Ben Swann gave me hope after watching this video this morning.  Ben always gives me hope. He’s young, good looking, honest and actually does investigative reporting.  He’s reachable –people can contact him with news or some injustice and he will look into it and make the calls and take the time in order to tell the world what is actually going on as opposed to what some corporate in-bed-with-our-government media entity wants us to think is going on.  And he’s not one of those opinion-pushers we see all over alternative media –he gives us actual truth and real news.  God Bless Ben Swann. He’s like the Ron Paul of the media.

So yes, he gives me hope and what he’s saying in this video reminds me of what just happened to me this past election cycle when I put myself out there and decided to Run for Office on a Liberty Platform –actually step up like the Liberty Candidates I’ve been shining a light on these past 5 years.   And as Ben says in this video I was “certainly in the fight”….I had to go out there and collect 3,000 signatures to get on the ballot.  My friends including my husband, Ken Bowman, my rock, were tenacious and we got 5,191 –enough to get on the ballot with a cushion…. yet we were sued by the GOP in my district who claimed that ALL of our signatures were fraudulently obtained and that we had 0 signatures.  We were on the ballot and off the ballot through frivolous lawsuits that took us all the way to the Fifth Level NY Supreme court –and we won just days before the election, but by that time, absentee ballots went out with and without my name.  News agencies ignored me believing I was no longer on the ballot.  My name was left off of sample ballots in both the one major newspaper on Long Island and in the actual polling places,  and in some instances (which I am still checking out),  people claimed they tried to find my name on the ballot to vote for me but I was not there.  They cost our campaign time and money.  They sucked the life out of us. They confused voters.  They won.  But NOT without a fight! And NOT without me getting the word out about issues that they just refuse to talk about like Big Pharma, Smart Meters and Industrial Hemp and GMO food –as well as the sucking-on-the-teat of the taxpayers with the high cost of legislation itself –the fact that we pay real good money in New York State to be enslaved by ridiculous, redundant laws.   The best part of this adventure was seeing how the local media, in conjunction with the political parties, does whatever it wants and gets away with it.  Local Fios1 puts out news on election night with 100% of the votes in saying I got 0 votes.  They know exactly what they’re doing.

I have to come clean and admit that this election broke me.  I hated every moment of it from collecting signatures to asking for money to the constant self-promotion to getting physically ill before the debates and candidate nights.  I never aspired to be one of them, I just didn’t feel comfortable in the job.  When the lawsuits came I went through a myriad of emotions from dejected to elated whenever we got a win then back down again. This went on until just days before the election. This really did suck the wind out of my sails,and they knew this too –it’s what they plan will happen.  These people are professional vampires sucking the life out of any third party candidate that tries to infringe on their territory of power, taxpayer funded salaries, benefits and pensions as well as appointed jobs for their friends and families.  They don’t want ANY new meat involved in their little operation.  It’s like trying to join the mafia with good intentions.  I was pretty naive to think that I had a chance in hell.  And that was proved with 724 votes they say I received.  That adds up to the number 13 lol.  I was sad but Ben Swann just gave me hope for the rest of you…..

I wasn’t the only one fighting out there to have my voice heard –I just might have been the only one fighting that didn’t actually want to be a politician –I wanted to be the anti-politician and get in and repeal laws and nullify the entire federal government from our state.  And that wasn’t going to happen with some middle aged, loud mouthed trouble maker from Long Island who called out their game in the middle of a candidate meet & greet, was it?  Was anyone listening? Did anyone actually care?  Well if life really reflected the amazing people who I have met on facebook then I would have to say that people cared –then life would be a freedom loving place with people working in conjunction to live happy and healthy lives in a voluntary manner with a very small government never aggressing against another and having the ammo and God given right to protect themselves in their homes.  But that’s not the way it works out there in the world where only 40% of the registered voters are the ones making the choices for everyone else –and where a lot of those people who spend their days complaining from their armchair through their finger tips never actually went outside to vote because many no longer believe in the system.  I can’t say I blame them but –now what?

