Candidate Statement

By Matty Park

I believe government is not the problem, BAD government is the problem, and I will work hard for GOOD government by electing Democrats who will promote progressive policies based on the Democratic values we believe in.

Government is essential to living in a society. Government is not the problem, bad government is the problem. In this country the Government is us, and it is up to us to make sure that government represents our interests. It is up to us to make sure that our representatives are in government to do the right thing to make life better for all our citizens, not just the ones with the most money.

Listening to the Republicans and the News can be really discouraging. It's enough to make you want to drop out of politics altogether. Not to vote. Not to get involved. But if we do that then the government will be run only by the rich for the rich and "We the People" will lose. I don't want that to happen. We can't let that happen. There's too much at stake. Each one of us can make a difference. We can vote. We can register people to vote. We can encourage them to vote and to contact their representatives, to write letters to the editor. We can give money and support to candidates who believe in our values, our progressive values - the political Right has no corner on values - that's another lie they like to put out there.

In every election since I moved to Ventura thirteen years ago I've worked to elect Democrats and get Elton Gallegly out of Congress by volunteering and contributing as much as I could. During the last two years I've been the representative from the Democratic Club of Ventura in the Ventura County Democratic Central Committee, so I'm familiar with the Central Committee and how it works. I participated in the Democratic Campaign Council and the Platform Committee, donated computers to the headquarters in Camarillo, volunteered to register voters, make phone calls, and do everything I can to support our mission of electing more Democrats to local, regional, state, and federal offices. Last year in the Democratic Club of Ventura I was a member of the endorsement committee and this year I was the chair.

I want to work to support candidates and bills that share our progressive values such as protecting the environment, protecting open space in our community, making the oil companies pay their fair share for the oil they drill in California while protecting our coast, supporting PUBLIC libraries with professional librarians to curate the book collections, supporting our schools and our teachers to ensure our kids are well-educated and don't fall behind the rest of the world, dealing compassionately and fairly with the least among us - not pretending they don't exist or criminalizing their misfortune, supporting universal single-payer health care, stopping the prison explosion by ending the failed `War on Drugs' and decriminalizing personal drug use, treating drug addiction as the medical problem it is, and overturning the Supreme Court's `Citizens United' ruling that makes it more difficult for those without money to be heard in our political discourse.

We Democrats have nothing against business or against people getting rich, that's all part of the American Dream and we're all for it. But we believe companies and people should not get rich using the resources and infrastructure provided by society without paying their fair share. They should not get rich by tricking us or taking advantage of us. They should not be able to spoil and deplete our public resources and pass the cost to the government (which is us, by the way) to pay with our tax dollars. Taxes are not bad, taxes are essential. Without them we can't live in a democratic society. No one wants their taxes to be wasted, but good, effective government uses taxes to make it possible for us to live in the society we love, to know that we can't be victimized by the rich and powerful without consequences, to know our infrastructure and institutions will be there when we need them, to know that ALL Americans will have the opportunity to get ahead in life. Government is the only power we the people have against moneyed interests that want to exploit us.

Government is not perfect, we all know that, but let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater. There will always be differences of opinion about how much or how little government should do, but it's up to us to keep improving government to make sure it serves "We the People" in the best way possible. That's what I'm working for. Please vote for me for member of the Ventura County Democratic Central Committee.

Thank you. Matty Park