AND Magazine Interviews John Dennis

Interview

By Hugo Delgado

It strikes me that only in sitting down with a candidate for political office do we see the true wisdom of the system devised by the founders. Americans are meant to debate, discuss, examine, and berate those who seek high office. Those who would seek to enforce their will upon the body politic should bear the closest of scrutiny. The media excels at this. What is does not excel at, what it fails miserably at, is listening. It is not far fetched to believe that the average voter would balk at spending half and hour or, heaven forbid, an hour really listening and examining a candidate for Congress. This has resulted in the perpetuation of our own misery. If we cannot be bothered to look beyond party label or media hype, then we do ourselves a disservice. We were meant to know our elected representatives as people, as human beings. This is a country born of citizen legislators, not some permanent ruling class.

John Dennis is the Republican nominee for Congress from the 8th district of California. This is, even more than Berkeley, the beating heart of the liberal wing of the Democratic party. This is the City of Milk and Moscone, a place where few Republicans dare tread. We ought not be proud of this. We have abdicated our own supreme authority to little more than party labels and propaganda.

In listening to the man, if you truly listen, you can hear what democracy was meant to be. That isn't an endorsement. I don't presume to tell people how they ought to exercise their right to vote. That is for you and you alone to decide. I would however beg you to listen. I asked Dennis why he was running for office, he sat back, looked very determined and said "I have a daughter." For all of you who have daughters and sons, take notice.

In this interview John Dennis and I discussed a wide range of issues covering his personal life, professional background, and political beliefs. This is Dennis in his one words, I hope you find this as illuminating as I did.

Legislative Priorities

John Dennis: "I would work towards…uh. I wouldn't consider myself anti-war. I mean, I don't think anyone should consider themselves pro-war. I would escalate the time frame or shorten the time frame for withdrawal in Iraq and Afghanistan as well. I think those are key issues with which I can reach out to voters. I'm also not a prohibitionist.

AND: Assuming a victory, day one in office for John Dennis. What is the first bill we're working on right out of the gate?

John Dennis: The first bill would be a bill which would require every bill from that point forward and every amendment to those bills to have sunset clauses in them.

AND: Any particular reason for that?

John Dennis: We are overwhelmed by legislation. Some of it we've had on the books since World War II. We're looking at things we needed for World War II that don't apply today. I mean, there are no sunsets in anything. I mean, don't we think we need to review these things? Or are we going to continue to pile money on top of money to create, you know, work for people? That's definitely number one. Number 2 and a close number 2, it might actually be number 1 is to do everything I can to support HR1207. The Federal Reserve transparency act. The monetary policy that comes from the Federal Reserve, there's nothing more important. The Federal Reserve is responsible for all the boom and bust cycles we've been having. The longer we have an uncontrolled flow of money, the longer we're looking at problems for this country.

AND: When speaking about monetary policy, and this is coming not only from a Congressional or Senatorial level, there seems to be a haze that drops over a persons eyes when you talk about the Federal Reserve and tightening our currency. The problems seem to be to fantastic to believe. What would you say to a citizen, a voter, who is working two jobs just to make ends meet to convince them that this a is a real problem, that this isn't just fear mongering?

John Dennis: Well, I think people understand that every dollar that gets printed is a dollar that could end up in their pockets. There's savings and their 401(k)s are threatened. I mean, the printing of a dollar that's not backed by anything could erase everything you've been working for. So, and, the result of that dilution ends up in prices. A hidden tax. Particularly pernicious because it effects poor people the most. Secondly, there's an inherent unfairness in an organization that can create money with the stroke of a keyboard, not being fully audited. Would you put your money in a bank that wasn't audited?

AND: So your two primary causes, it seems to me, is to reintroduce examination of what Congress has done and to eliminate those provisions that no longer make any sense and to basically open the doors of the Federal Reserve. What would you say in terms of your issues relative to the district? What is going on in San Francisco that concerns you and that is an issue for you that you would work on?

John Dennis: You know, it's funny you say that. I look up and down, to me there's nothing more important than what's going on with the national currency. It's the most critical thing. I mean I look at the money things that flow into the district. We're looking at things that are purely discretionary. We're looking at the fact that the Federal Reserve doubled the money supply in the past year. I mean, the consequences of that, we have to talk about. This one thing will effect everyone across the country.

AND: You seem to be duly focused on the national issues, especially with Pelosi's very high profile positions in Congress. But, I am wondering if there is a localized side to that. If there's anything going on with possible relationships with Councilman, the Mayor, even the Governor. Whether there were things you wanted to get done on a local level?

