Author Archives: Gray Rinehart

Blogging the New CD: F is for a Faded Coat

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Sixth in a series of blog posts about the songs on my new CD, Distorted Vision.

If you don’t know who the Browncoats are … well, you will after reading this post.

My brave lad sleeps in his faded coat of brown.
In a lonely grave unknown lies a heart of love renowned.
He sank faint and hungry among the famished brave,
And they laid him sad and lonely within his nameless grave.

— “The Faded Coat of Brown”

In the future envisioned in the TV show Firefly and its follow-on movie Serenity, the Union of Allied Planets (“the Alliance”) fought a civil war — and in some ways a war of pacification — against the independence movement that came to be identified with the brown coats its members wore. The captain of Serenity, Malcolm Reynolds, fought with the Independents along with his first mate Zoe, and they both maintain a fierce independent streak throughout the show.


The most famous Browncoat of all, Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion). Image from The Firefly and Serenity Database.

The idea for this song came from outside of Firefly, however, because it’s an adaptation of an 1865 song called “The Faded Coat of Blue” — a song that evokes the anguish of a parent whose son never returned from the Civil War. I don’t recall when I first had the notion of changing every “blue” in the original song to “brown” (which necessitated changing all of the accompanying rhymes) but it seemed as if it would make a fitting tribute. And not only a fitting tribute, but that it could make sense in the context of the Firefly milieu.

One aspect of the future that crept into different episodes of the series is the recollection of “Earth that was” — the past planetary home from which humanity spread out. It seemed to me that some of the music of the distant past might survive, and that some resistance fighter might adopt an old song to reflect the struggles and sacrifices of a new war. And I thought it might not matter that the original song was written about a Union soldier rather than a Rebel, because the sacrifices are similar on both sides.

No more the bugle calls the weary one.
Rest, noble spirit, in thy grave unknown.
I’ll find you and know you when the final trumpet sounds
And a robe of white is given for the faded coat of brown.

— “The Faded Coat of Brown”

I hope I maintained the poignancy of the original, even as I adapted it to the fictional universe of Firefly. You can decide for yourself if you listen to “The Faded Coat of Brown”. I hope you like it.

___

One last note: Many Browncoat fan groups around the country sponsor showings of Serenity and other events to raise money for charity. I hope they like the song, too!

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Campaign Chronicle, 1 Week to Election: Vote Early, Vote Often!

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I’m only partly kidding with that title, and in a second I’ll explain why.

First, two important notes regarding the 2015 Cary Town Council election:
– TODAY (the 29th) is the last day to request an absentee ballot. Your request needs to be in the Board of Elections office by the close of business.
– TOMORROW (the 30th) is the first day for early voting in Cary. You can vote at the Herb Young Community Center from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, but only from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday.

So, vote early if you want to!

VOTE
(“VOTE,” by Theresa Thompson, on Flickr under Creative Commons.)

Now, about that “vote often” bit, remember that even though I’m on the ballot for the District D seat on the Cary Town Council, I’m also the Anti-Candidate, available as your convenient write-in vote for any office, anywhere, at any time. So whether you live in Cary or not, whether your election is on October 6th or in November with all the normal elections, if there’s a “write-in” slot on your ballot and you don’t have any strong feelings about the people vying for the office, put me down for the job! Just be sure to spell my name right: G-r-a-y R-i-n-e-h-a-r-t. Don’t confuse the election officials.*

I think it would be hilarious if, in addition to getting votes for District D, I got a few write-in votes for other offices on the ballot. So spread the word:

  • tell your friends;
  • share the link to this post on social media;
  • forward the link to a friend (or even an adversary);
  • print a flyer in either color or black and white and put it up somewhere;
  • hire a skywriter to put “Vote for Gray” up among the clouds;**
  • stand on the streetcorner and encourage people (but don’t harangue them; nobody likes to be harangued) to vote and even to write me in.

Vote for Gray, for everything!

___
*The fact that there are two “Gray Rinehart”s in the world may be confusing, but I’m the only Anti-Candidate.
**Fair warning: If you do something silly like that, be prepared to send LOTS of paperwork to the Board of Elections.

Spending Disclosure: As of this date, my campaign has spent a total of $84.

