April 15 - One of the most disliked days in history. Yesterday was no different but for me it was a very productive day. I started the day at 6 am by answering my e mails and ending it 21 hours and 575 miles later crawling into bed.
I went over to Orlando to pick up Vicki (She is a good traveling companion and tireless worker). From Orlando we traveled back to SR 19 and to SR 40 and through the forest to Ocala. We got to the Ocala Square (Downtown site of the Original Marion County Courthouse) and was almost immediately joined by Billy Ackerman and Ken Donnlley to whom I delivered some operation politically homeless material. Vicki and I stayed there until about 2 PM. Ken stayed longer. We talked to about 30 or so people and I waved one of my signs on the corner of Magnolia and Silver Springs for about an hour. Ken was doing a good job of presenting the LP and why we should increase our numbers. We did turn at least one person from being hostile to us to being a supporter and met several registered Libertarians. Vicki and I left Ocala just shortly after 2 PM but Ken was going to hang around for a while longer. We got on I-75 and headed south to Punta Gorda. We arrived at Laishley Park on the Peace River at about 4:40 PM. Had a real hard time at finding a parking spot, but finally did. When we arrived, there were already over 300 people present and the crowd grew to about twice that or more by the 5 PM starting time and kept growing to between 750 and 1000 people. Grabbed some "stuff" and headed to the pavilion where the event leaders were. Meet with the organizer, learned at what time I would speak and went back to the car to get our table, chair and signs. Being on the Peace River it was very windy and some of my stuff kept blowing away while I was trying to set up. Many people kindly returned it to us. There were 5 gubernatorial candidates there, plus several other speakers. Two of the other speakers tried to impress the crowd that they must return the corrupt Republicans to office but that did not really set well with the crowd. One was Radio host "Captain America" who is on close to 100 radio stations at this time. The idea of having Gubernatorial Candidates sprang from a request by Paula Dockery to be able to speak to the Punta Gorda Tea Party on Tax Day. I guess she wanted to be the only speaker but the organizers did not think that was proper and decided to invite all 21 filed candidates. Only 5 replied and of course Ms. Dockery was a no show. The only others who were brave enough to show up were _Trujillo_ (http://election.dos.state.fl.us/candidate/CanDetail.asp?account=50796) _, _ (http://election.dos.state.fl.us/candidate/CanDetail.asp?account=50796) _Lesther_ (http://election.dos.state.fl.us/candidate/CanDetail.asp?account=50796) , (NPA), _Crawford_ (http://election.dos.state.fl.us/candidate/CanDetail.asp?account=51298) _, _ (http://election.dos.state.fl.us/candidate/CanDetail.asp?account=51298) _William_ (http://election.dos.state.fl.us/candidate/CanDetail.asp?account=51298) _ D._ (http://election.dos.state.fl.us/candidate/CanDetail.asp?account=51298) (REP), _Samuel_ (http://election.dos.state.fl.us/candidate/CanDetail.asp?account=51090) _, _ (http://election.dos.state.fl.us/candidate/CanDetail.asp?account=51090) _Berthram_ (http://election.dos.state.fl.us/candidate/CanDetail.asp?account=51090) _ B._ (http://election.dos.state.fl.us/candidate/CanDetail.asp?account=51090) (REP) and _Khavari_ (http://election.dos.state.fl.us/candidate/CanDetail.asp?account=50620) _, _ (http://election.dos.state.fl.us/candidate/CanDetail.asp?account=50620) _Farid_ (http://election.dos.state.fl.us/candidate/CanDetail.asp?account=50620) _ A._ (http://election.dos.state.fl.us/candidate/CanDetail.asp?account=50620) (DEM). The only one that impressed me was the Cuban immigrant Lesther Trujillo, he is a good addition to the US population. My Eight minutes went fast. After the required mention of the LP and my web site, the fact that our problems were the equally and joint responsibility of both the Republican and Democrat party's and such, I gave a shortened version of my "WHY TRY: THE CANDIDACY OF A FREE MAN" an article that appeared in the Ocala Star banner in 2006. (Added below) I did add in reference to my favorite Florida law about it being criminal to take a bath without cloths on but other wise I read it as written. I do have to work on my presentation style but I muddle through. The biggest applause line was the reference to the joint responsibility by the Republicans and the democrats. The only things that received more applause were 7 of the 10 items from the "Contract from America" which was read at the beginning of the event. The second biggest applause line was at the end of the speech when I said "I will not bow to anyone" Then I just reminded everyone who I was and that I was a Libertarian and to vote for me. Afterward, I was the only candidate to try to greet the attendees and to thank them as they were leaving. I shook hands and gave hugs for about 45 minutes. I gave out all of the business cards I had with me and about 50 bumper stickers. A week before the event I had sent out e mails to about 300 people in the area. I got responses from two people who said they were there only because of