Dave Jarvis for Senate

Tag: #Chris Pappas

  • Chris Pappas and Gaza:When Being Nice isn’t Enough

    I don’t know Chris Pappas. I have no insight into his personality. But the word on the street is that he is a nice guy.

    The truth is, the world is filled with nice people.

    Many nice people are currently on the streets of New Hampshire’s cities, holding signs, asking for money and, in many cases, appearing powerless to their own circumstances.

    Chris Pappas’s signs are huge.

    Over the past few months, we have seen his campaign produce content, advertisements, statements about his Senate campaign, fundraising appeals, and warnings about Washington corruption. We have seen the polished machinery of a well-funded modern political campaign operating at full speed. And his message consistently implies moral urgency.

    But what about genocide in Gaza?

    I am neither a political supporter of the Palestinians nor the Israelis. I’m an American. And having lived and worked in the Middle East and having listened to many opinions on Israel and Palestine, I feel even more grateful to call myself an American. As an American, taking sides on this issue means allowing hell to grab you. The violence and hatred on both sides are unthinkable.

    I would be more supportive of both peoples if their leadership were to change. I am sure they could say the same about our country. But history has proven that blind support can make bad situations worse. And these days, when it comes to the politics of the Middle East, we are blind enough to know that the only thing we can confidently support is diplomacy.

    It seems simple.

    We need to stop the killing. We especially need to stop the killing of civilians. We should be extraordinarily protective of the lives of children. And we can’t let genocide happen in foreign countries with weapons we produce. If any of this were to happen, our elected leaders should be screaming from the watchtower to make it stop.

    Twenty thousand children killed in Gaza. Thirty thousand wounded. Fifty thousand overall.

    Kids.

    Whatever concern our Congressman Pappas has demonstrated about Gaza has been repeatedly outdone by the likes of Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, Piers Morgan, and others in the right-wing media.

    It’s just foul.

    Buried beneath the rest of his political messaging, he has written statements echoing the interest his society around him feels. But he follows behind and drags his feet. I don’t hear moral clarity. I don’t hear leadership.

    And then there is the money.

    The fact that he received around $820,000 from Netanyahu supporters turns whatever concerns I have into full-blown nausea.

    $820,000.

    What do they want?

    What do they expect in return for $820,000?

    Those are the questions I would have.

    It would seem that a hundred thousand dead Gazans, the utter destruction of Gaza itself, silence from the United States Congress, and continued military support and funding for the Netanyahu regime would seem to be the appropriate cost in services for that kind of money.

    Furthermore, keeping foreign thugs and lack of judgment in mind, there are the nine million dollars already raised for his Senate campaign. What do those donors expect from a United States senator from New Hampshire? How much more can nine million dollars buy?

    Diving through all those receipts and checking the motivations of donors and promises given is an impossible task.

    It would seem much easier to just stop feeding the beast.

    People are complex. Power corrupts. Chicken tenders are very tasty, and Chris Pappas may indeed be a nice guy. But being nice is not the same thing as having clear judgment.

    To this day, I haven’t heard anything resembling real concern, regret, or alarm indicating that he is aware he may have been receiving hush money from a genocidal regime. I just hear him asking for more money. So, I suggest the people of New Hampshire take a look around their cities at the people at stoplights holding signs asking for money and ponder the level of desperation behind those signs.

    Around the time the bombing of Iran started and our country blew up a school with children in it, the most prominent response I saw from my congressman at that moment was concern about the price of gas.

    It seems obvious that he needs a little time in detox. That’s what would be said in the general election, with more force than I have said here. He would make John Sununu look compassionate just as he currently makes Tucker Carlson look today.

    As I said, I don’t know him. But he seems like a nice person.

    We all get lost sometimes.

  • We Can’t Have Campaign Finance Reform Without a Little Magic

    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.

  • Reestablishing Trust

    Trust in government seems to be at a dangerously low level. That’s important since the thing that separates democracy from civil war is trust. At some point, we need to return toward balance on the topics that are the most important and which give our people concern for the future. And we must turn away from extreme political and financial ambition.

    The only ambition that truly makes sense is ambition for a better society. I have met billionaires in mansions surrounded by slums. I have seen princes rule over societies built on exploitation while living in constant fear of revolt. I have met the children of the global wealthy who wanted nothing more than to live the ordinary middle-class life I grew up with here in New Hampshire. Personal wealth without social unity is just another form of slavery. Trust and unity in society are the least expensive ways of generating real societal wealth.

    Our politicians destroy our trust constantly.

    Chris Pappas, technically, may not have accepted hush money to lubricate the destruction of the people of Gaza. However, he did receive approximately $820,000 in pro-Israel funds. Then, when we cancel out Netanyahu’s talking points from Pappas’s public statements about Gaza, what remains sounds a lot like silence.

    It doesn’t build much trust.

    Being an “alpha male” is not leadership. Those who aspire to dominate through intimidation, including the man currently occupying the highest office in the country, seem better suited to the social hierarchy of lower primates than to a modern democracy. Our president’s daily behavior and tone force the people who elected him to decide, over and over again, whether they trust him. He seems unconcerned with the fact that 65% don’t.

    Meanwhile, John Sununu has deemed that the people of New Hampshire don’t deserve to know whether he accepts or rejects the president’s endorsement. Perhaps being a Sununu means that transparency doesn’t apply to him. But, considering the mood in the country, it should.

    Here are some ways I will work to rebuild trust in our political system.

    Abortion

    I do not support restrictions during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy. But I believe the current liberal de facto position supporting legal abortion through the third trimester is politically damaging, morally troubling, and ultimately unsustainable.

    Some restrictions and compassion across the board will help rebuild some trust across our society. It may not feel good for those on the extremes, but that’s how compromise feels.

    Food and Farming

    As artificial intelligence continues to reduce the amount of work available, we need a stronger agricultural system and reliable access to healthy food for those who need it. SNAP should be reformed so that it covers staple foods and fresh produce instead of unhealthy products. We should not make people sick with taxpayer dollars, especially if they are on Medicaid.

    Farm subsidies should be integrated more directly into a healthy food system, encouraging regenerative farming practices that improve both the quality of our food and the health of our environment.

    Health Care

    One of the greatest strengths of a free-market economy is that consumers influence both price and quality at the point of purchase. Unfortunately, the high cost of medical care has largely eliminated that influence. Most Americans cannot shop for major medical procedures. Instead, we gamble through an insurance system that inflates prices.

    We need to restore consumer purchasing power in health care while preparing for the economic disruption AI is likely to bring.

    The Environment

    We have to turn back to a concern for our environment. In the heat of the political contention of the last few years we have dropped the ball. We don’t need fear, panic, obsession, or denial. We just need to think clearly, find low cost solutions, and at least have concern for the environment as a national initiative again.

    God

    We need a higher power even if our level of belief is at empty. We need to try to believe in meaning to our lives and to our mission as a country. It doesn’t have to be a Project 2025 kind of God. We don’t need to return to some puritanical ideal. But forgiveness matters, and so does hope. God helps with both.

    Leadership

    We depend on open communication, trust, humility, compassion, and maybe even some friendliness. Once we rebuild those foundations, everything else becomes possible.