This blog post was “paid” for, at the cost of $0 and whatever time it took Gray to write and upload it, by The Gray Man: Service, Leadership, Creativity.

For additional updates and info, sign up for my newsletter using the form in the right sidebar or visit the election page on my website.

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Blogging the New CD: E is for Ender

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Fifth in a series of blog posts about the songs on my new CD, Distorted Vision.

E is for Ender — Andrew “Ender” Wiggin — the boy genius turned military commander in Orson Scott Card’s novel Ender’s Game. Faced with the disorientation of zero gravity during Battle School, Ender devised a simple way to orient himself and his troops during the battle “game” — he began thinking of the objective (the gate by which the opposing force would enter the Battle Room) as “down.” Thus, in the Battle Room, “the enemy’s gate is down.”

The enemy lurks in the endless sky
And gave us no choice but to win or die
But justice will not be denied
The enemy’s gate is down, the enemy’s gate is down, down, down

— “The Enemy’s Gate is Down”


Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card.

The novel Ender’s Game got me back into reading science fiction after a long hiatus.

When I was a mid-grade captain in the USAF, stationed at Vandenberg AFB, one of the lieutenants in our unit suggested I read Ender’s Game. For several years almost all of my off-duty reading had been either school- or military-related, and I did little pleasure reading despite having been an avid science fiction reader before college.

Reading Ender’s Game, I realized what I had been missing.

I still had other reading to do, but gradually I added more science fiction and fantasy to my off-duty reading. My wife and I began reading some SF&F classics to one another on long trips — Starship Troopers on one trip, for instance, and then when our children were old enough that they would listen we read The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and the Harry Potter novels.

Gradually I also added more Orson Scott Card novels to my shelves. I don’t remember how long it was before I realized that I had first encountered his fiction in Omni magazine, back when I had been one of that magazine’s earliest subscribers.

When I was stationed in Greenland, for a brief period of time I was part of an online writing group that OSC sponsored on his website. I learned a good bit from the experience, and during that assignment I wrote my first novel. (After many rejections I got an offer on it from a small publisher, but did not proceed with the deal — a story for another day.)

In 2003 I attended OSC’s writing workshop at UNC-Greensboro, where I found out a lot of what I had done wrong in that first novel. Then in 2004 he selected me as one of the students for his Literary Boot Camp, held that year at Southern Virginia University in Buena Vista, Virginia. I learned so much during that week that I still haven’t put into practice, but I have seen some small success with my short fiction since selling my first story in 2007 and making my first “professional” sale in 2010.

So not only because the novel got me back into reading SF&F, but because it rejuvenated my long-comatose dream of writing and publishing my own stories, being able to do a song based on Ender’s Game meant a lot to me. (Where that dream morphed into writing and publishing songs, I’m not sure; I guess I needed another hobby.)

Anyway, in the song I wanted a martial beat to capture the battle feel and I tried to compose words that would reflect the difficulties of fighting an implacable enemy in order to protect those we hold dear.

There are times when you fight, win however you can
The price you pay is your soul … piece by piece by piece
It’s a pittance to offer, for your fellow man
To guard those we love and treasure while they peacefully sleep

And in the final chorus, I change the focus from the determination we must have to face the enemy to the price we pay in doing so.

The price of freedom is always high
We pay it when we kill, and we’ll pay it if we die
But we pay it for the futures of those we left behind
The enemy’s gate is down, the enemy’s gate is down, down, down

If I’d been more forward-thinking, I would have written and released the song to coincide with the release of the movie. But my sense of timing has never been that good.

Anyway, whether you’ve read Ender’s Game (or seen the movie) or not, and even if you can’t relate to the feelings expressed in the song, I hope you like “The Enemy’s Gate is Down”!


___

One final note: Both the first chorus and the second chorus include subtle, if not downright obscure, homages to renowned science fiction authors. Can you pick them out?

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Campaign Chronicle, 2 Weeks to Election: Taking the Pulse of District D

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We’re getting down to the wire in the Cary Town Council election. Early voting starts this Thursday in Raleigh, then next week in Cary, and the local election day itself is the 6th of October.


It’s a fair question.