 Droves of people are angry and want to leave NY State or at least cut the lower half off.  On my journey to collect signatures I learned a lot about people….most have no clue what is actually going on with legislation until it directly affects them and even most Republicans I spoke to had no idea what the Safe Act was.  Most people who shunned me were those who say “I don’t like guns” and though they may have agreed with me on all the other issues –their opinion on whether they liked guns or not was the reason they voted for the “Republican who voted for the NY Safe Act” or the Republican turned Democrat who stated that “People have a perverse fascination with guns”.  Yet on my journey out there talking to voters did I ever hear –“I don’t like guns but I love the Constitution so I’m ok with you standing up for it.”

Most of the laws in NY State are there so as not to offend someone.  We live in the “offend-sive” state.  Someone doesn’t like something –a law is born.  And the incumbent I ran against is great at what he does. He’s down with creating laws and voting against our liberties even though his own party platform is supposed to stand up for the Constitution and that includes ALL the amendments –you’re not supposed to pick and choose when you have principles.  Well, unless it offends someone. And I think we saw in the news yesterday that back-room deals are what really guide how the elections will turn out.  It’s all pre-planned. Once in awhile we may encounter someone who is a real freedom loving individual who will fight for justice,  but you have to wonder what part of their soul they might have to give up in order to get in.

So I learned my lessons hard. I learned that I am not cut out to be in politics.  I AM, however, cut out to watch these guys and call them out and hand them information when they’re not doing the right thing or stand in front of their offices with a large sign so that other people know they are not doing the right thing.  Hell, I even learned how to do this in front of a camera. Words sometimes just seemed to fly out of my mouth because they were coming from my heart —and that only happens when I find I’m not trying to be one of them.  I learned that I just have to be myself and stand up for what I believe in rather than try and act like one of them to play their game which they would never “let” me win.

At the end of this experience I gave up two things that were very important to me.  I said good-bye to LibertyCandiates which I started on November 10, 2009 and ended on November 10, 2014 (I was shocked when I saw that I had opened that account on the very same day I closed it!). Five good years.  Why did I close it?  People stopped caring. People stopped donating to the candidates. People stopped paying attention.  It all stopped making sense when my committee of over 125 dwindled down to 2 to 5 people voting at a time if I was lucky.  Apathy killed Liberty Candidates.

The same can be said of Save Long Island –another organization I closed down. I ran it with my friend Ed Weaver and tried to awaken souls on Long Island to the issues affecting us.  The last event we ran had 5 people show up.  I knew people just didn’t care after the Save Long Island forum we threw in January.  We promoted it for 6 months prior and the best we could do was 250 attendees. That’s not enough.  We had speakers from every spectrum of the liberty movement from all over the country come together to talk about issues like vaccine safety to the 1st amendment to smart meters, GMO food, economics, common core education, Big Pharma and the constitution.  Billy Joel comes to sing and people pay thousands of dollars to listen but we try and tell people about issues that are affecting their families and their homes their pocket-books and bodies….and most people couldn’t find the money or time to attend.  It destroyed Ed and I –but we kept trudging on.  Right after the forum I had to go full steam ahead with my campaign and Ed was helping with my campaign, the website, brochures, etc.  We put our all into the next thing to awaken people, my campaign, and again very few showed up.  Don’t get me wrong –I am forever grateful to those that did believe in me, donated to me, lent me their bodies and time –this was the REAL grassroots and I have so many amazing people in my life who care and have given their all in trying to help me…. but in the end, that was not enough and they are just as dejected as I am.

So I give up on these things…on trying to awaken people through organizations or elections where they might actually have to show up and partake or do something –and instead I begin again…..  doing things where only I have to show up.  Because I know that I can count on me.  In the end we have to take a look inside of ourselves and see what drives us. We all have to be leaders for ourselves if we want to get anything done.  I’m tired of trying to awaken so many people by pointing out what’s wrong and trying to gather the troops in order to make it right. I’m pretty sure the troops are tired too.  I have it right with myself and my family and my friends.  So that’s what I’m doing, beginning again…..  starting from scratch.  And I’m hoping that if nothing else –maybe I awakened enough people who will start their own “Save Long Islands” or “Liberty Candidates” and invite me to their liberty awakening events –I just won’t be running them.  I’ve given up the reigns and I’m going to take a back seat and watch.  I believe that many of you out there are ready to step up and do your thing. I see it happening already. Maybe I helped to pave the way but I’ve done my fighting –Ben Swann says it’s time for the “win”.  Go and win!  I’ll write about it in this blog.  Invite me to the after party 🙂