John Dennis: Well let's look at it from a strictly Federal perspective. Truth be told locally, a lot of these conversations are going to be about budgetary shortfalls and trying to get money from the Federal government. And it's going to be tough to come by. You know, I look at the geography and topography of San Francisco. There are maritime issues that always need to be managed and dealt with. There are issues which apply to every Congressman, like securing benefits for constituents that are entitled to them. The day to day management of the office, constituents, plans and projects that people would like to build here. All of these things I would address in due course but first and foremost is saving the Republic frankly.
John Dennis and Judge Napolitano on Freedom Watch Aug 12, 2009
John Dennis and Judge Napolitano on Freedom Watch Aug 12, 2009
Evolution of a conservative

AND: Let's talk a little bit about your personal background. Where do you come from? From what brought these particular beliefs that you express. It's a very libertarian, very down to earth way of dealing with things. You're not sitting here talking to me about wedge issues. Where does this come from? Who is John Dennis?

John Dennis: Well that's an interesting thing, you know I've been saying in most of my speeches that I've never been so optimistic. Even though things are so bad. You know, I don't talk about hope and change because this is real change that I'm talking about. There will be enormous hope and an explosion of good across the country if we do the things that I proscribe. But where I come from? I grew up in Jersey City. My father was a longshoreman, my mother was a clerk in city hall. And, uh, a number of those things have influenced me. I've been talking about this recently even though my father hates when I talk about it. I grew up in a housing project. It's become, in a lot of ways, a metaphor for every government program that I see. Because, um, when my family first moved in there they say a place that was, you know, well located and clean, offered amenities for low market rent. That said, "wow that's a good deal, let's move in it." But like everything the government does, it over promised and under-delivered. Over time, because when the government owns it everyone owns it then nobody owns it. So over time, things deteriorated and got worse and worse so that by the time we left…there were wonderful people who lived there, but as things went on it was everything that most people imagine about, all the bad things you can imagine about living in a housing project. I mean, sometimes it was terrifying. There were horrible things that happened, you know, on a regular basis, specifically towards the end. And ultimately it got much worse when we moved out, I think that during the 80's when the harder drugs moved in there it was ultimately unmanageable. So these 12-13 story buildings were reduced to rubble. And that's what I think of when I think of the health care legislation. It's what I think of when I think of every piece of government legislation. It ultimately starts to…it's over-promising and under-delivering and ends in a pile of rubble that some government contractor hauls off. So, that was a huge influence on me. Another big influence was that I went to a Jesuit prep school and a Jesuit University and in a couple years, I think 1984 I read Ayn Rand. And at the same time somehow managed to fall into the hands of the only Jesuit libertarian that I have, that I know of. He taught a very contract law driven libertarianism. It had a profound impact on me. At the time I was student body president, and a member of the debate team. And, you know, in my last semester we went all up and down the east coast against all these great schools constantly talking about the things I'm talking about now: limited government and a free market to the point where the guys from the Harvard team called me Adam Smith. That year, '84-'85, was really you know…a crucial time in my political development. Before that, you know, Jersey City and Hudson county where I grew up was the most densely Democratic country in America. I was just sort of a Democrat by osmosis. But, as I found my own voice I became more comfortable being a Republican.

AND: Talk to me a little bit about being a Democrat by osmosis. How did that change?

John Dennis: Well, once I was confronted with…well, I became student body president and people started asking me questions about politics as if I was some sort of political entity, as if I had some knowledge and expertise. And I suddenly realized I had no idea what I was talking about. (laughs) And so I started reading and I came across Ayn Rand.

AND: Take me through the later years, your professional career, and where exactly that leads you to running for Congress.

John Dennis: Uh, well, when I was at school I worked as an intern with a guy…and to make a long story short that guy and another guy became partners in a company that became known as Humanscale. When I graduated I ended up moving to Chicago to open up a sales office to help build our national sales organization. I didn't have much help and had to build that from scratch. Through about '93 I was there, I was here, we had offices in southern California. We ended up building a factory, we had one here in the US and opened another one in Dublin, Ireland to try to develop the business in Europe. Eventually they convinced me to move over to Europe and so I lived in Europe for 4 years. I so eventually I came to take care of all the business outside North America. Truth be told, I loved the company and what we were doing but I didn't want to be second fiddle for the rest of my life.

AND: Did that experience, working with the European governments and their regulatory environments have any impact on what you see going on in the United States?

