Now that a new year is finally upon us, it’s only fitting that we take a moment to reflect on 2009. Unfortunately the last year was a severe disappointment for most of us, offering little in the way of positive progress. Despite the election of a new President on an agenda of “Hope and Change”, Congress has largely been focused on a “business as usual” agenda.
While the economy slowed and sputtered into a deeper recession, the only response from Congress has been to grow the size of government, spend beyond our means and increase taxes on everyone in order to pay for it. In fairly rapid order they have squandered 787 billion dollars on a jobless stimulus bill, transferred hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out Wall Street banks, and quadrupled the federal deficit in the first six months of 2009. To add insult to injury, the current Congressional leadership freely admitted to voting on many of these bills without reading them.
The public’s reaction to this frantic pace of destructive legislation by Congress sparked the National Tea Party movement, in which citizens from every major political party demonstrated in protest to their actions. Outraged American’s turned out in large numbers to express their dissatisfaction at town hall meetings, demonstrations and political rallies around the country.
Confronted by scathing criticism from typically loyal constituents, some members of Congress sought to change the subject by characterizing the good citizens participating in the tea party movement as a small number of partisan, hate-filled, brown shirts reminiscent of the former Nazi party. Statements which were ultimately exposed as a gross lie after millions of peaceful citizens descended on Washington, D.C. in protest at the 9/12 march.
Yet even in the final closing days of 2009, Congress was determined to end the year on an even lower note. Despite overwhelming opposition by the American people, both houses of Congress would vote on a so-called health care reform bill which would increase the cost of health insurance, put the federal government in charge of making medical decisions for us, increase the size of both federal and state budget deficits, and fail to implement any real health care reform. By the years end, even the former Chair of the Democrat National Committee would go on record calling for the legislation to be “killed”, and for Congress to hit the “reset” button and start over.
It is against this backdrop of failed Congressional leadership that I am running to become your next Congressman for Maryland’s 5th Congressional District. We can no longer afford to saddle our children and the future of this country with expensive failures which fail to resolve the problem. Congress must set its sights on implementing real, common sense solutions to the problems that confront our nation. As your next Congressman I will never forget the catastrophic failures which have defined this Congress, and will hold it to a higher standard of performance.
It’s New Year’s Day and Team Lollar is already busy preparing for the November election that will decide our future. With so many hot button issues to be addressed, its clear that we have our work cut out for us.
Despite the good progress made so far, the needs of the country will require far greater efforts by our campaign if we are to attain our election goal of victory in 2010. Efforts that will require us to run a campaign capable of offering voters a real choice between the failed policies of the past and a better solution for the future. I look forward to the opportunity of offering myself as the standard bearer for the better solution.
In the quest to set our house in order, we must remember that we are Americans first and set aside all other distractions. If we are to be successful it will be necessary for us to reach out and work with Republicans, Democrats and Independents. Only through our united efforts will we be capable of fixing what is wrong with our country.
While the road ahead will not be quick, nor easily traveled, we won’t need to go it alone. We have already found many good traveling companions from diverse and curious places and I am grateful for their pledges of support and friendship. In the months ahead many others will join us as they hear our call for constitutional government, fiscal accountability and common sense solutions. As their numbers grow we will make room for them as well. Their participation is both desired and necessary to our success. I look forward to working with the voters of Anne Arundel, Prince George’s, Charles, Calvert and St. Mary’s County as we press on to victory.
It is my sincere desire that you walk with us as we journey forward. If you desire freedom, love of family and friendship with your neighbors and friends, your talents are sorely needed. Join us and together we will chart a new course for our future.
Welcome to our new website.
As the father of four girls, I’m keenly aware that technology is driving everything. Kids these days are doing things on computers that we never dreamed could happen. I remember when computers were big enough to fill entire rooms and now we have video games on cell phones. Times have changed and we have to keep up.
I’m also aware that in politics now, I have to be accessible and transparent. That’s what the voters deserve – we work for you, not the other way around. I need a way to keep you up to date on where I’ll be, what I’m thinking, and my vision for our future. I’m interviewing for a job representing you and, though I’m going to try to meet everyone face-to-face, I’m not able to be everywhere. Folks in California and Texas, Utah and North Dakota want to see Steny Hoyer put in his retirement papers. That’s a lot of ground to cover.
Thanks to technology, we can all be on the same page. I’ll introduce you to the members of our team in the coming weeks (we have an incredible team and I am excited about the passion that they bring to this effort). Recently, we’ve been working on upgrading the look of our site and making it a place to come for information about the campaign.
Let me know what you think about the new site. Shoot me an email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with your thoughts and remember to check back often. We’ve moved forward from the simple splash page that we’ve had for the last week or so but we’re not done yet. We’re going to keep adding and upgrading and we’ll push to be the best that we can be – because the voters deserve nothing less.
Charles.