In advance of the election I’ve been out canvassing nearby neighborhoods, asking two open-ended questions to see what people like and don’t like about Cary. I’ve hit only a tiny fraction of District D — the district has over 20,000 registered voters in it — but here’s what the people I’ve talked with have told me about their top issues.

First I ask people, What is your favorite thing about living in Cary, or the thing about Cary that you think works the best? The top answers have been:

  • Parks & Greenways (24%)
  • Location: 4 Seasons; Proximity to RTP, Raleigh, Conveniences (18%)
  • Security / Public Safety (11%)
  • Established Neighborhoods / Good Family Environment & Schools (7%)
  • Small-Town Feel (7%)
  • Town Services / Attentiveness to Needs (7%)

A few people mentioned other things like the town’s friendliness, its cleanliness, its people, and even its emphasis on recycling. But consider those top results for a moment.

For many people the thing that sets Cary apart is the care the town has taken to ensure a variety of green spaces for recreation and relaxation — and as someone who walks the greenway around Bond Lake several times a week, I feel the same way! But for nearly a fifth of the people I talked to the best thing about Cary is not what the town does but rather where the town is. “Location, location, location,” as they say.

What those top results tell me is that the resources we put into keeping the town livable and safe are likely to pay dividends in the form of a continued high quality of life for Cary residents. That’s been a priority for the Council as well as the town staff, and should remain so.

Then I ask people a contrasting question: What about Cary would you most want to change, or the thing about Cary that you think doesn’t work so well? The top answers have been:

  • “Nothing” / “I Don’t Know” (17%)
  • Need a Better/Revitalized Downtown Environment (15%)
  • Excessive Growth / Density / Urban Sprawl (15%)
  • Crumbling Traffic & Other Infrastructure (10%)
  • Loss of Trees from Excessive Construction (7%)
  • Crowding: Schools, Roadways (7%)

No kidding: When I asked that question, more often than not people seemed to struggle to think of anything substantial that they would like to change or see done differently. One gentleman I spoke with yesterday just smiled and shook his head, as if I shouldn’t have bothered with such a question. I don’t remember his exact words, but they were along the lines of, “We have the lowest taxes and the best services in the county, what else do we need?”

Some people did mention other issues, like the need for clearer rules and exceptions (e.g., about Cary’s infamous sign ordinances), the need for more activities, better broadband access, and more affordable housing, but even some of those responses appeared to be second thoughts rather than immediate concerns. Undoubtedly some citizens in my district are concerned about other issues, but I can only report on what people have told me, and no one — I must emphasize, not a single person — has so far mentioned the kind of things that I expected to hear, like wanting better government accountability, or lower taxes, or public transportation, or even better parking downtown.

In other words, for the people I’ve been talking to, Cary is a nice place and there’s precious little about it that needs to be changed. That’s part of the reason why I wrote to someone recently that I’m not running to “make a difference,” and I’m not on any “damn fool idealistic crusade” (to quote a famous movie character). I’m running because I’m interested in making sure Cary stays the safe, prosperous community it is, and that it doesn’t ruin itself by growing too fast and discarding its small-town feel and charm.

If that appeals to you, and if you’d like someone on the council with an analytical but creative way of thinking, then I’d be happy to have your vote on October 6th … or early, if you prefer!

___
Want to help my campaign? Tell someone about it today! Share this post on social media or forward the link to anyone who lives in North Carolina (especially the Research Triangle area or the Town of Cary). Call your favorite radio station and ask them to play “The Anti-Candidate Song” a few times. Download a Print-It-Yourself Flyer in either color or black and white and put it up in your office or at your favorite hangout. And for occasional updates and info, sign up for my newsletter using the form in the right sidebar or visit the election page on my website. Thanks!

Spending Disclosure: As of this date, my campaign has spent a total of $84. (And that includes the T-shirt I’m wearing in the picture.)

This blog post was “paid” for, at the cost of $0 and whatever time it took Gray to write and upload it, by The Gray Man: Service, Leadership, Creativity.

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Blogging the New CD: D is for Distortion of Some Type

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Fourth in a series of blog posts about the songs on my new CD, Distorted Vision.

What type of distortion do I mean in the title of this blog post? Okay, yes, it’s pretty obvious, but I didn’t want to come right out and say “D is for Distorted Vision.”


