I hope many people will run for elective office in 2003 and 2004.

I am 32 years old and I ran for United States Senate from New Hampshire in 2002 and I received more than 2000 votes.

I am running for President of the United States of America in 2004.

I will be 35 years old on January 13, 2005. The oath of office is taken on January 13, 2005.

My website is http://www.geocities.com/kstremskyforpresident.

If you are not willing to fight for civil liberties, who do you think will fight for civil liberties?

If you are not willing to make sure that Congress fulfills all its Article One, Section Eight War making responsibilities who do you think will?

If you are not willing to make sure that our country has great kindergarten through 12th public and private school systems, who do you think will?

If you are not willing to fight for affordable college educations, who do you think will?

If you are not willing to fight for affordable health care and affordable prescription drugs, who do you think will?

If you are not willing to fight for good paying jobs, who do you think will?

If you are not willing to fight for clean water and clean air, who do you think will?

If you are not willing to fight for a solvent Social Security system and a solvent Medicare system who do you think will?

I hope that our country will elect many people that love our Republic like Cincinnatus loved the Roman republic.

CAESAR AND CINCINNATUS

History might have turned out very differently if Julius Caesar had been one-tenth the man that Cincinnatus was.

A great book about Julius Caesar is Caesar: A Biography by Christian Meier. The following quote about Julius Caesar comes from page 23 of Executive Qualities written by Joseph M. Fox.

“The mind of Caesar. It is the reverse of most men’s. It rejoices in committing itself. To us arrive each day a score of challenges; we must say yes or no to decisions that will set off chains of consequences. Some of us deliberate; some of us refuse the decision, which is itself a decision; some of us leap gradually into the decision, setting our jaws and closing our minds, which is sort of a decision of despair. Caesar embraces decision. It is as though he felt his mind to be operating only when interlocking itself with significant consequences.”

Caesar’s Doctor

The following excerpt is from pages 400 and 401 of The Portable Machiavelli, edited and translated by Peter Bondanella and Mark Musa. The excerpt is from The Discourses by Niccolo Machiavelli.

“For example, when Minutius, the consul, and his army were besieged by the Aequi, Rome was so filled with the fear that the army might be lost that they decided to appoint a dictator - the last resource in any difficult situation. They selected Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus who at that time was on a small farm that he worked with his own hands. The event is celebrated by Livy with these golden words: ‘This should be heeded by all who disparage every human thing in comparison to riches and who have no use for honor or skill unless wealth flows in abundance.’

Cincinnatus was plowing his little farm, which was not longer than four jugers, when the legates of the senate arrived from Rome to advise him of his election to the dictatorship and to show him in what danger the Roman republic found itself.

He put on his toga and went to Rome, where he gathered together an army and went off to free Minutius; after defeating and despoiling the enemy and freeing the consul, he forbade the besieged army to take part in the pillaging, saying these words to them: ‘I do not want you to take part in the pillaging of those by whom you were almost despoiled.’

He took the consulate away from Minutius and made him a legate, saying to him: ‘You will remain in this rank until you learn to know how to be consul.’ And he made Lucius Tarquinius his master of horse, who fought on foot because of his poverty. And so it is evident that poverty was honored in Rome, and that for a good and valiant man like Cincinnatus four jugers of land were enough to support him.”

MY COMMENTS

I have read elsewhere that Cincinnatus gave up power and went back to his farm when he believed his leadership was no longer necessary. He cared more about the Republic than about great power for himself. He cared more about the Republic than about fame and glory.

Julius Caesar cared more about his fame and his glory than about the Republic. Julius Caesar cared more about having great power for himself than about the best interests of the Republic.

We need leaders who combine the type of mind Caesar had with the type of love that Cincinnatus had for the Republic. We need leaders who are more devoted to the Republic than they are for their own fame and glory.

We need leaders who are willing to take risks and provide leadership.

We need leaders who are willing to make significant decisions when little is known.

Sincerely,

Kenneth Scot Stremsky

Republican candidate for President of the United States of America in 2004 http://www.geocities.com/kstremskyforpresident