did not support the citizens of other countries (i.e. Illegal Immigrants and aid to foreign countries), our economy would improve tremendously. We do not ‘owe’ food, housing and healthcare to noncitizens. We cannot continue Robin Hood taxation to take care of the world. Charity belongs in the private sector. By definition, you cannot be charitable with someone else’s money, but that is exactly what our current government is doing.
As a ‘common citizen’ who has lived in the real world all of my life rather than in politics, I have had to budget. I had to determine what our wants and our needs were. Sometimes, I had to prioritize our needs because I couldn’t afford them all. This is what we need in DC now; some common sense application of monetary responsibility. We the people can’t live forever on debt; neither can the government.
Furthermore, all of us, elected officials and citizens alike, need to understand that the government has no money. The money belongs to the people. The government simply takes it from us in the form of taxes (visible and hidden) to pay for services and social programs.
Second, we need to re-evaluate legislation already in place and start repealing that which is unconstitutional. If we returned to the Constitutional foundations on which this great country was founded, we would have none of the problems we have today. An example of this is our economy. Article 4, section 8 of the Constitution puts the responsibility for money squarely in the lap of Congress, yet in 1913 they delegated it to a private company, the Federal Reserve. “Federal” Reserve is no more accurate of a name than “Federal” Express is.
In fact, Article 4, Section 8 of the Constitution lists the powers of Congress. Article 9, paraphrased, says, “Just because we may have forgotten to mention something, doesn’t mean we don’t have that right.” The Constitution goes on to say in the 10th Amendment (the last part of the Bill of Rights) that any powers not delegated to the United States, are reserved to the states or to the people.
The rights of the people need to be restored. In recent years, our rights have been systematically destroyed with acceleration of that since September 11th. Benjamin Franklin said, “Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.” By passing the FISA Amendment Act of 2008 on June 19th, Congress effectively removed our rights of Habeas Corpus. The ACLU defines it as this: Habeas Corpus is not a fancy legal term; it’s the freedom from being thrown in prison illegally with no help and no end in sight. With the passing of the Homegrown Violent Radicalization Act, we all become subject to the label of potential terrorist based on our psychological makeup. In fact, by voicing discontent with the current administration, we can be targeted for ‘surveillance’ by our government.
Now, the bill does say that these certain ‘risk factors’ when coupled with violence indicate terrorist tendencies, but what is violence? When I was a child, calling names was no big deal. You know, “sticks and stones…” Now, though, if I call someone is called a ‘mean’ name, I can be brought up on hate crime charges. We have really gone overboard.
The healthcare system is broken. We do not have a ‘right’ to healthcare, but the federal government can make healthcare available for all Citizens by giving a tax credit for individuals and families so that they have a direct write-off of all insurance costs. At this time, we cannot buy insurance across state lines. Health insurance costs vary widely from one state to the next for exact same coverage. With a free market for health insurance, prices would drop and services would improve. That is what happens with competition.
Likewise, patients and only patients should decide what provider to use. We should be able to choose between a medical doctor, an osteopath, an herbalist, an acupuncturist or chiropractor or any other healthcare practitioner. It should be the patient’s decision only.
Insurance companies have no business rationing our healthcare. People with cancer on Oregon Healthplan are denied coverage for chemotherapy, but are allowed palliative care including euthanasia (euphemistically referred to as ‘assisted suicide’). Is this what we want? In Germany, the ‘elderly’ are given a little pill to take so they ‘go to sleep’ and never wake up. Is this what we want? It is cheaper to let people die (or help them to die) than it is to treat them. This is what Socialized Medicine (a.k.a. Universal Healthcare) is. I grew up in a border city with Canada, which has socialized medicine. Canadians cross the border in droves to pay cash for medical care for life-threatening health issues. Even for elective surgeries, they come to America. Why? Because the waiting list is several years long. They are hoping you die first! It’s cheaper that way. Is this what we want? When Ted Kennedy was diagnosed with a brain tumor, one of the doctors was on FOX who agreed that if we had the healthcare program that Ted Kennedy is promoting, he would have died. He would not have had a choice in hospitals, doctors or in treatments. Socialized medicine does not allow cash deals. This is essentially where we are with HMOs now.
I cannot talk about healthcare, however, without talking about our vets. This is the one and only place where I believe healthcare should be provided by our taxpayers. All Americans owe our vets for the sacrifices they made for our freedoms (which Congress is systematically taking away). These men and women have put their lives on hold; they risked their lives for our country. We owe it to them to make sure that their needs, healthcare and otherwise, are met.
I also think that they should be able to use the health care providers and facilities of their choice at taxpayer expense. Often, vets need to travel many, many miles to see VA doctors and go to VA hospitals which is inconvenient for them and is a costly waste of fuel. These proposed veteran Government paid healthcare benefits do not extend to government employees unless, of course, they are also veterans.
Besides these things, our founding fathers did not intend this position being a full time, career. The idea was to go to congress for a session, deal with the issues that the enumerated powers gave you to deal with (again, Article 4, section 8) and go home to your ‘real’ job. I support term limits, but they must be enforced by “We the People”. Every 2 years is a chance to get another true representative in the House and every 6 years in the Senate. They don’t need several terms to learn the job. It is outlined in the Constitution!
I was in healthcare for 25 years in various capacities, was a teacher for 3 years (1 in a private school and 2 in government schools), homeschooled for 11 years. In addition, I was a single parent for 10 years. I am married to a Vietnam veteran. I have had and do have a ‘real life’ allowing me to be a true representative of the people.
There are too many issues to cover here, but I welcome the chance to speak, in person, to groups small and large, organized or not. Personal contact with people is the best way to have effective communication, as questions can be asked and answered.
If you would like to support my campaign financially, donations can be given through the ChipIn on this page or you can send a check to:
Germond for Congress
7298 Lookingglass Rd
Roseburg, OR 97470
FEC regulations require that we ask for occupation and employer in addition to Name, address, and phone number.
This is the sort of representation people have talked about for years. I remember even when I was young and working in the mills the common thread in our discussion was we do not get representation from the rich people they do not know how it is in our world.
ReplyDeleteNow we finally have someone that is willing to stick their neck in the noose and represent the working people, so maybe people need to step up and pull out their wallets and pitch in.
Jaynee had 43,000 people vote for her in 2008 running as a third party candidate and less than 4600 dollars of our own money. If 1000 people put up 100 dollars she would be able to mount a fantastic campaign against DeFazio in 2010 and folks she will be running as a Republican.
People you have a chance to put a true Constitution minded working class woman in the house of representatives in 2010, so what are you waiting for let's send Jaynee to the house and let her make life miserable for Pelosi.