Chad Ricketts speaking at Tea Party in Chillicothe, OH. July 4th 2009
He also spoke at the Tea Party in Chillicothe on April15, 2009
Jim Wood, program chair, introduced one of his neighbors as the speaker for the evening. Chad Ricketts is a long-time resident of Hocking County. He and his wife are raising two children and Chad was concerned about the world his children are growing up in. He has seen a number of changes at the Federal and State level which he believes are infringing on our rights and freedoms. So Chad has decided to do something about it. He has announced he is seeking the 91st District Ohio House seat currently occupied by Dan Dodd. Chad is running on the Libertarian platform. One of the major planks in the Libertarian platform is the belief the Federal government should limit its intrusion into the lives of its citizens and the vast majority of power is reserved for the States. Chad reviewed theTenth Amendment to the Constitution which specified that all the powers not specifically assigned to the Federal government by the Constitution were reserved for the States. However, many more powers beyond the Constitutional ones have been legislated through Congressional action, usurping the States rights and infringing on the rights of the people. One notable example of this is a provision of the Patriot Act, passed into law after September 11, 2001, which placed authority over the Bureau of Motor Vehicles for all 50 states in the hands of the Department of Homeland Security. This provided the means to consolidate the personal information for every driver in the United States into one common database and granted access to all this information to the national police agencies. While on the surface this may sound reasonable for national security, it provides opportunity for tremendous potential abuse of power and/or theft of personal identity data. It also removed control over this information away from the States. Chad also discussed his concerns about the rapid deployment of electronic devices which offer a wide variety of personal information to any other electronic device asking for it – sometimes with little or no validation required. New technologies such as Blu-Ray and radio frequency tracking chips offer extreme convenience by automatically interconnecting whenever one such device is within range of another such device, but is the drive for convenience over-ridding security concerns? Could sensitive information be exchanged with inappropriate individuals (such as criminals or over-zealous police) unknowingly? Could smart-cards, cell phones, personal electronic planners and other such devices betray our private information? These are all issues which present the challenge to preserving our identities and securing our freedom to keep personal information personal. Libertarian candidates do not accept corporate donations and rely on personal contributions to fund their campaigns. Chad would gladly accept donations to his House run. He is scheduling “town hall” meetings to discuss his views and interact with citizens in the 91st District.
Thank you for coming and sharing your beliefs and concerns, Chad. Our best wishes for a successful campaign!
This publication is produced by Robert Lindsey, Newsletter Editor for the Kiwanis Club of Logan, Ohio