“And my crystal ball is cracked, no magic images appear.”

The title song of my new CD, actually called “My Distorted Vision” in full, opens like this:

The limits of my vision change in unexpected ways
I can’t get my mind to focus on the things that really matter
I see the past too clearly, the present moments are a blurry haze
And there are dirty, shuttered panes between me and happily ever after

— “My Distorted Vision”

This song originated in kind of an odd way — or, more odd than many of my songs. Often I’ll start out with an idea; for instance, “Another Romulan Ale” from my first album came about because I wanted to write a Star Trek drinking song. In this case, however, I had one line in particular occur to me — “the old gray man is a far, far cry from what I used to be” — which is both a nod to my alter ego, the “Gray Man,” and an admission that I’m not as young as I once was. So I decided to write a song around that line.

This is as close to a rock-and-roll song as I’ve ever written. I was very pleased that music engineer, arranger and studio musician par excellence Mark Minervino was able to give it a feel very much like the Moody Blues, one of my all-time favorite bands.

And even if you can’t relate to the feelings expressed in the song, I hope you like “My Distorted Vision”!

 

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Campaign Chronicle, 3 Weeks to Election: My Distant Cousin Founded This Town

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As I began my run — okay, my ambling walk — for the empty Town Council seat, I was surprised to find that I am related to the man who founded Cary, North Carolina.

Back in 2011 I wrote about my family connection to the Pages of Williamsburg, Virginia, and at the time I didn’t give any thought to the possibility that those Pages might be related to the Page family here. But they are.

First, it’s important to point out what my friends have known for a long time: the Gray Man was adopted when he was young, which muddies the water a bit when it comes to tracing lineages and such. For those who don’t know the story: I was born Thomas Graham Lipscomb, and my father was Thomas Page Lipscomb. He died when I was three, and my mom later married Herbert Wade Rinehart. Shortly after moving to Georgetown, South Carolina — where I learned about the Gray Man and latched onto the legendary ghost as my alter ego — my stepfather adopted me and I became Graham Wade Rinehart. Or, as most of my friends know me, Gray Rinehart.

I first wondered about the connection when I was on Chatham Street in downtown Cary and noticed a historical marker about William Hines Page (with whose statue I’m pictured below). Oddly enough, before I thought about whether I might be related to him I thought about a friend of mine named “Hines” from grade school. But once the possible Page family connection came to mind, it was easy enough to check out.


(On the Cary Town Hall campus, I’m standing next to a statue of a distant cousin who was Ambassador to Great Britain and the son of the town’s founder. See any resemblance?)

William Hines Page, who was at one time Ambassador to Great Britain — itself something of a nod to the family history, since Colonel John Page originally came from Britain to settle at Williamsburg — was the son of Allison Francis (Frank) Page, who founded Cary and served as its first Mayor and postmaster. He built the Page-Walker Hotel, which stands behind the Town Hall building and is now an art gallery and focal point for local events. Frank Page’s father was Anderson Page, whose father was Lewis Page, whose father was Robert Edward Page, whose father was Mann Page II, whose father was the Honorable Mann Page.

The Honorable Mann Page, it turns out, is our nearest common ancestor.

The Honorable Mann Page had another son, about whom I wrote in that linked blog post: the Honorable John Page, who was friends with Thomas Jefferson at the College of William & Mary. The Honorable John Page’s son was Major Carter Page, whose son was Dr. Mann Page, whose son was Carter Henry Page, whose son was Carter Henry Page, Jr., whose daughter was Katherine Carlisle Page. She was my “Grandma Kate.” Her son was Thomas Page Lipscomb, my natural father.

Thus, as near as I can figure from looking at canon law relationships, Frank Page — Cary’s founder — was my fourth cousin, three times removed.

I doubt that makes anyone more or less likely to vote for me for Cary Town Council. But it’s an interesting coincidence!

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Election Day for the Cary Town Council race is October 6th, but early voting begins on September 24th!

Have you told anyone about my campaign? It’s easy! Just share this post on social media or forward the link to anyone who lives in North Carolina (especially the Research Triangle area or the Town of Cary). Better yet, download a Print-It-Yourself Flyer in either color or black and white and put it up in your office or at your favorite hangout. For additional updates and info, sign up for my newsletter using the form in the right sidebar or visit the election page on my website. Thanks!

