The Audacity of Yost

     I met a man named Mike Yost.  He’s a mechanic by trade and until recently he owned an auto repair shop.
     Yost is running for Congress.  
     A mechanic running for Congress?  Most people would call that a longshot.  It’s a longer shot than you think.  
     Yost isn’t running for just any seat.  He’s running as a Republican in the Third Congressional District.  That’s Corrine Brown territory.   
      Congresswoman Brown has already raised about $450,000 for 2010.  Yost will be having a fundraiser at 1:00 on Saturday at the Orange Park Town Hall, serving barbecue chicken and pork for $25 a head.  He’ll have to sell 18,000 plates to catch up with Brown’s contributions.  Hopefully everyone RSVP’s before showing up.
     Yost also has to win the Republican primary before he gets a chance to square of with Brown.  That’s a tall order in itself because the  mechanic/small businessman isn’t exactly the favorite of the GOP leaders in Tallahassee.  
     Most would look at these odds and say that Mike Yost doesn’t stand a chance.  They think a regular working person doesn’t belong in pubic office.  That is the wrong way of thinking, and in my opinion is a servile point of view.  Politicians are not an elite class, they are people just like the rest of us.  Many of them do have money and powerful connections, most are well educated, but look what they have done to our nation.  I would rather elect someone with common sense than re-elect someone with Washington sense.
     What’s the difference between common sense and Washington sense?  It’s easy to see, just watch what they do.  When a working person runs for public office, their common sense tells them that they are not going to get the big money contributions.  What they are going to get are $10 and $20 donations because that is all that most of us can afford.  The idea is that if a candidate works hard and talks to enough people those small donations will add up and they will have the funds to carry out their campaign.  
     At least this Saturday if you give Yost a donation he’ll give you some barbeque.  That’s not too bad a deal.  
     Let me tell you how someone with Washington sense raises money.  They go for the big money, to people with deep pockets who make the maximum legal contributions.  The person with Washington sense wants still more money so they find themselves a loophole in the campaign laws.  They decide they might want to run for Senate.  This allows them to set up an entirely separate campaign fund and legally allows them to make a second round of the same big contributors.  Over half of Corrine Brown’s contributions were originally from her Senate campaign; a quarter of a million dollars for a race she’s not even running. She went after the big money twice, and I bet she didn’t even give them any barbeque.          
     Mike Yost supports a balanced federal budget.  People with common sense believe in balanced budgets because that’s the way they have live their own lives.  I know if I spend all my money I’m be broke until payday, and that if I keep spending more than I earn I’ll eventually lose all I have.
     That’s not the way they think in Washington.  They spend like there is no tomorrow and are never held accountable.  The difference between us and them is that politicians don’t have to worry about their lights being turned off or someone coming for their car because the money they squander isn’t theirs.  When Washington runs out of money they just borrow some more.  It happens year after year, and we keep sending the same people back to Washington to do more borrow and spend.                 
     I would like to see more people like Yost running for office.  If you want Washington to represent regular Americans, get some regular Americans in Washington. If you want to learn more about Yost, check out yostforcongress.com