Tag: #Campaign Finance Reform

You can’t have campaign finance reform without actually believing in democracy.

Democracy and love have something in common. You either believe in magic or you don’t. You either trust that voice when it arrives and allow it to pull you forward, or you overanalyze it and capitulate to the cynicism you’ve accumulated along the way.

I trust that voice, all day.

The summer I was born, 1969, the Summer of Love, half a million young people gathered at Woodstock. They passionately believed in the power of music. They believed music could change the world.

And in many ways, it did.

That era produced some of the greatest sounds ever created, filled with themes of love, peace, and freedom. I can’t explain the metaphysical mechanism, but I believe the spirit of Woodstock was part of it. That music, born from passion, hope, and a desire for peace, still saves me every day. It probably saves many of you as well.

When I declared my candidacy, I paid one hundred dollars to place my name on the ballot for the U.S. Senate primary. In the wealthiest and most technologically advanced country on Earth, it took only one hundred dollars to earn the opportunity to compete for one of the nation’s highest elected offices.

That is our inheritance.

Our ancestors believed in self-government so deeply that they left the door open for the unexpected, for the underdog, the outsider, and the spark of something different.

Soon after filing, however, the mail began arriving from every direction, offering campaign support. Everywhere I turned, people talked about fundraising, consultants, advertising, signs, and money, as though those things were the purpose of an election.

I didn’t feel comfortable asking for or accepting money from anyone. And when something doesn’t feel right to me, I don’t do it. But I haven’t lost an iota of faith in myself or in my ability to win both the primary and the general election.

All of this made me realize that campaign finance reform isn’t ultimately about laws. It’s about how we view elections.

When we vote for candidates simply because they’ve raised the most money, even though social media is free and publishing ideas has never been cheaper, we’re telling ourselves that campaign finance doesn’t really matter.

The first thing many people do during an election is check the polls, read what the media says, and look at FEC fundraising totals to see who supposedly has a chance of winning.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is a poor substitute for belief.

I have spent a great deal of time thinking about our AI-enabled future, and I believe it will become much less tolerant of excuses. Information will become cheaper and cheaper. Work, and lives centered primarily on careers, will slowly lose their luster. Love, gratitude, and passion will become the new gold standard.

And sellouts will become society’s dropouts.

In that future, the reasons we give ourselves for abandoning our dreams, our morality, our faith, our talents, and our passions will stare back at us like the Ghost of Christmas Past. Like a personal Judgment Day, we’ll be forced to confront the gap between what we claim to value and how we actually choose to live.

So, when that little voice tells you to learn the saxophone, listen.

Finding meaning in the little things will become essential, not just for happiness, but for sanity. It will return us to a simpler way of life, one filled with gratitude, creativity, joy, and, dare I say, peace.

Following our passions contributes to something larger than ourselves. There is a deeper meaning behind that quiet voice inside us, a kind of Woodstock effect. If we never learn to trust it, we lose something essential about being human.

I was nervous about running for the U.S. Senate, but that voice kept saying, “Go for it.”

So here I am.

I trust that instinct because I believe I must. Win or lose, I know that impulse is there for a reason. When this election is over, regardless of the outcome, I’ll be able to say I believed as deeply as I could, worked as hard as I could, and remained true to who I am.

I couldn’t wish for anything more, for myself or for the people of New Hampshire and the United States.

The field has its millionaires. If you’ve done your research and genuinely believe one of them is the right person, then vote for them. Get involved.

But there are also people without famous names who run not because they’re wealthy, hope to become powerful, or want to massage their own egos. They run because they sincerely believe they can make things better.

And when voters elect that kind of candidate, the world notices. The next election becomes richer with new voices, new ideas, and new possibilities.

Successful politicians sow the seeds of future elections.

Whatever you choose, allow yourself to feel it. If you truly believe in democracy, then trust your own judgment instead of outsourcing it to polls, pundits, consultants, and political professionals.

Believing in political change comes with a price. It requires faith, in yourself, in your fellow citizens, and in the possibility that ordinary people can still create extraordinary change.

So start a love train.

Let it be.

Because we are stardust.

We are golden.

And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.