I was raised on politics. I read biographies of presidents in the second grade, tried to convince my fellow third-graders in my Catholic school mock presidential election to vote for my favorite national candidate, and even wrote letters to the editor when I was in the eighth grade. What excited me about politics and the law even was the dream that politics could revolutionize people's lives for the better.

From those grade school days I always knew that this nation, this world, was divided in two. What writers like John Steinbeck have so eloquently described in books like the Grapes of Wrath is that this is a world of haves and have nots. Although many would like to live in a fantasy and believe that the world of Horatio Algier exists and all we need to do is pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and we too can live the American dream, well, unfortunately many people have no bootstraps to pull up.

One presidential candidate understands this and he is John Edwards. Although I have always been invigorated by politics, John Edwards has given me a new hope as to what a presidential candidate, and essentially a human being, can strive to attain. John Edwards knows that there is poverty in America. He is the first candidate in decades to tackle it head on. He doesn't ignore it, offer false hope, or lay blame. He wants to open citizen's eyes to it. Millions of Americans suffer needlessly from hunger, disease, malnutrition, and homelessness in this nation. This has not been a campaign topic for any major presidential candidate arguably since the Great Depression. Yet, John Edwards has traveled through hurricane ravaged New Orleans and decades of poverty stricken Appalachia to open everyone's eyes to the needs of their fellow citizens.

John Edwards has also called for an end to the Iraq war by stating, "Support the Troops. End the War." He admitted he made a mistake by voting for the war when he was a Senator. Now he has seen the destruction of American and innocent civilian Iraqi lives. How many times have we seen a politician admit a mistake and call for a new course of action? What has this war accomplished?

Another issue John Edwards supports is universal health care. Much talk has been made of the 45 million Americans whom are uninsured. Yet, Edwards has a plan to provide them coverage. He admits it is costly. However, people are dying and something must be done. Citizens are working hard all of their lives for companies that don't provide insurance. They get sick, have to quit their jobs, rack up tens of thousands and possibly even hundreds of thousands of medical bills, and eventually file for bankruptcy. Is this any way hard working citizens should be treated when they are sick? Should they have to worry about bills, bankruptcy, or dying and leaving their families in financial ruin? We deserve better than we are getting now, and John Edwards agrees.

John Edwards built a life for himself and his family by fighting hard for families who had been damaged by the medical community and big business. The verdicts he won sent a message to those communities that they could not act in those harmful ways again or they would have to face the consequences. Because those actions ruined lives. I believe John Edwards would fight for each American just as hard. Lives are being ruined by poverty, the war, and the lack of health care and a multitude of other problems. He is the presidential candidate who can lead us and I believe revolutionize our lives for the better.

The 2008 presidential campaign seems to have gotten underway much earlier than I remember any campaign in the past. It is also apparent that the votes cast next November will possibly be as important as any other votes in our entire history. The state of our nation, culture, and security seems to be in serious jeopardy. We as an electorate have an opportunity to play a role in securing the future for our children and grandchildren. We can rise up and cast our votes for the right candidate, not necessarily the one that has the most money or the best name recognition. We can cast our votes for Congressman Duncan Hunter (R. CA.)

At a time when politicians seem more like slick salesmen and shameless panderers than noble leaders, Duncan Hunter is refreshingly different. Instead of testing the air with moistened finger to detect the wind of opinion in front of any given audience, Congressman Hunter has a solid record of championing the issues and values that are indeed vital to our society.

The issue of protecting innocent life is one that Duncan Hunter has always faithfully stood for. Congressman Hunter introduced the Right to Life Act, which would legally define “personhood” as the moment of conception and, therefore, guarantee all constitutional rights and protections, including life, to the unborn. He has also cosponsored the following:

• The Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act
• The Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2005
• The Parent's Right to Know Act of 2005
• The Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act of 2006

Illegal immigration is another issue on which Duncan Hunter has been consistently proactive. As a representative from San Diego he had a double fence built that drastically reduced the smuggling and crime in what had previously been a heavily utilized crossing point. He wrote the legislation to build an additional 800 plus miles of the same type of fence at the border. This legislation was signed into law last year, but Homeland Security is not executing the construction at a reasonable rate. President Hunter would ensure that his fence be built and in a timely manner.

Illegal immigration and our relatively open borders pose a great risk to our national security. Those issues are not separate from our national security as a whole. Our porous border must be inviting to our enemies abroad and those who sympathize with them. Fortunately, in addition to his strong position on border security, Congressman Hunter has the experience to help the nation achieve peace through strength. Duncan Hunter was an Army Ranger in the Vietnam War and is the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee. (His son, a Marine reserve officer, has served in Iraq and is currently deployed in Afghanistan.)

All Americans that have to earn a living should seriously consider where the candidates stand on the issues that affect American jobs. Congressman Hunter’s strong stance against illegal immigration should strike a chord with union members that traditionally support Democrats. These union members might notice that their traditional candidates tend to support open borders and therefore the transfer of jobs from Americans to illegal aliens. American workers would be wise to consider Duncan Hunter’s words regarding the unfair advantage China currently enjoys:

“…America’s one-way-street trade relationship with China and other nations has reduced manufacturing jobs severely in the U.S. I would change the one-way-street into a two-way-street by putting the same charges on foreign goods that they put on ours.”

On education, Congressman Hunter supports returning control of curricula to the states. He also supports school choice in the form of vouchers and tax credits. He is also a proponent of parents controlling the education of their own children via home-schooling.

Duncan Hunter firmly believes in the second amendment of The Constitution, but does not limit his support to hunting. He believes in the right of the citizen to be able to defend him or herself. He believes in protecting the rights of private property owners and in protecting parental rights. He supports a fair tax and a reduction in government spending.

It would be impossible to do justice to Duncan Hunter in the space here so I ask that anyone that would like to learn more please visit www.gohunter08.com and if anyone is inspired to join the grassroots effort to campaign for the Right Choice in 08 please visit www.conservativevaluesinillinois.org. At this critical point in our nation’s history it would be tragic to allow the media and the money to dictate who shall lead us.

Sam Pierce – Internet Blogger
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