Mar
22
2012

It Is By Will Alone I Set My Mind In Motion

In accordance with the laws and customs of our people, the Democratic Pre-primary was held on March 10th unfortunately, much earlier than I had hoped for. The deadline for signature collection is 10 days after the Pre-primary, March 20th. I just didn’t have the money or resources to get the signature-gathering done in that time frame. If I had raised more money I could have had people work for me longer, or if I had gotten onto TV, local or national, I might have generated enough attention to get volunteers. I looked into TV ads, which are shockingly affordable for campaigns, but the political rates don’t start until April. Newspaper advertising was more expensive than I could afford, and neither of my appearances in the paper generated much of a response from the public.

I could try to blame all sorts of things for the campaign ending early, but I’m solely responsible. It was a long shot from the start and with a budget and network as small as I had, mistakes were costly. Despite whatever failures I’ve suffered, I’ve learned a lot. I have a much more nuanced understanding of the political process, engaging the public, and the issues than I did when I first started. The education I received has been invaluable.

However the problems that spurred me into running still remain. Wealth inequality is only getting worse,  and jobs are still largely stagnant. The ones that are coming back they aren’t of the same quality as those that were lost. SOPA is tabled, but there are a thousand other less well known efforts eroding the foundations of the Internet. Civil rights and liberties continue to erode through the militarization of police forces and the ever-expanding surveillance apparatus. These issues haven’t gone away, and aren’t going to go away, until Democrats get serious about what they’re supposed to stand for.

It’s great that we passed a healthcare bill, but we aren’t done there. It’s great that we passed a stimulus bill in 2009, but it didn’t go nearly far enough. The bottom line is we haven’t recovered and we won’t recover until we start addressing our problems like adults. Our priorities as a country are so far out of whack that we’re wasting time talking about contraception instead of how to help out the millions of people who lost their homes and jobs. We have to crush the virulent meme that people who need help are lazy, bad people, or don’t deserve it because they didn’t work hard enough.

We used to be the envy of the world because of our standard of living, upward mobility, and freedom. All of those things are being ground into dust by elitist authoritarian jackasses like Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. Staving off these lunatics isn’t enough. We have to push back harder than them to gain back the ground we’ve been losing for decades. Complacency isn’t going to change anything and neither is cynicism. We can do better and we have to. My campaign is over, but I’m not done. I’ll return in a few years more formidable and firey than ever.

The sleeper must awaken

Thanks to everyone who supported me and helped out with the effort. I couldn’t have come as far alone. Here’s hoping more regular people get involved in the political process. Democracy doesn’t work if we don’t participate.

Feb
21
2012

We’ve Got The Tools

Saturday was interesting. I bought a table at the Pre-primary delegate elections in the Democratic Party of Santa Fe’s headquarters and set up shop. I’m pretty sure I’m the only candidate that didn’t qualify for the convention that still showed up there. It wasn’t a great signature gathering spot as the whole thing is an exercise in organizational power and 99% of the people there had already signed another petition, but it was a good experience none the less as I got my name out to a lot of people that didn’t even know I was running. I did get the opportunity to meet both of my opponents and give an extremely drowsy off the cuff speech (probably should have let a representative speak for me as I had worked a full shift at the hotel the night before, and had been at the DPSF HQ for another 5 hours on top of that). All in all I think it went well and now I just need to confirm with the head of elections that my campaign is still kosher.

Feb
17
2012

You Talk Like You Haven’t Given Up Yet

The last few weeks have been pretty hectic and I’ve been focused on organizing the signature effort for the Pre-primary convention. We didn’t get enough, but I learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t. We now have until the end of March to get the final number (1,844) of valid signatures, minus however many we already got turned in (Secretary of State should be letting us know shortly).

This isn’t over.

Jan
30
2012

Got My Wallet Cheese And Lettuce

Starting today you can get a whole bunch of Closson for Congress stuff through the campaign Cafepress. There are prints of the poster, buttons, bumper stickers, yard signs, t-shirts, all sorts of stuff. The shop button in the navigation menu links to it now too.

Jan
29
2012

Automatons In Business Suits


I’m releasing my third ad in the series today, called SuperPACs United. It features several prominent SuperPACs in the form of giant robots coming to the defense of the shady CEOs from the last ad. From left to right in the group shot:

Americans For Prosperity: A SuperPAC founded by Charles and David Koch founded to support Tea Party candidates.

RWB Fund: Pro-Rick Santorum SuperPAC

The Definitely Not Coordinating with Stephen Colbert Super PAC Making A Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow: The very obviously coordinating with Stephen Colbert SuperPAC that is currently being held hostage by Jon Stewart, shown here through his presence in a little control room inside the PAC’s head.

Winning Our Future: The Gingrich SuperPAC

Restore Our Future: Romney SuperPAC that crushed Newt with negative ads in Iowa.

FreedomWorks: Super PAC started by Dick Armey, who is just terrible.

Jan
23
2012

Once Again Empty Words Are To Blame

“The steel mills were laying people off left and right. They finally went under. We gave the steel companies a break when they needed it. You know what they gave themselves? Raises.”

- Frank, from the 1988 John Carpenter film They Live

“Those That Flee From The Sun” is the English translation of Solifugae, which is an order of Arachnida better known as Camel Spiders. I feel this accurately describes the behavior of the people behind the rampant malfeasance in the financial sector. Everyone knows who Barack Obama and George Bush are. Comparatively few are aware of Cassano or Blankfein. Their relative anonymity, combined with their deep pockets and close friends in Washington D.C., ensure that they never have to be accountable for anything they do, no matter how many lives their actions affect. If the SEC won’t do anything about these guys, at least I can put their names out there and let people know exactly who is behind the recklessness that got us here.

I have more that I’m working on in this vein that will deal more specifically with how each of them actually contributed to imploding the global economy.

Jan
17
2012

Through The Tunnels of Brilliant Light

I was interviewed today by Kristine Kubat for Justice Party Radio check it out. I call in around the 2:30 mark.

Jan
09
2012

Storm Is Coming

I just received the illustrious endorsement of Fox News Intergalactic correspondent and lead singer of GWAR Oderus Urungus.

“He’s not bad, for a human…I think a GWAR fan in congress is only fair. I mean, most congressmen like ABBA or some shit…we need more metal in government and Sean Closson is just the guy for the job! Plus he paid me to say this.” –Oderus Urungus

Steve Terrell has written a brief article about the endorsement at his Roundhouse Roundup blog.

Jan
08
2012

Cash Rules Everything Around Me

I’m trying to raise money to hire a few people to help me gather signatures so I can get on the ballot. Even $5 helps keep the sweetness flowing. I’ve been doing almost everything on my own thus far but I’m starting to discover the limits of that approach. I really appreciate any and all support, financial, moral, or otherwise.

The Sean Closson Super Awesome Canvassing Extravaganza Temporary Job Creation Fest

Jan
05
2012

The Words You Hear, The Songs You Sing

There’s an article about the Stop Online Piracy Act in the new print edition of the Reporter. I got to make a few good points in it, check it out.

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