MAY 3, 2025

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After a disappointing run for President in the 2024 election, I am not giving up on politics especially now that America is experiencing this modern day unprecedented chaos that both political parties have wrought on our country.  In fact, I have had numerous people tell me they are truly sorry that I wasn’t elected President. 

 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—our country is suffering from political apartheid where the minority extremes of both parties have hijacked their respective agendas, with the latest consequence being a President who believes he is above the law and seeks to consolidate all power unto himself.  Nothing good can come from that.

 

So, since our country may be too far gone by 2028, I am running in the 2026 election in Virginia for United States Senator.  I am still developing my strategy so stay tuned to this website for updates.  But in the meantime, I welcome any assistance in getting attention to my positions on the major issues affecting our nation and my policy proposals.

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MY LETTER TO THE WASHINGTON POST PUBLISHED JULY 3, 2024

[This letter can also be found online at the following link under the heading, “Two years after Dobbs” (need to scroll about half-way down). 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/07/02/trump-evangelicals-abortion-reparations-dobbs/]

 

Two years after Dobbs

 

I read with great confusion Kate Cohen’s June 23 Sunday Opinion column, “A memorial for the lives lost to Dobbs.”  She came across as complaining that the estimated 32,000 annual additional births and lives saved by the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling and subsequent rise in birth rates in some U.S. states are bad things. This is after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in April that in 2023, “the general fertility rate in the United States decreased by 3% from 2022, reaching a historic low. This marks the second consecutive year of decline.” A declining birth rate is often the sign of a declining society. It certainly means fewer future workers, entrepreneurs and taxpayers in our country to fund Social Security and help pay off our over $34 trillion in national debt.

 

I was also taken aback by what she seemed to imply when she wrote, “And we will never know how many lives Dobbs altered, stunted, constrained and burdened. How many educations it deferred or denied, how many careers it derailed, how many families it broke.” If you believe, as I do, that the act of conception creates a new human being, how can you justify killing that person to preserve one’s education goals or career path?

 

But Ms. Cohen did have it right when she stated the number of lives adversely affected by Dobbs will never be known. That includes, however, something she didn’t appear to consider: the number of women who are now experiencing the unexpected joy of bringing a new, loving and wonderful human being into the world, and who avoided the guilt, depression and self-loathing caused by knowing she killed her own child.

 

Unfortunately, this is the underlying problem with all debate on abortion. Both sides are talking — or, more accurately, shouting — past each other, and we do not have nearly enough data on the number of abortions, who is having them and why, given that states are not required to report this data to the federal government.

 

So, until all are required to report abortion statistics (including the use of abortion-inducing drugs) to a central repository, we can never have a data-driven, fact-based debate on the pros and cons of legalized abortion — a debate that just might lead to some common ground and a sensible national policy. In this pursuit of informed debate, I would like to challenge Johns Hopkins University to create an online abortion dashboard similar to its outstanding covid-19 dashboard launched to help spur data-driven decisions regarding covid mitigation policies. But until that happens, we will continue with the inflammatory testimonials, caustic rhetoric and ascribing the most evil of intentions to those on both sides of the debate.

 

Art Menna, Arlington

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COMMENTS ON TRUMP'S FELONLY CONVICTIONS – POSTED JUNE 1, 2024

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I find it a very strange coincidence that every time Trump loses, he claims systemic corruption.  He claimed Hollywood corruption and a rigged system when he failed to win an Emmy for his "Apprentice" TV show.  He claimed corruption and rigged system when he lost the 2016 Iowa Caucus to Ted Cruz (note that he accused Republicans of being corrupt here).  He claimed corruption and a rigged system when he lost all but 1 or 2 of the 62 lawsuits filed claiming fraud in the 2020 election (note that many of these lawsuits were dismissed due to lack of merit by judges that Trump himself appointed).  And now Trump is claiming systemic corruption in his latest jury trial felony convictions.  Either this man has the worst luck in history in coming up against the most highly skilled adversaries in history in hiding their corruption, or this man has a very flawed and corrupt character himself.  I think down deep we all know which is true.

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MY POSITION ON GUN CONTROL – POSTED OCTOBER 30, 2023

 

In light of the most recent tragic mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, and although I wrote extensively on this website what I believe is motivating these horrendous events (see my Mass Shootings section), I want to clearly state here my position on gun control. 

 

Regarding a ban on assault weapons, we did have such a ban in 1994-2003.  But it is unclear whether such a ban actually reduced gun violence or homicides, especially since existing assault weapons were exempt and other guns with larger capacity magazines were still available.  For an extensive examination of the studies performed on this topic by Christopher S. Koper, currently a Professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society at George Mason University, see https://www.factcheck.org/2013/02/did-the-1994-assault-weapons-ban-work/.  Koper later gave a presentation at a Summit on Reducing Gun Violence in America held at Johns Hopkins University on January 14-15, 2013:

 

Koper concluded by saying that “a new ban on large capacity magazines and assault weapons would certainly not be a panacea for gun crime, but it may help to prevent further spread of particularly dangerous weaponry and eventually bring small reductions in some of the most serious and costly gun crimes.”

 

So with this as a backdrop and considering that our country did not immediately disintegrate during the 10-year assault weapons ban, if Congress sent me a bill re-outlawing assault weapons, I would sign it.

 

Regarding universal background checks, I am for consistency in the law.  Since we have largely come to agree that a background check should be required for a gun purchase, then it should be required for a gun purchase i.e. NO EXCEPTIONS!  So yes, I do support universal background checks.

 

Regarding the manufacture and sale of "ghost guns," this is clearly a way for sellers to circumvent existing gun control laws and it is my understanding that the use of these guns in criminal activity is one of the biggest problems for law enforcement.  So I am a huge opponent of these guns and would gladly outlaw them. 

 

But my overall point is that while stricter gun control may help in reducing such killings, it doesn’t eliminate them and again only addresses a symptom of the anger and paranoia that has permeated throughout our society—paranoia that has been fostered by caustic and deceitful partisan propaganda and possibly as well by the growing widespread use of marijuana which has been clinically proven to cause paranoia.

 

So the question I have for our state governments is, have any of the mass shooters, or any shooters for that matter, that have been captured or killed been tested for drug use—especially marijuana?  I would love to know the answer to that question.  I’d also like to know the primary sources of media these murderers frequent for their “news" and "education.”  My contention is that people are the problem—they are the ones committing murder.  Guns in and of themselves are harmless.  The average person doesn’t walk into a gun store and think, “Wow, all of these guns around just make me want to kill someone.”  But I absolutely agree that an automatic weapon in the hands of a psychopath certainly provides a way more effective and efficient way to kill. 

 

My fear is that our superficial partisan politicians will pass gun control legislation and then declare victory against mass shootings, and not continue to address the root causes of the mentality that drives one to commit such murders.  I want a multi-pronged approach to address gun violence that promotes healing for our society and includes more mental health resources as well as possibly instituting a drug test for gun purchases if the evidence shows a significant percentage of gun-involved crimes, not just mass shootings, are committed by drug users.