Spending Disclosure: As of this date, my campaign has spent a total of $84.

This blog post was “paid” for, at the cost of $0 and whatever time it took Gray to write and upload it, by The Gray Man: Service, Leadership, Creativity.

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Blogging the New CD: C is for Christ’s Hard Sayings

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Third in a series of blog posts about the songs on my new CD, Distorted Vision.

Some people reading this may be averse to anything that even hints at Christianity, its tenets or its practices. That’s okay. But even people who do not follow Christ can often recognize and sometimes appreciate things he said.

Consider “Turn the other cheek,” for instance. Many people might recognize that sentiment without knowing that Jesus said it, or without knowing how subversive it was at the time.* Like many of the things that Jesus taught, however, it’s easier to say than it is to put into practice. To apply it to a recent situation in science fiction and fantasy fandom, had more people been able to turn the other cheek the great Hugo Award Fracas of 2015 might have resulted in fewer hurt feelings and fewer damaged friendships.

The truth is that Jesus said some things that are difficult to understand and difficult to embody. As a result, the practice of Christianity is sometimes hard to accomplish.

Follow me, and learn to fish for human souls
Follow me, leave your family and your home
Follow me, I don’t bring peace, I bring a sword
Follow me, and let the dead bury their own

— “We Want the Easy Road”

Some of those things are hard to figure out, and some are hard to do, on top of the basic problem of dealing with doubt and uncertainty day by day, and of trying to make the most of whatever measure of faith we may have. This song, then, is primarily about dealing with the difficult things that Jesus said, the things he said that fly in the face of the way we think the world works or should work, and above all else the one thing he said that can confound us whether we ignore it or we try to obey it. And that was simply, “Follow me.”

What are we to make of the things he said? At times during the song you get some of my reactions:

  • “It sounds so good, you knew it would, all the pleasant things you said”
  • “It sounds so odd, these words from God, so we ignore the hard things you said”
  • “It sounds absurd, these things we heard — all those crazy things you said”
  • “We close our ears, don’t want to hear, are we sure that’s what you said?”

And as the good things he said transition to odd things, to things that sound absurd, and to things that we may not want to hear, I conclude that quite often we want the easy road rather than the straight and narrow, the wine and the bread of communion rather than the sweat and sacrifice of service.

A loaf of bread...
“We want the easy road, the wine, the bread.” (Image: “A loaf of bread…” by James Lee, from Flickr under Creative Commons.)

Whether you are a believer or not, whether you have ever even thought much about who Jesus was or what he did, I hope you can find something to ponder in “We Want the Easy Road”. And if you like it, go ahead and share it with others who might like it, too.

___
*If you want to know more about how turning the other cheek or going the extra mile would have been subversive acts, drop me a line.

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Campaign Chronicle, 4 Weeks to Election: People Who Shouldn’t Vote for Me

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I wrote this post while riding in the van on the way home from Dragon Con, the largest science fiction and fantasy convention in the Southeast. You can judge for yourself whether that may have anything to do with the content.

Don't Blame Me...I Voted for Kodos
(Image: “Don’t Blame Me…I Voted for Kodos,” by Steve Snodgrass, from Flickr under Creative Commons.)

We’re still counting down to the Cary, NC, Town Council election, and if you don’t live in Cary — and particularly in District D — you can’t vote for me even if you might want to. (You can, however, always write me in for some office in your area; I will not renounce my Anti-Candidate availability.)

