If you're reading this blog post, first, I would like to say thank you and well done for diligently researching your candidates. Second, please allow me to explain who I am and why I'm running for office.
The two most common questions I'm asked when meeting folks in my town are a variant on "How old are you?" and "Are you a Democrat, Republican, or Independent?", and the answer to these two questions go hand in hand.
I'm twenty-four years old. I've been caring for children since the age of fifteen, and have always worked to instill in them the values of honesty, respect, responsibility, and caring (which used to be the YMCA's motto before it became The Y). My interest in politics emerged at about that time because I realized that "the government" wasn't a big, scary over seer, but a collection of people who were supposed to represent the general populace. They were all supposed to be leaders, forward thinkers, who could envision a better world for everyone and strive toward it. Politicians were to adults what I was to children, and I was perfectly content to watch their decisions in order to learn how I was expected to behave.
What I saw throughout most of high school made me afraid to grow up. Only recently have I seen role models in the political arena who live the type of lesson I would teach to my campers or students. Elizabeth Warren believes playing a game based on exclusion and imbalance is unfair. Wendy Davis stood up for those who were being bullied while looking out for themselves, their families, and their futures. Angus King regularly demonstrates that personal beliefs should come before partisan politics. And my father, David Van Wie, taught me that when society needs a shove in the right direction, bear the burden of the spotlight yourself rather than passing it off on others.
I want to represent my town by focusing on what our education system, our community, and our leadership could be. The residents of New Gloucester taught me from a very young age that human beings are kind-hearted, honest, and hard working. Whenever that was missing from the main stage of our government, my mind told me it was only a matter of time before there would be people who did public service the right way. Many of those people were Democrats, and I count myself among them. I've heard more times than I can count "Your generation might actually solve some of these problems". Well, I sure hope so. It's time for the building of bridges to begin, and time for the finger pointing, fear, and blame to end.
