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Standing before a
large crowd of friends and supporters in the Logan County Courthouse
rotunda, Wright touched on some the issues that have brought him to
this decision. With his family by his side he delivered the
following speech detailing his intentions.
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Jonathan Wright
Looking at the state
of our country today, as it stands, I've come to a decision. I see
where we're at today in our society and our country and our
government. I supported President Bush when he ran for president.
I'm proud to have done that and I'll support him again and he's done
some good things, but without question we have a long way to go.
Life
When I look at the
state of our society today, what I hold near and dear to my heart is
the sanctity of life. We have a long way to go in that battle. And I
stand very clearly on the side of life. That begins at conception
without any exception.
I believe that if
we're going to carry on that task we need to have people in
Washington, D.C., who will not only say that on the courthouse steps
in Lincoln, but who will say that in the well of the Senate floor in
Washington, D.C.
I'm proud that, when
I was in the General Assembly, to have carried Senator O'Malley's
bill in the House -- that Born Alive Infant Protection Act. It
failed, but it was a privilege for me to carry that as best I could.
Economy
We also have a
country whose economy is still lingering in the shallows, when we
would all like to see it take off. As a Republican I know we stand
as a party for free trade. I support free trade, but we have to
understand that free trade has certain assumptions with it. Free
trade assumes that other countries allow for open, free labor to
negotiate their labor costs in an open and free environment to allow
them to be able to compete and allow us to be able to compete.
Unfortunately many of
the countries that we have that with do not have that working in
their country. And it operates against us. We now have a $40 billion
trade deficit in this country.
One of the leading
countries that we have a trade deficit with is China. They don't
have a free labor market that we can negotiate free labor and their
costs. We really need to revisit this issue because in this country
I think we're transitioning from cyclical changes in our economy to
structural changes in our economy.
Cyclical change
oftentimes encompasses a reduction in jobs that is reversible. You
see a downswing in economy, and then those jobs are picked back up
again.
We are now going
through structural changes, where we are losing jobs permanently to
other countries. Manufacturing jobs have reduced significantly. We
are losing manufacturing jobs on a permanent basis in this country.
We are now beginning
to lose professional jobs, white-collar jobs traditionally, to
countries such as India and other countries.
Trade policies
We need to take a
look at our trade policies to make sure that we are not only
protecting our economy, we're protecting our workers, and finally
we're protecting our security.
I grow concerned for
a country that cannot produce for itself and has to rely on other
countries for that production.
National deficit
I think we also need
to take a look at the deficit in this country. As of Sept 30, the
CBO is projecting that we will have a $401 billion deficit in this
country and by next year we'll have a $480 billion deficit.
Financial security
Of course it is not
only the economy of it but the security of it. Because you also have
to look at who is buying the notes and the bonds that this country
is putting out to support that debt. We are having countries that
are not very favorable to us in many respects buying up our treasury
notes and treasury bonds that we are floating to finance our debt.
My answer to the
deficit problem is not simply to repeal the tax code that President
Bush invoked. I supported them. We need to make spending cuts. We
need to get this country back in place where it is manageable.
I dare say most in
Washington, D.C., don't have any grasp of the budget, the size of it
and what money is being spent. That's a good sign that we have a
government that has grown far beyond its boundaries.
We need to do what
most people do when they run a deficit in their own home. Certainly
they can try to pick up an extra job, find extra income, but
primarily they have to cut expenses. And we should be no different.
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 Judges
I want to take that
message to Washington, D.C. I want to take a message of having
judicial appointments to the federal judiciary, quite frankly, of
judges who wish to be judges and not people who wish to be
legislators sitting behind the bench.
I believe it is an
open shame in this country for Mr. Estrada and others to have been
treated the way that they've been treated in the United States
Senate. Honorable people who are very well-qualified for those
positions who have frankly been attacked for their personal
religious beliefs. I think we need to make a change to that.
I do not support
judicial interpretation. I believe if someone wants to change the
constitution, there are methods, and you take it to the people and
you see if you have the votes. But we ought not let men run around
the constitution.
Education
I want to take a
message to Washington, D.C., as it relates to education. I do not
support standardized testing. The best anecdotal evidence that I
have for that is the current controversy over the ACT and SAT. Both
of them are well-known standardized testing boards. But according to
the SAT our high school graduates are graduating well-prepared and
are well-qualified in areas of math and science for college-level
courses. According to the ACT high school graduates are lagging
behind in the areas of math and science and are not prepared for
college entrance and college-level math and science courses.
I don't believe that
standardized testing is the model that we ought to follow. I don't
believe in the notion of mainstreaming every student. There is a
reality that some students have special needs. We are not helping
those students, nor the general population of the student body, nor
the teachers, to try to mainstream every student who may have
physical or learning disabilities that will preclude them from being
able from being able to do well in the mainstream classroom.
Local education control and
accountability
Frankly, I think we
need to begin a phaseout of the federal government's role in
education. Education is not a federal issue. Education is primarily
a local issue and to a lesser degree a state issue.
We have 20 years --
more than that, but certainly in the last 20-30 years -- the federal
government spending billions and billions of dollars, more and more
each year, and really seeing nothing in return for it from our
public schools. I don't suggest that we abandon the state and local
governments that that rely on federal funding, but we do need to
phase it out, and we need to get federal government out of
education.
We need to make
education more accountable at the local level. Because I would dare
say it is easier to run for the school board than it is for the U.S.
Senate. The more authority and control there is in Washington, D.C.,
the less accountability there is. Because fewer people are going to
maybe step out and make that run for U.S. Senate seat as I intend to
do.
Focused purpose
So there are a number
of messages that I hold dear to my heart and I want to take to
Washington, D.C.
I know this is easy
for me to say it. Every election cycle we hear candidates,
particularly in the Republican Party -- they run to the right, as
some people say. Yet when they get to Springfield or Washington,
D.C., nothing seems to happen.
I want to take a
message to the people that I'm willing to stand for that which I
believe in. Even if it costs me an election, even if it costs me
being politically correct, the only way things are accomplished is
for people to stand up for what they believe in, to fight that good
fight they believe in, and let the chips fall where they may.
With that in mind, I
am excited and pleased to announce my candidacy for the Republican
primary for the U.S. Senate for 2004. It is a candidacy built upon
the people standing here and all across this state.
Campaign
I'm not a millionaire
and I don't fault anyone who's running for being a millionaire.
That's the beauty of this country. But I'm not a millionaire. I
don't bring personal wealth. But I hope to bring a message that
people will respond to and that we can work an effective grass-roots
campaign and try to take back some of that which we have lost in
this country.
I will remain in my
employment as assistant state's attorney, and I remain committed to
following those duties and obligations to the best of my ability and
performing those functions.
My campaign will be
on evenings and weekends, and it will be unconventional. People
raise their eyebrows and say, "How you gonna do it?" I'm going to do
it as best I can. That's the best I can tell you, and that's the
best anybody can offer.
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Wright can be reached by e-mail at
jonathanwright2004@yahoo.com. He is currently putting
together a website at
www.wright2004.com
to outline his policy positions.
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