the e mail. Vicki got contact information. On the way home we stopped in Sarasota to eat and our waiter said he was a libertarian and we gave him some of our information and some to give to people he knew who were registered Libertarian. After we got on I-4 I had a 30 minute conversation with Alex. He reported that he had a good time at a Tampa Tea Party and of course Rubio failed to show. I dropped Vicki off at about 11:30 PM and headed home. In Apopka at almost midnight I was stopped by the police for changing lanes without using my turn signal and of course it took two officers to write me a warning ticket. After I had signed the warning one of the officers ask me if I was really running for Governor and how my day went. I told him that I had spent 3 hours in Ocala and Punta Gorda railing against bad laws and had a good time. He ask me what my definition of bad laws were and I said "The law you used to stop me is a bad law" I wished them a good and safe evening and went into the 7-11 to get a cup of coffee. I finally got home about 12:30 and got into bed about 1 PM with only a "traffic warning ticket" to prove the day existed. Unfortunately we were too busy in both Ocala and Punta Gorda to take Pictures but there was someone there filming the speeches and I will try to get a copy and use the excerpt of my speech. I really want to thank Billy and Ken as well as Dave Kesselring of the Punta Gorda Tea party. Life is good and fun. Have a good day. John Wayne WHY TRY: THE CANDIDACY OF A FREE MAN Freedom is the Goal - Responsibility is the Price - Tolerance is the Hallmark My name is John Wayne Smith. I was born in Leesburg, Florida. Some of my ancestors have been roaming Florida’s hills, woods and swamps for over 10,000 years. I hope that my descendants are able to do the same, and to be as free as were my ancestors. Writing about why I should be your Governor is no easy task, especially since I stand against current wisdom most of the time. I am the kind of man that the government fears the most. I am a free man. I am a competent man. I do not need or want someone to live my life for me. I am a peaceful man. I assist my neighbors when ask or I see that assistance will be beneficial. I accept assistance from my neighbors in like events. I do not initiate aggression against anyone, but I reserve the right to vigorously defend my self. Man is not an animal. Man is not born with all the knowledge that it takes to live in today’s world. Man must have guidance. There must be a code to live by. That code or philosophy must be rational. Yet it must allow each person to live as they see best (as long as they hurt no one else). So I believe in law and order. These laws must not try to make all people fit a given mold. Laws must not try to make every person alike. Laws should allow people to be individuals. Man, by his very nature, must be free to exercise his judgment in all matters as long as he respects the right of others to do the same, as long as they pose no immediate threat to another person. I do believe that there must be someone that will enforce reasonable laws on an evenhanded basis. There must be law enforcement. In today’s world, what should be a book only a few inches thick, are several yards thick. No person can go for one hour without breaking some law. Even if they think that they are correct, upstanding, law abiding citizens. Legislators meet with someone almost daily in order to devise more laws, and more powerful laws. Most of these laws have unintended effects, but all insure that you cannot pass through life with out being a habitual criminal. Bureaucrats, hired, not elected are busy turning out page after page of regulations that you must live by and page after page of how they will steal the money to force you to live by what they write. Am I a good guy, not necessarily? Am I a bad guy, I harm no one. I bow to no one. Will you be brave enough to elect me that remain to be seen? But if you believe that humans are and have the right to be responsible individuals, then you will. You will break the yoke of oppression, created by the current government system. You will help insure that Florida and America remain the land of the free, the home of the brave, as well as the responsible. You will make Florida a better place to live for everyone, not just for the government and its employees. Only if you are willing to break the yoke of government oppression will Florida have a bright future. Were you to elect me I would not go to Tallahassee with the promise that I would steal money from everyone that I could just so that the bureaucrats or you could spend it the way that the bureaucrats or you want to. I would not promise that I would force everyone to fit into a mold of bureaucratic choosing. I would not promise to be an all-knowing god. What I would promise would be to try to make all Florida a freer place to live. I would promise that there would be adequate law enforcement to enforce necessary laws. Laws that would allow you to be free, and to choose your own life path as long as you aggressed against no one. I would promise to try to reduce taxes to the point that all proper government functions are adequately funded and that all unnecessary and not proper functions are not funded.
