I'm a Democrat Who's Running for Congress.

It's time to be candid. Supporters of the Fred Johnson for Congress campaign can be assured that from now until the election in November I will fight for this seat. In 2008, just about everyday I had to endure some disciple of conventional wisdom explaining why a Democrat couldn't win in Michigan's 2nd Congressional District. Well, it's the election of 2010 and the disciples of conventional wisdom are at it again.

In the election of 2010, I respectfully announce that I’ll be ignoring such so-called wisdom. And here's why: "conventional wisdom" is the same reasoning that warned Christopher Columbus to not cross the Atlantic in 1492. That wisdom insisted slavery would never end. It refused to believe that women would ever have the right to vote. Such “wisdom” insisted that human beings would never fly. It doubted President John F. Kennedy when he committed America to landing a man on the moon. That “wisdom” couldn't imagine that one day the United States would elect its first African American President.

I'm an historian. It's the subject that I've spent my life studying. So I know that the people who’ve made most of the major progressive breakthroughs in history were those who had the vision and courage to reject "conventional wisdom" In the election of 2010, I'll be moving forward with a vision of bold possibility for the good citizens of Michigan's 2nd Congressional District. The issues are too important, the challenges are too great, and the needs are too many and urgent to succumb to the stoop-shouldered timidity of conventional wisdom.

My name is Dr. Fred L. Johnson III, and I'm a Democrat who's running for Congress.

Senate Vote on Unemployment Benefits

Republican Senator Jim Bunning’s success in heaping more misery onto the lives of Americans who are struggling to make it through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression speaks for him and his Party. For him, this period of challenge is an exercise in political theater and an opportunity to inflict his mean-spirited actions onto people whose daily anxieties are of less concern to him than scoring ideological points. But then, Bunning’s not running for re-election so his taking one last devastating shot at America’s shrinking and much beleaguered middle class and working families is sadly consistent with a viewpoint that cared little to begin with.

Bunning, like so many in Congress on both sides of the aisle, is too distant from the grim realities confronting working families. While Americans daily examine their checking accounts, trying to find ways of making ends meet, Washington’s leadership muddles on through endless meetings, summits, panel discussions, studies, ad nauseam. And while they talk, thousands agonize through another day without a job. More are driven into bankruptcy due to health care costs. College students finally have to face the reality that their educations must be put on hold. And while more citizens fall further behind, Congress takes its time deciding on whether or not to act. This is unconscionable. Bunning’s gross act of assault upon working Americans compounds the crime of inaction.

For all of the differences currently existing between the Parties, many of Bunning’s Republican colleagues agreed with Democrats that extending unemployment benefits for millions was the right, economically best thing to do. And yet, one man has been allowed to drive another economic dagger into the hearts of America’s middle class. While this goes on, the bankers who precipitated the crisis spend the weekend in their spacious homes, toasting champagne to each other for having successfully suckered the nation into providing the corporate welfare that rewarded them for recklessness. This needs to change. This needs to end now. The Congress needs legislators who’ll stand up to the Bunning’s of the world and confront them with their scorched earth tactics. Congress needs legislators who’ll cast votes for the people and not special interests. Congress needs legislators who understand that layoffs, financial stress, and looming bankruptcy aren’t abstract theories but grim realities. My name is Dr. Fred L. Johnson III, and I’m running for Congress.