First off, just who is Glenn Addison? Well, for starters, he’s a graduate of Abilene Christian University, which is also where he met his wife Lorie. They are in their 29th year of marriage, have two grown children, and live in Magnolia, TX. I think and hope that my wife would pen a letter like this for me should I ever need her support. Glenn has served on the Magnolia ISD school board for 15 years, which is, as he pointed out to me, an unpaid, volunteer, local political office. In other words, he wanted to stress that he is no career politician.
But he is a small businessman, having started his own insurance agency at the age of 26. He ran that business for 14 years and then sold it and bought a funeral home in Willis, TX. He subsequently sold that funeral home and purchased one in Magnolia, along with a cemetery. He then opened a second funeral home in Spring, TX. He joked that when he signed up for the race, he didn’t have to buy a new wardrobe because all of the other candidates were wearing funeral director clothes like his.
When he and his wife made the decision to run for Senate early this year, they decided to make it a full time job and hired someone to run their business during the campaign. If nothing else, that shows their commitment to what Mr. Addison termed an opportunity to change the direction of the country.
He talked about the reason he was running at the first candidate forum which was held at the King Street Patriots headquarters in June:
Glenn Addison opening statement at the New Revolution Now Senate Forum 6-23-2011
[audio:glenn-addison-open-statement-062311-forum.mp3]My first question for him was, just what does the term “common man” that he uses frequently mean to him? He described it as someone with no ties to the political establishment whatsoever. He thinks that most of our country’s problems can be traced back to career politicians and that is why he has pledged to serve only one six year term and then return home to get back to his business. He reinforces that pledge by promising to close his campaign finance account so even the possibility of an appearance of impropriety will be eliminated.
Next I wanted to know, why the Senate? That seems like a grand place to start a political career. After reminding me that he didn’t want to be a career politician, he noted that only in the Senate can one person make a real difference. The House rules prevent individual members from meaningful participation but in the Senate, one Senator can bring down the house so to speak. I’m not sure I agree with him given the role seniority plays in those hallowed halls but it did help me understand why he thinks he can get all of his goals accomplished in one six year term.
Then we went through his position booklet and I asked questions about them. On the issue of life, he supports a method of removing the issue from the Supreme Court based upon this portion of Article 3, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution:
In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the Supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.
I highlighted the portion that Mr. Addison believes will allow the Congress to remove abortion from the purview of the courts and return the power to the states. This idea was first introduced in 1995 by Rep Steve Stockman in a bill called the Sanctity of Life Act and Rep. Ron Paul has carried the torch on it since 2005. Interesting.
On Defense/Foreign Policy I asked him for his definition of “Just War Principles”. He explained that his first and only question would be “Is our nation in jeopardy?” If not, then he would not support use of force against another nation. He would, however, “hunt down and kill terrorists wherever they are” by using special ops forces and providing them with all of the tools they need to do the job. He thinks we need to get out of the “nation building business” and stop being the world's police force. I asked him if he thought that the Iraq war was justified or not and he said that he would give President Bush the benefit of the doubt on the secret intelligence briefings that were used to get Congressional approval.
The next subject was Education and after confirming that he would press to eliminate the Dept. of Education, I then switched to a subject that had nothing to do with his current race. Since he is on the Magnolia ISD school board, I wanted to know his opinion of the recent legislative session. Whoa, he did not hold back. He agrees with the “structural deficit” narrative and thinks that the legislature did not do public education any favors. His reaction was so strong that I wonder if perhaps Republicans didn’t push too hard on this issue – if a conservative person like Mr. Addison thinks this way, I can imagine what moderates and liberals think. Perhaps we need to listen to Speaker Straus – maybe, just maybe, he has a better feel for the populace on this issue than the far right does.
Back to this race, I thought it was odd that he wants Obamacare to be repealed while at the same time his second bullet point states that we should “require guaranteed insurability for young people currently on their parents policies” until age 23. About the only difference I see between that and the Obamacare requirement is a three year age difference. He seemed frustrated that I didn’t understand the difference but I really didn’t.
Regarding Social Security, he supports both an increase in the age requirements and a “ramp down” of benefits on a sliding scale so that by 2037, benefits would be cut by 18{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}. He doesn’t have numbers or charts on this but it sounds like a variation of many of the plans out there.
The rest of his ideas are sort of the new boilerplate ideas that we read about all the time. My biggest question was how in the world can you do this in one six year term? He referenced the ability of one Senator to make a difference and also talked about the current mood in the country providing him with help after the 2012 elections. I wish him the best of luck with that although I wouldn’t hold my breath too long.
Now to the campaign trail. He told me that in this primary, no one would have to hold their nose and choose between similar candidates because he was offering a clear, conservative choice. He asked me, how in the world can Ted Cruz or David Dewhurst be considered conservatives if they support the U. N.? And that he wants to eliminate the EPA, Dept. of Energy, Dept. of Education, and the Dept. of Transportation while all they want to do is “reform” them. They are not constitutional, so how can we “reform” them, he asks?
I asked him about his recent criticism of Ted Cruz – he is running radio ads that portray Ted as…well, you listen for yourself:
How about that? Someone attacked Ted Cruz. Well, that didn’t sit well with some Cruz supporters, namely Katrina Pierson. She controls an email list or something leftover from the heyday of the tea parties and she did not like it that someone criticized her man – why, they should have checked with her first!
Interesting Observation: None of the "Grassroots" candidates are attacking David Dewhurst. They are attacking Ted Cruz. It's quite brilliant to plant no name out of the blue candidates that preach Tea Party Principles and distract people from his own issues. And people are actually buying into the retail politics. I'm in the wrong profession!
And then Dave Nalle of the Republican Liberty Caucus takes the ball over the goal line:
Katrina, I've got no evidence yet, but I strongly suspect that Leppert or Dewhurst is funneling money to Addison to use against Cruz.
Ah, conspiracy! Good grief. No one is paying Glenn Addison under the table to knock Cruz off his game. And you wonder why people laugh at tea parties these days. Sigh.
Ted Cruz Is a big boy and can take a little criticism. Sheesh. Funny how the more things change, the more they stay the same. Everyone wants to be a kingmaker.
I think that the real problem for Cruz supporters is that when people that attend tea party forums hear what Addison has to say, it resonates with them. These supporters don’t like it that someone is challenging the guy that they picked before the battle even started. Which is how most of these straw polls are won – I’ve sat there and watched people fill out their cards and turn them in before the first question was even asked.
If Glenn Addison can get people to stop and listen, who knows what can happen? I’ll leave you with his wrap up from the King Street forum:
Glenn Addison closing statement at the New Revolution Now Senate forum 6-23-11
[audio:glenn-addison-closing-statement-062311-forum.mp3]I would like to thank Mr. Addison for taking the time to meet with this voter from Shoreacres. I really enjoyed it and wish him all the best.