Congress According to Bob

Reflections of a conservative's crusade

One of my favorite professors offered to let me write about running for Congress, and how could any reasonable egomaniac pass that up? So here's my story about running for the U. S. House of Representatives, twice.

I was born and reared in Oregon in a broken home that became dysfunctional, and extremely liberal. At 12, I started an underground newspaper, which did so well I was voted by my fellow classmates as most likely to fail -- along with a partner who has since been paralyzed from the neck down. I grew my hair long, learned how to play the guitar, and became a rebel to just about everyone.

This all changed one night when doing what I did best: partying. I had a premonition of my death and made a decision to change the direction I was going in my life. I went from being an extreme liberal to becoming an extreme conservative.

When I ran for Congress in '96, I had never voted before. I thought it was a waste of time to vote because there never seemed to be any real choice of candidates or any sensible laws proposed.

To run for Congress you need to get 40 nomination signatures from others in your political party. It's a partisan office, which means you must belong to a political party to run for that office -- unlike some city or other state positions. The term "Congress" usually refers to both houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. But you will find in many cases, the term is often used to refer only to the House of Representatives.

You must pay one percent of a congressperson's wage, which now is $136,700. That's a $1,367 filing fee, which goes to the government. I could afford 1 percent of my wage, but not a congressperson's wage.

But that money gets your name printed on the election ballots. And for about a $100 more, you can even get a short statement in the voter's pamphlet telling voters who you are and what you stand for. Since I could not afford the money to get on the ballot, I ran as a write-in candidate the first time. I received just 10 votes.

This did not deter me however, because I was running for Congress as a matter of principle. I had caught a federal agency breaking the law and had the proof through documents they had written themselves. Yet, my congressman refused to get that federal agency to do their job.

After several phone conversations, I said to my congressman's spokesperson, "Are you willing to go on the record that you will not help me because you say it is a state and local issue, not a federal issue?" When the spokesperson said "yes," I said, "I'll remember that when I run for his office." The spokesperson later lied to a newspaper, the Paradise Post, saying they didn't help me because I didn't live in my congressman's district.

Student and Republican congressional hopeful Bob Todd poses proudly with his trusty old burned-up United Nations flag. photo by Kevin Bell

Before I go any further, I must tell you what brought me to this point where I needed my congressman's help. Years ago -- after reading the Bible, studying history, and concluding God does exist -- I decided to learn all I could about law, business, trade, and any other subject I could use to help the poor of God's people.

I started both a non-profit organization based on the whole Bible, and I started the agency Project NOAH (which stands for the National Organization Against Homelessness). I petitioned the state of Oregon to open up homesteading through an old federal law I had researched.

During my studies, I came to the conclusion that all economies are based on the production of goods, which come from labor and our natural resources. So how can we prosper as individuals, or a nation, without the use of our lands?

Shortly after beginning this project, I was threatened, assaulted, and framed on three separate occasions. My wife, five children and I were made homeless, while I worked full time. I was forced to leave my union job in the shipyard after 15 years. I know it may be hard to believe, but it can and does happen in America. I can prove these claims with documentation, but I don't think this is the forum to do that. I did what any reasonable person would do, but it's like there are two sets of rules: one for us, the common people, and one for our oppressors.

I named each one of those individuals in a federal civil complaint in the U.S. District Court in Portland, and I provided physical evidence and documentation supporting my complaint. Those same types of crimes were again committed against my family after coming to California several years ago. And these continued attacks led to my running for Congress.

I filed a $10 million federal lawsuit against the U.S. Office for Civil Rights, hoping to get justice. That case was dismissed by a federal judge, Claudia Wilkins, who ruled because the defendant, the U.S. Office for Civil Rights, did not know it was their job to investigate religious discrimination, they were not responsible for failing to do so. I should note their own publications say their job is to also investigate religious discrimination -- I guess just not my kind of discrimination.

By this time, I had complained to every conceivable authority that I felt should be responsible for issues like these. This long train of criminal acts did not stop until one last incident.

