Who and What: A conversation between Wisconsin 8th Congressional District Libertarian Candidate Jacob VandenPlas and Democrat Write-In Candidate, Julie Hancock.
Why?
It is important to Democracy (and me) that the voting public has choices on the ballot. It is why I started this write-in campaign during the primary. It is why I remain a write-in candidate for the general election.
It is equally important, to bridge the grand canyon divide that continues to grow in our country, that we listen to people outside our bubbles — including other candidates for a given office — to understand where they are coming from and how they can represent us.
Every Democrat running will not be a saint or a “good” person to represent our interests just because they are a democrat, just like there are Republicans who actually do their job and do represent the interests of the people they serve. While each of these is not the norm, it is to our peril to disregard any candidate because of their party affiliation.
This includes third party candidates, like Jacob VandenPlas, who is on the ballot as a Libertarian party candidate.
If you’re like me, and every human alive, labels such as “libertarian” trigger certain assumptions. If you’re a republican, it tends to be the assumption that libertarians are “liberals” and if you’re a democrat, it tends to be the opposite. It might be a surprise to find libertarians tend to be both — small government/local government-oriented and socially liberal.
It’s dangerous to put labels on people, to generalize people, and to make assumptions. It’s one of a few reason we are where we are, whatever side of the grand canyon we currently stand — We stopped talking and hearing other perspectives, and instead let our assumptions and what we think we know guide us.
I sat down with Jacob VandenPlas to have a conversation about his values, who he is, and what he believes his job to be if elected as your congressman. I hope you will give it a listen.
The choice is yours, and I remain a registered write-in. However, a write-in poses deeper challenges than that of a third-party on the ballot. In this rare instance where there is no Democrat officially on the ballot, it is diligent of every voter to consider the options, and what is best to reach the goal: Replace Mike Gallagher with someone who actually works for the district, rather than self-interest.
I hope you take the time and listen, raise questions if you have them (he’s more than happy to answer them) and consider voting for him on November 8th, as the candidate officially ON THE BALLOT.
And if nothing more, hopefully you can see that we have a lot more in common than at first impression known.
*Video Content is paid for, authorized and approved by Julie Hancock for Congress and Jacob VandenPlas for Congress.