Joe as an Independent Candidate
Campaign 2000 (2nd half); Campaign 2004; and Campaign 2008 (1st half)
Listen to the story here:
It’s a story that’s captured the imagination of millions who, at one point or another, have said: “Gee, I could run the country better.” –News Democrat newspaper, Georgetown, Ohio.
Joe Schriner is bypassing the political Parcheesi played by big name politicians. –Reporter Nate Jenkins, Salina Journal newspaper, Salina, Kansas.
“Were just an average family who wants to go to D.C. and do what we think is right,” said Schriner. The Rocket-Miner newspaper, Rock Springs, Wyoming.
Indeed, the Schriners walked the talk when they reversed the “white flight” trend last year, moving from a small town back into Cleveland’s tough inner city to help the needy. Reporter John Crane, Cortez Journal, Cortez, Colorado.
“…a message of common sense and an aura as ordinary as his khaki pants and brown-and-plaid shirt.” --reporter Chuck Frederick, News Tribune, Duluth, Minnesota
His first tour stop was the Pelican Coffee House where he met with the local think tank. –reporter Mike Redeison, Telegraph-Forum newspaper, Bucyrus, Ohio
The literature said that Schriner and his wife Liz are concerned parents from the Midwest who don’t want their children growing up in a society of mounting violence, drugs, pollution and sex in the media. They are trying to start a grassrrots coalition of other concerned parents who are willing to take astand for the youth. Battle Mountain Bugle, Battle Mountain, Nevada.
Article appeared in Ohio Magazine.
Keene, New Hampshire town square speech
Schriner said: “There is a lot of talk about terrorists right now, but we believe, that is our paradigm is, that with the legalization of abortion, we’ve become our own worst terrorists.” Range News, Wilcox, Arizona.
Joe shared about a project he observed at a high school in Columbus, Ohio, where the students were encouraged to work on a political campaign. Though there was a lot of apathy at the start of the project, he said it was just phenomenal to watch the enthusiasm in the students after hands-on participation. RuralNorthwest.com, Northern Idaho.
About three and a half years ago, when we were visiting the Southwest, we went to an Indian Reservation in Gallup, New Mexico,” [Schriner] said. A couple weeks later he spoke to a church youth group about the reservation. “They planned a trip to the reservation to help in whatever way they could.”
What Schriner is looking for on his way to the White House is not something that can be tracked through an exit poll. He’s looking for the ripple effect. –Reporter Christy Futch, The News-Star, Monroe, Louisiana
After crossing the border into Juarez, Mexico, we were met by Fr. Francis, who runs Casacde Asis, a home for homeless boys… Many of the homeless boys had come from the far west end of Juarez where we saw there was row after row of cobbled together shacks made of plywood, rusty corrugated steel and cardboard. Joe, from his book: Back Road to the White House 2
Gabe Kanawite was worried about the condition of his people, the Navajos. He grew up in Gallup, New Mexico and watched it deteriorate. On a campaign stop there, Kanawite told us the Navajos here spiraled into so much alcoholism, as an example, that the 20/20 television show dubbed Gallup: “Drunk Town USA.” However, that’s changing now thanks to people like Kanawite. Out of a sense of personal responsibility and grief about what was happening to his people, he shifted college majors from accounting to drug and alcohol abuse counseling – so he could be “part of the solution.” --Joe, from his book: Back Road to the White House 2
In Savannah, Tennessee, we met with Fr. Thomas Kirk. Every July 16, you can find him “on vacation” at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. People from all over the country meet here this day to pray in the faint early morning light at “ground zero.” The first atomic bomb was detonated here on this date at 5:30 a.m. in 1945. Their's is a silent protest. –Joe, from his book: Back Road to the White House 2
Bicycle Tours
During these years, we did three pretty extensive campaign bicycle tours. We did a 2,000 mile Back-To-Basics Bicycle Tour in Campaign 2,000. We bicycled the “Buckeye Trail,” a 1,300 loop around Ohio during Campaign 2004. And we did a 300-mile, End Global Warming Bicycle Tour, also through Ohio, during Campaign 2008…
Liz [Schriner] said: “I think this country should get back to the basics, get out of the fast lane and slow down. So what better way to do the campaigning than on a slower form of transportation.” Spring Valley Sun, Spring Valley, Wisconsin.
Joe Schriner, an independent candidate running for president in 2008, was in town Sunday and Monday on his End Global Warming Bicycle Tour… “Just driving a little bit less and turning back the thermostat only a degree or two is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. We have to unite in making some drastic changes to our lifestyles in America.” Mount Vernon News, Mount Vernon, Ohio.
One of our next stops was the island of Put-in-Bay, Ohio (out in Lake Erie). It’s claimed -- although many pollsters won’t officially recognize this – that if you don’t win in Put-in-Bay, you won’t win the country. People from all over Ohio, and even a few from Indiana, come her to vacation every summer. We rode our bicycles around the downtown, holding signs and urging people to: “Vote Joe in Ohio!” Catchy, huh. –Joe, from his book Back Road to the White House 2
The point of Schriner’s talk last Sunday [at First United Methodist Church of Wellington] is that by burning all these fossil fuels, we are literally causing the deaths of scores of people world-wide [from global warming]. “It relates to the Fifth Commandment, because we are indirectly killing people, not only now, but in generations to come,” said Schriner – Wellington Enterprise newspaper, Wellington, Ohio
During last Sunday’s talk, Schriner asked the congregation to stop using central air conditioning, decrease their driving significantly, plant trees to provide natural absorption for carbon dioxide, and by significantly less consumer goods. Manufacturing plants often burn fossil fuels in order to produce consumer goods. –Wellington Enterprise newspaper, Wellington, Ohio
Luddite Congress Campaign Talk
I gave a campaign talk at a Luddite Congress in Barnesville, Ohio, in the spring of 2000. Modern “Luddites” are opposed to many forms of modern technology. This includes Old Order Amish, Mennonites, Quakers… and a good number of people in the general populace who see much of industrialization, modern rampant consumerism, and many “frightening” technologies of the Computer Age, as potential impediments to solid faith, family and community. The movement also emphasizes a focus on solid environmental stewardship.
In many areas, I would agree. What’s more, as we’ve traveled we’ve researched, in depth, the beliefs of, for instance, the Old Order Amish. And have found most of them to be tremendously sound ideas for living now. Not antiquated lifestyles just for some past era.
After my talk at the Luddite Congress, Scott Savage, the editor of Plain Magazine, asked me to send him the text from my talk for his publication. It had initially been handwritten in somewhat rough cursive. In deference to the magazine, and Luddite philosophy in general, I typed the text – on an old manual typewriter.
It took me close to a day.
[Note: The manifesto for the “New Luddism” was drawn up during a Luddite Congress in April of 1996, conducted also in Barnesville, Ohio.]