During my first campaign for congress, two county deputies -- in camouflage clothing and an unmarked pickup truck -- arrested me for going over the yellow line on Highway 299. I had just stopped on the side road to check on two homeless girls from San Francisco, whom I helped fix a flat tire the day before. As I pulled back onto the main highway, the two guys in the pickup just passed by and were in front of me. At a wide spot, they pulled over and let me pass. I flashed my lights, saying "thanks." Soon I noticed they were extremely close to my bumper, and I decided to pull off on the opposite side of the highway and let them go by.

They followed me, and I pulled back on the road. Then I decided to turn around and go back to my house. They continued to follow me. I slowed way down, opened my door, and asked them what they wanted. The driver held out a badge and said, "Pull over."

"What for?" I said.

And he said, "Pull over now."

I decided I could not be sure who these guys were. A high-speed chase carried us back to my home. I stopped in front of my home -- in public view -- and got out of my car to find out who these guys were and what they wanted. They threw me on the trunk of my car, handcuffed me, and said they were going arrest me and tow my car.

At that point, we had a long conversation about why I was running for Congress. They took off the handcuffs and did not tow my car. I told the district attorney my story and the charges were dropped. I wrote an article for the local newspaper about the incident and explained why I was running for Congress. They printed it, and I have not been harassed since. I must say, I think it is a shame that an American must run for Congress to have his constitutional freedoms protected.

I believe the Framers, who wrote the Constitution, wanted to keep one Christian religion from oppressing other Christian religions -- as took place in the Dark Ages, or as when the Church of England and the Church of Rome committed religious genocide on the Protestants.

In concluding, let me just say something about the future, the present, and the past. From what I've read in history and the Bible, it looks like mankind is about to make a decision.

And that decision is: Are we going to allow governments and Corpocracy -- my term for our present form of government -- to implant us with microcomputer chips for identification, like we are animals or property of the corporate state? I hope to God that America will be the leader against this abuse of knowledge and technology.

I think the coming identification implant will cause people from every political and religious faction to come together and stand up for freedom. Industry and government have been implanting identification and tracking devices in animals for years now. And in fact, it is mandatory for pets in some places around the world to be implanted with the chips.

Applied Digital Solutions Inc., in Florida, now has a device called "Digital Angel." It is designed for human implantation in the elderly, criminals, and (yes) you too. This device is capable of GPS tracking and e-commerce. It will be on the market as soon as the FDA gives approval for it.

There is another recent invention I'd like to mention, though -- one that might give us all a little more freedom by saving us all money and protecting the environment. It is a car that runs on compressed air. Zero Pollution Inc., in South Africa, developed it. It's coming out in June for $10,000. It can run 10 hours on a fill-up and does about a 100 mph. That should change the balance of power a little, don't you think?

Now, I'd like to say one last thing to you all. Thank you, not for reading this (or even allowing me to write it), but for something Humboldt State University did for me when I was at one of the lowest points in my life.

One of the biggest shocks I got in my life was when I cut my hair and experienced discrimination by those whom I looked up to. It was as though with short hair, I became the enemy.

After all these years, I have concluded, we are being used by those who make money through war and conflict, and gain power through class struggle -- blacks against the whites, children against their own parents, women against the men, young against the old, and liberal against conservative.

When I was making the transition from liberalism to conservatism, I had traveled the country. I saw many things, like boy prostitution on the Colorado State Capitol steps. And the prostitutes told me most of their clients were legislators. I experienced jail from the inside, train rides through the Rocky Mountains, days in the cold and rain, hunger, and very little kindness.

But I remember one bunch of liberals at HSU that gave me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when I had not eaten for days. I had traveled from Portland to Denver, across the Rockies to Salt Lake City, through Las Vegas, and from Los Angeles to Eureka. And all I had to eaten for days was a quart of honey.

I've always remembered that small gesture of kindness by students at this college, and I think it is only appropriate that I return to repay that debt. That repayment is in the form of the truth, because it is all that can make us free. Lies enslave us and leave us open to exploitation.

If you ever come to northeastern California (I might just be the congressman for my congressional district by then), we can sit down and talk like real people. After all, my first campaign slogan was "Elect a Common Man for Congressman, Bob Todd."