However, you should not vote for me if …

  • You want the government to do everything.
  • You want the government to do nothing.
  • You don’t proceed when a traffic light turns green because you are too busy messing with your cell phone.
  • You dislike or disapprove of the U.S. military.
  • You dislike or disapprove of all public safety professionals, especially police officers.
  • You regularly watch and derive significant entertainment value and home economics tips from television shows about “real housewives,” and/or frequently seek life advice from people who are famous primarily for being famous.
  • You believe that your rights include the right to take rights from others.
  • You believe that other people exercising their rights represents an existential threat to your rights.
  • You are a member of Al Qaeda or any other group that has sworn enmity to the United States of America. (Hat tip to James Galt-Brown.)
  • You think having more money or things makes you a better person.
  • You think buying something on sale leaves you with more money in your pocket than not buying it at all.
  • You think the solution to all our economic problems is for the government to just print more money.
  • You would let this or any other Internet list make up your mind for you about what you should do. (Hat tip to Martin Shoemaker.)
  • You believe everything you read on the Internet.
  • You believe everything that politicians tell you.
  • You don’t necessarily believe everything that politicians tell you, but you find their empty platitudes and impossible promises comforting.
  • You call all Muggles “mudbloods.”
  • You have no discernible sense of humor.

I could have come up with many, many more such examples. Probably you can, too, and I welcome any suggestions you’d like to put in the comments.

And remember: If you are eligible to vote but don’t, you relinquish a power that was yours to use, and for which others have sacrificed much.

___
Election Day for the Cary Town Council race is October 6th, but early voting begins on September 24th.

Help spread the word about my campaign: Share this post on social media or forward it to anyone you know. Or, if you live in North Carolina, especially in the Research Triangle area or the Town of Cary, download a Print-It-Yourself Flyer in either color or black and white and put it up in your office or at your favorite hangout. For additional updates and info, sign up for my newsletter using the form in the right sidebar or visit the election page on my website. Thanks!

Spending Disclosure: As of this date, my campaign has spent a total of $84.

This blog post was “paid” for, at the cost of $0 and whatever time it took Gray to write and upload it, by The Gray Man: Service, Leadership, Creativity.

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Blogging the New CD: B is for Baen

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Second in a series of blog posts about the songs on my new CD, Distorted Vision.

Shortly after I finished up my first album I started writing a tribute song about Baen Books. I’ve been quite pleased to work as a Contributing Editor for Baen for many years now, and I’m equally pleased to include this song on my new album.

We’ve got Weber, Drake, and Ringo, and Correia and Bujold
Some of the finest stories that you’ve ever been told
Lackey, Flint and Kratman, Spencer and Van Name — look for the
Dragon and the rocket ship, on the books we call Baen

— “The Books we Call Baen”

One of the tricky things about this song is that I used an existing tune, and one that Firefly fans in particular will recognize: “The Hero of Canton.” Since “Baen” is pronounced “bane,” it seemed natural to adapt the phrase “the man they call Jayne” into “the books we call Baen.”

The difficulty came when I started trying to fit the names of various authors into the chorus. If perhaps you don’t recognize all the authors’ names in the chorus, they’re David Weber, David Drake, John Ringo, Larry Correia, Lois McMaster Bujold, Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint, Tom Kratman, Wen Spencer, and Mark Van Name. It was a fun challenge, though, and I like the way it turned out!

Also, if you’re not sure what I mean by “the dragon and the rocket ship,” take a close look at the Baen logo:

In the negative space of the plume of that launching spaceship, you’ll see the profile of a dragon. Thus the logo itself captures both the science fiction and fantasy sides of the publishing house.

Using an existing tune caused me some additional problems. Since I hadn’t written a parody of the original song, I needed to get permission to record the new song, and that proved to be quite the adventure. “The Hero of Canton” was written by Firefly producer Ben Edlund, and I tried several different avenues of trying to get in touch with him — trying to send a message via the man who played Jayne, Adam Baldwin, for instance, and asking Sean Maher (who played Simon Tam) when I saw him at MystiCon in Roanoke. I began to despair of success, but in May I finally achieved a breakthrough in contact. Even though Mr. Edlund said he wasn’t completely sure he could grant me the right to record it, he gave his blessing to the effort — and that was enough for me.

My first version of the song included an extended ending chorus with the names of additional authors, but between the time I wrote it and the time I was recording the song we added several new authors to the Baen family — and since some of them were friends of mine, I didn’t want to leave them out! So began a quick rewrite of that extended chorus in order to shoehorn more names in.

