First: A personal statement of commitment:

MISSION, PASSION & PURPOSE

My goal in life has been to do whatever I can to help rebuild the American political community from the ground up. My purpose is to bring back the politics of both Abraham Lincoln and of the “Greatest Generation.” A people-based politics is my passion.

So, you may well ask: Why am I running for a seat in the national (U.S.) Congress? Why not run for state rep.? Because I am more qualified than the others who are running, and a citizen legislator is far more needed in Washington than in Concord. You have the opportunity to elect someone who is not just able to play the insider game that Congressional politics has become but who can also help political outsiders -- what the great American majority has become -- “make a difference,” politically, so that the “system” works for them, not for lobbyists, political careerists, those with big bucks and special interests.

Politics has become dominated by a small, so-called “political class” driven by big money and mainstream media. All politics is no longer “local.” The federal government has become too big, too centralized, too bureaucratic and too distant. The Congress which, as a “people’s House”, is supposed to be the primary branch of government, has become downgraded, depreciated and corrupted. It is becoming more and more a monied house like the Senate.

Members of Congress sometimes get elected on a platform of "reform" or "change" but they don’t know how to effect change. So, they end up being co-opted into the Congressional club. I’m not a joiner of clubs. I’m a fighter for people, an asker of hard questions, a teller of hard truths, a change-agent and a whistleblower. I would use the full resources of the Congressional office [resources that a state rep. completely lacks]  to empower the people of New Hampshire’s First District so that, together, we can fight for real changes in how Congress conducts (or fails to conduct) the public’s business.

Without this kind of energy and commitment in the next, 112^th Congress, nothing will change. We stand to lose the democratic Republic that Ben Franklin charged us to keep. For far too long, we have been living off the political and public capital handed to us by the Greatest Generation. The Congress doesn’t work, for us or for the future of America. It is time for us to get off the couch, turn off the TV, pinch ourselves, abandon apathy, deny cynicism, discharge our responsibilities as activist citizens of the oldest constitutional Republic in the world, and make the American Revolution young again.

                                                                                                                                                    Yours in truth, PETER

And so, I am running to:

@ Bring back a people-based politics – the politics of Abe Lincoln -- & reduce reliance upon a big-buck-based politics. Abe couldn’t be elected today. We have the best Congress money can buy, a Congress whose performance has earned the approval of only 11-22% of voters; the disapproval of over 70%.      

+  Change the way Congress conducts [actually, fails to conduct] the public’s business – For without leadership for a new and better Congress, our hopes for Congress as the one branch of government that is “the people’s house” will be dashed. The way the public’s business is now conducted in Washington is both backward and corrupt. It suffers from short-term-it is, ad-hocism, trading access to power for money, and over-reactions in response to problems that are long-term, systematic and in need of co-deliberation with the public rather than knee-jerk actions. The public interest and better futures both suffer. 

+   To help end the financial arms-race that Congressional races have become, so that “ordinary” Americans like Abe Lincoln can have a chance in national politics. 

+   Make NH Congressional District #1 a leader in the next Congress, showing the ways a Member and his constituents, together, can make a difference on the major issues facing us.

I'm also running to bring to the job an approach, attitude and talents that are needed in the Congress but that have been missing or in short supply for a long-time. These include:

• A new approach: To set up a Congressional Office that's devoted to empowering NH people rather than Washington lobbyists, bureaucrats, media pundits and career politicians.
• An outspoken, independent-minded Rep. who would vote the issues, not political party, who would break with partisanship for the sake of the country, especially as to what needs to be done to repair the damage of both Republican and Democratic Administrations.  
• Providing better information to voters, devoted to accountability
• A Congressman who is a watchdog & whistleblower.
• Experience & understanding of science, technology, entrepreneurship & innovation as the prime drivers of job creation.
• A farsighted focus on the major, long-term issues that will affect the well-being of your family for generations to come -- NOT on quickie reactions to generate media hype for re-election.
• Experience as an economist that I would use to help folks through the hard times, strengthen the middle class and improve jobs & incomes of/for the many rather than the few.
• International experience -- in Iraq, Pakistan & 14 other countries -- to help improve both our nation's security & competitiveness worldwide. 
• A Congressional reform agenda that puts people first -- to bring back a people-based politics that enables us to take back our government. As the great American poet, Carl Sandburg, wrote: THE PEOPLE, YES!

See my “Contract with Constituents” to find the specifics of what’s to be done – a feasible, doable, actionable strategy and workplan for a Congressman to work better with you and by you as well as for you in a new Congress.

WHY do we need a “new approach”? – Because three vicious cycles threaten the foundations of our democratic Republic:

1. Citizens’ apathy cycle: Apathy, cynicism and non-voting increase because people distrust politicians, have lost faith in government and see no hope for change in “the system.” People committed to real change will be less likely to run. The chances of change will diminish. Apathy, cynicism and non-voting will increase further, aggravating the negative cycle, on and on. Can the increased political participation seen during the 2008 presidential election year and now, with "tea parties" and "town halls" be sustained? If I'm elected, you'll have at your service a genuinely activist Rep. and so the answer is "Yes, starting in 2010 -- even more effectively than in 2009." 
2. A political money arms-race: The apathy cycle feeds another, as less and less people serve as volunteers in political campaigns and politics becomes increasingly dependent upon money and media. There are only two things that count in the business of politics: time and money. Without investments of people’s time, money necessarily dominates. These factors, plus the influx of corporate and other special interest money into campaigns, greatly inflate the cost of campaigning, year after year. The media rate candidates on the amount of money they can raise. Each candidate tries to outdo the other in fund-raising. The influence of big money increases and campaign costs go up again, and again.    
3. A “golden rule” cycle: “He who has the gold makes the rules” – There have been exceptions but, increasingly, only those who are rich and/or who can raise big money from special interests can run and win. Big money donors have easier access to lawmakers. So, increasingly, laws get passed that favor monied interests and elites. This cycle feeds the other two. So, is it any surprise that economic inequality has grown by leaps and bounds, the American middle class is being squeezed, and that the political equality promised by our Constitution and Declaration of Independence is proving to be an unfulfilled myth?

 Unless we can break these cycles, they will lead to a continued backlog of festering, unsolved problems, weak and divided governments, a struggling middle class, the rise of a politics of protest and the American system going down the toilet rather than serving as a model for the rest of the world. The fantastic turnouts and increases in people's participation in politics during 2008-9 give us hope that 2010 will be a historic political year. To the extent that we can make the "rules of the game" in Congress work for you, we begin to make Congress the peoples' House it's supposed to be. This would be real change, not the usual change in nameplates on congressional desks that we've so often seen result from congressional elections.