Something to build on

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To the Editor:

I congratulate Bill Keating on his win. This letter is not aimed at him, just the system in general in which we all live. I hope Mr. Keating has the ability to stand up to special interests and keep the people in mind when he is tempted with money and power. I would also like to encourage him to look outside the box in his search for solutions and not be restricted by the status quo. I’m sure I speak for the entire district when I wish him the best of luck.

Moving on, you know it’s election season when only “noncombat” troops remain in Iraq and “terrorists” start sending their last-minute bombs in the mail from Yemen. Just like they assured us before the primaries, our army was leaving Iraq, the media spent the last days of the election talking about explosives that did not explode. Keep the fear alive, but at controllable levels, and you can get the “sheeple” to vote for the “lesser of two evils” every time.

I wonder what’s going to almost happen right before the next election. Voting for the lesser of two evils is impossible when both parties take money from (and owe loyalty to) the same boss. Until we stand up for ourselves by voting with our hearts and minds, don’t expect our representatives to stand up for us. Garbage in, garbage out. Anyone who contributes a little piece of garbage to the pile has to take responsibility for the mess.

We have to spread the word to not blame the garbage on the garbage itself. It only takes one smart person to realize that voters will follow the polls (as opposed to the other way around) before the entire system becomes manipulated.

With that said, as the only candidate to receive more votes than money, I’m happy with the way things turned out. Over 3,000 votes is huge when you consider the following: I have never done this before. I ran the entire campaign myself. I didn’t have any money to spend on advertising. The independent vote was split three ways.

While I am happy with the results, I can’t help but imagine what we could do with more help, money, and experience. This campaign goes to show that we can replace our government of corporate employees with people who care about common interest more than special interest. We just have to take it up a couple of notches.

I’d like to thank my campaign contributors. Without their help I would not have been able to cover the travel expenses and other necessities of the campaign trail. I am also grateful to the people who donated their time. Don’t get discouraged, we have just taken a big step in the right direction. I want to encourage everyone to build on what we have accomplished.

Joe Van Nes

West Tisbury