I know I still left out some authors — I hate to think how long the song would be if I tried to include every author in our catalog — but the final chorus now mentions Chuck Gannon, Dave Freer, Michael Z. Williamson, Frank Chadwick, Ben Bova, Sarah Hoyt, Ryk Spoor, Tony Daniel, Sharon Lee, Steve Miller, Jody Lynn Nye, David B. Coe, Steve White, Brad Torgersen, Catherine Asaro, Timothy Zahn, Travis Taylor, Elizabeth Moon, Robert Buettner, Mike Resnick, Eric James Stone, Steve Stirling, John Lambshead, Les Johnson, Anne McCaffrey, Jerry Pournelle, Andre Norton, Larry Niven, Harry Turtledove, and Robert A. Heinlein. And even though I mostly only mention their last names, that’s still a lot of syllables to put together!

As you might imagine, there are a few “in jokes” in the song, but even if you have no idea who Joe Buckley is or what an eARC is, I hope you’ll smile and sing along to “The Books We Call Baen”!

___

Reminder: I’m playing a concert as part of the Dragon Con Filk Track, this Sunday the 6th of September at 4 p.m. in the Hyatt Regency’s Baker Room. Come out and see me!

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Campaign Chronicle, 5 Weeks to Election: Various Political Thoughts

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I’ve done a little canvassing around my district (still lots more to do!), but so far I’ve found that most people have expressed similar preferences on what they appreciate about living in Cary and … let’s say, what they find annoying. And since I’ve been talking with folks who could be my constituents one day, I thought I should relay some of my thinking about what you might expect from me in terms of political service.

First, a reminder: Election Day for the Cary Town Council race is October 6th, but early voting begins on September 24th!

Liberty
Looks as if this eagle is deep in thought. (Image: “Liberty” by Joel Olives, on Flickr under Creative Commons.)

For about as long as I’ve been running this blog, I’ve occasionally written about political topics — long before I started this “election countdown” series of posts, at least. In this current series, though, I’ve discussed how my long practice in telling people “no” may have made me a poor political candidate, why I’m not making any promises to anyone, and how you can help spread the word about my campaign.

But some of my older posts might be instructive to people who are deciding whether to vote for me.

I did a series of posts called “If I Were My Own Representative,” for instance. In that series, I discussed my intention to understand, as fully as possible, any bills I would be voting on, why my default position on legislation that would hurt people would be “no”, and the message I hope I always deliver, that the U.S. is still “the greatest hope for peace and prosperity in the world”.

I also wrote a series of posts in which I floated various ideas for tax reforms, such as taxing long-term investment income at a lower rate than income from short-term speculation, eliminating taxes on interest from savings below certain amounts, and phased-in business taxes to help young businesses succeed.

And I’ve written about broader political topics, like putting civility back into civil discourse, metaphors for the opposing ends of the political spectrum, and why we shouldn’t punish good people when bad things happen.

I hope voters who might be considering me as their candidate will read a few of those that interest them. I don’t expect anyone to read through all of them (those series, for instance, were longer than just the ones I mentioned), but reading a few would give anyone a deeper look into how I think about political subjects. I have more political posts to choose from, too — plus some that I didn’t even categorize as such. But for a quicker assessment of what I’m about as a candidate, consider this:

  • I believe the fundamental purpose of government is to preserve your (and my) rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness;
  • I believe that our rights, both individual and collective in the form of the government, should not infringe on the rights of others;
  • I believe that government action intended to help anyone should be carefully evaluated on the basis of who it is likely to hurt in the process, and rejected if the benefits do not justify the cost;
  • I believe in being accountable, by which I mean being “able to give an account,” i.e., able to explain my reasoning for actions taken … and not taken;
  • I believe that many if not most people who present themselves as politicians take themselves far too seriously; and
  • I believe that serving in office is more important than running for office.

If any of that appeals to you, I hope you’ll consider voting for me.

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Help spread the word about my campaign! Share this post on social media or forward it specifically to anyone you know who lives in North Carolina, especially in the Research Triangle area or the Town of Cary. Or download a Print-It-Yourself Flyer in either color or black and white and put it up in your office or at your favorite hangout. For additional updates and info, sign up for my newsletter using the form in the right sidebar or visit the election page on my website. Thanks!

Spending Disclosure: As of this date, my campaign has spent a total of $84.

This blog post was “paid” for, at the cost of $0 and whatever time it took Gray to write and upload it, by The Gray Man: Service, Leadership, Creativity.

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