I have always thought the internet would transform our republic, and I wanted to be part of that transformation. As a student, I helped build the first websites at all levels of government. I have been a technology lead for campaigns from mayor to President; I helped revamp the technology for the Democratic National Committee; I was analytics lead for the Obama ’08 campaign; and I served as a political appointee in the Department of Defense for five years.
The transformation of our republic, which is now well underway, needs a clear vision and guiding principles. Such things should surface from our elections, but our elections are no longer the marketplace of ideas they were intended to be. I am running now for a nomination that almost certainly will not matter for the general election, as an expression of and personal commitment to the seriousness of the work we owe our country in the selection of our representatives.
Eric Loeb 
How is it your name appears on the Republican ticket?
LikeLike
It is not difficult to get on the ballot in Maryland.
LikeLike
Mr. Loeb, that is a pretty hollow response – why do you deserve anyone’s vote?
LikeLike
Thank you, DJ. You’re right, that was a hollow response
I deserve your vote if you want a different approach to our fight for the Congressional seat in November. I have registered as a Republican per Maryland election law, but I am not running as a Republican or as a Democrat. I’m running to point out that we’ve broken our capacity for self-governance, and we need to fix it ASAP. We live in one of the most politically sophisticated districts in the country, but our stance on the national stage is “whatever the Democrats want”. Republican voices need to be heard. I can carry that message to the general election better than most.
LikeLike
Interested why you are on the Republican ballot? I see your smart ass answer to this question from another citizen, and if that’s any indication of how you will behave on our behalf, then you should have run as a Democrat, seems your loyalty lies there anyway
LikeLike
Well said, Ms. Crandall. It’s like he wants to prove his hypothesis that people are just gullible.
LikeLike
This is utterly ridiculous. After seeing the lousy choices we have on the Republican primary, I think I need to run. I’m not voting for a democrat who wants to sneak into congress as a Republican. Your platform is not sincere.
LikeLike
My platform is sincere, and I’m not sneaking. I want our district to engage in fair and thoughtful discussion of issues. Because we are imbalanced 4:1 for the Democrats, “fair and thoughtful” means that we must give voice to Republican viewpoints. Any nominee with that platform will face suspicions from both sides. It thought the best path would be to bring this proposition to the Democrats as a reasonable request from the Republicans.
LikeLike
I think I should run as a Republican. At least I represent myself as a Republican. You, sir, should remove your name from the ballot as it is clear you are no Republican.
LikeLike
I hope you will run, and I look forward to working with you in the next election cycle to make Republican viewpoints heard and understood by more people in MD-04
LikeLike
Outside of GerryMandering, what else are you looking improve for our district?
LikeLike
Yes and no. My solution to GerryMandering is to separate the Congressional agenda-setting function from the office of our Congressional Representative. So, Yes in that I believe we will benefit in many ways if our district can develop a more sophisticated understanding of its political interests than “whatever the Democrats want”. But no: I am campaigning on nothing more than that structural change in our management of our Congressional affairs.
LikeLike
Eric, the last thing Maryland Republicans want to do is support a candidate who might prove to be a stronger adversary than the incumbent. Please reconsider your candidacy., and in light of recent events, with great unrest over the lockdown enforced by state and local officials over Covid-19, consider working with us to effect change locally.
LikeLike
Thank you, Steven, for that kind assessment of my formidability. I think it will be very important locally, in localities throughout the country, if we can change our approach to the out-party primary elections in gerrymandered districts.
LikeLike
Why do the republican candidate for the 4th Congressional District of MD have such weak and pathetic websites?
LikeLike
Thank you for your question, Mr. Doe
I expect the other candidates have similar experiences to my own: It is difficult to put time/energy/money into a website for an election like this one. Everybody knows that this district is gerrymandered for the democrats. Not only do the republican candidates have nearly zero change of winning the general, but the interest of our press outlets appears to be aligned to that pragmatic fact rather than the ideals of representative democracy. A primary election should be about a competition of ideas, but we don’t seem to have an arena for that. At the end of the day, nobody really wants to put a lot thought or energy into an election that doesn’t ultimately matter.
As many as 94% of US citizens live in “safe” districts like this one. I expect lame websites like this one for the vast majority of out-party primary campaigns. I appreciate the nudge, and I’ll try to do better, but I don’t think pathetic websites are the root of our problem.
Eric
LikeLike
https://forms.gle/R1jtNrKYv6vox7aHA thank you for participating with the Unified Platform for 22. The test document is available here. After approval by some of the heavier contributors this will go public
lemme know.
LikeLike