On The Record: Tom Love

For this episode of On The Record, we speak with Tom Love, the Democratic candidate for U.S. House District 24 for the 2008 election.

What prompted you to run for public office?

I am an University of Texas alumni, a working man, a concerned husband, a father and a grandfather who has seen the “American Dream” slowly turning into the “American Nightmare.”

We have become a nation that has far too long ignored its working peoples’ needs and rewarded powerful special interests. Texans pay their taxes and are penalized, while multimillionaires get special tax breaks. We cannot become a nation that builds bridges to nowhere, yet constructs no pathway to our children's future.

My maternal grandmother told me about voting,“I will never forfeit a right that I worked so hard to obtain. Never allow democracy to vanish because it is not convenient to vote, or you will never get it back.” My paternal grandfather was a Lamar County Judge and also instilled an interest in politics that my father passed on to me.

We need the commitment and backbone of the American people to solve this latest fiscal disaster of predatory lending.

What would you say are the primary issues concerning your area?

I am calling for the creation of a “Fair Deal” for the working men and women of Texas who pay their taxes in an era of multimillionaires getting unfair tax breaks, the outsourcing of American jobs to foreign countries and over $3 per gallon gasoline.

The Texas Legislative and Congressional districts were redrawn in a non-census year to represent partisan, ideological concerns, and Texans no longer had control over local issues.

Americans need to address the healthcare needs that have allowed 47 million Americans to go without healthcare. Policies that allow chronic illnesses and unsafe nurse-to-patient ratios weaken our hospitals ability to treat patients without private insurance intervention. Texans need to be able to build a pathway for their children’s futures, not build bridges to nowhere as the Republicans have done. Teachers must receive better pay and be allowed to teach.

I pledge that I will work between the aisles and in whatever venue necessary to represent my district and its needs and concerns.

What are your qualifications for the position for which you are running?

I have real experience dealing with the real problems of Texans. As a small business owner, a financial services worker with the Texas Department of Human Services and a financial services supervisor, I have experienced firsthand the difficulties Texans have to pay their bills, maintain their homes, feed and clothe their children and teach American family values to the next generation.

I believe I can send a message that the working people of this state are tired of having partisan ideological differences and a culture of corruption that keeps Republicans, Democrats, Liberals, Moderates, and Conservatives from solving issues fairly.

I am a social progressive that believes in sound fiscal values.

How do politics affect your family?

We, like most other Texas families, have to work to provide the economic livelihood necessary to pay mortgages, car notes, credit cards to maintain credit worthiness, and care for our families.

We are spending, by one study, $720 million dollars a day for a war in Iraq that we have already “won.” We continue to occupy Iraq without an exit strategy, while our troops and families suffer with repeated call-ups, extensions, redeployment, and post traumatic stress disorder without adequate medical care and try to survive in the face of predatory lenders and extreme economic hardship.

All these problems are causing crushing debt. It is time we solved these problems. We can. We will.

What is your biggest hope for Texas?

I hope and believe that we can rise above the ideological quagmire that has engulfed us and bring a new and greater shinning path to us and our posterity. We need not be in fear or dislike government, for we are the government.

And by the people, for the people, and with the American public, we will triumph over adversity. The unique experiment our forefathers created we must now protect, serve, and defend. With God’s help, we’ll solve the issues of our time and create a new direction for future generations.

I ask for your help in this long, difficult journey. I am under no illusion that I can take this path alone. With my wife of thirty two years, Marilyn, I take this journey. We need Americans to register to vote and vote for America. Vote to end the politics of division, lies and deceit. Vote to end the politics of disrespect and humiliation.

If you give us your vote, we will pledge to serve, protect, and defend our great land. And if you give us your vote, my heart will be your heart, my hand will be your hand, our voice will be your voice, and your dream will be our reality.

I speak today as a working man who loves his country and loves his God, who asks for your vote and requests your help.