John Dennis: I was pretty, pretty anti-government by that point. It just kind of confirmed what I thought. One place I lived was Sweden, and I know that a lot of folks on the left like to think of Sweden as this socialist paradise. I'd still did business there, you know, put things in development there and I loved my time there, loved the people there. There are lots of challenges to doing business in Sweden, it's not the paradise that the left would have you believe. I've been involved in their health care. You know, I've been to doctors in Sweden and doctors in Holland even the UK. Mostly for colds, sore throats, you know that sort of thing. They're smart people, but, there's a dramatic qualitative difference between the health care services I have here compared to what I had over there.

AND: Tell me a little bit more about that.

John Dennis: It was very disinterested, rushed in and out sort of thing. Long waiting lines, if you needed antibiotics or something like that. Long long wait lines to get into see people. I was just grateful that it wasn't anything serious, that I didn't have anything serious wrong with me. On another hand on of my friends had a daughter who ended up having to go to the doctor in Sweden. It was pediatric, a heart problem, and she was really well taken care of, they put emphasis on those sorts of things. But then his grandparents, or his mother, had some sort of issue and there was an age consideration that she had to deal with. And it wasn't cardiac but there were other issues and they had to fight to get her the services that she needed. One of the things is that there's this big fight in Sweden now about the bureaucracy, the bureaucrats are in control of the health care system, not the actual care givers. And that goes back to the government, capital improvements never happen, capital improvements are always deferred. Those improvements are always secondary to the bureaucracy in any program you see over there.

AND: Looking back, thinking about organizations, whether it be a bureaucratic approach or something like that. Specifically talking about the party there seems to be, on a national level, a large amount of disgust with the horse trading and spending today as much as there was in the Bush years.

John Dennis: Right.

The Parties

AND: What separates for you then the Republican Party versus the Democrats?

John Dennis: I've been a Republican for 25 years. The reasons for that are similar to what they are now. I mean, if you read the Democratic Party platform the word "liberty" doesn't come up until page 26. In the Republican Party platform, it's in the first page of the preamble. So there's an emphasis, and a concern, about individual liberty in the Republican Party.

AND: Doesn't it concern you that that's more of a wrapping then more of an actual governing philosophy?

John Dennis: But you know, it isn't for me and it isn't for a whole wing of the party. It's how I grew up.

AND: Talk to me about that wing. What does that wing represent? With the issues we've spoken about, where does that wing fit into the Republican Party?

John Dennis: Where does it fit? Your seeming dozens and dozens of people who identify themselves as being in the Liberty Wing of the Republican Party running for office across the country. You know, Reagan used to say, and he meant it in the context of welfare, kind of the negative context, that if you subsidize something you get more of it. Well the positive side of that aphorism is that if you support something you get more of it too. So if you support more Liberty candidates you're more likely to get a Republican Party that's a lot less likely to renege on its promise of fighting for individual liberty.

AND: Now, when we talk about a "Liberty" wing of the Republican party would you align yourself with more of the Newt Gingrich 1994 "Contract with America" type of pledge to the voters or more of a Sarah Palin/Glenn Beck type which is currently getting thrashed in the media?

John Dennis: Neither one. I mean, we do have a contract with America as it turns out. I don't know if you're aware of this, it's called the Constitution. That's the original contract. Literally our social compact and that's the one we should be working on now. I do admire what they did back them, even though I'm sorry to say they over-promised. There's something interesting about Sarah Palin, on a personal level.

AND: Have you met the Governor?

John Dennis: No, I have not. Something interesting about her. I mean, I hope she's not politically viable. I just don't…I don't see where we go with her. Glenn Beck says some good things, I mean there are some things he says that I like, some things that I don't where he's just out there. He's a lot more militant than I am.

AND: Would you say that kind of opinion generated militantism is helpful or unhelpful to you?

John Dennis: Let me take that and make it more Nationalist. I'll come back to that.

AND: Would you say that type of political push would be helpful or unhelpful for campaign purposes, in an effort to distinguish yourself from being painted with that brush.

John Dennis: Distinguishing myself from Beck?

AND: Yeah, the Tea Party movement and that sort of thing.

John Dennis: No, I'd like to look at it as more of the glass half full. I go to a lot of tea parties and I talk to them. I find myself, I don't agree with a lot of what goes on over there, it's not exactly my cup of tea. But I'm thrilled about the activism, I'm really excited about people standing up and saying "enough already" and I really love the fact that for the most part people are getting it. The Republican Party needs to wake up to this too. I mean, that's a lot of the reason I got involved: just being furious at my own party. I mean, we had the golden opportunity of all time. We had the House, Senate, Presidency. We could have reduced the size of the government and actually respected the constitution. But instead we grew it faster than than even the LBJ administration.

AND: So how does anyone running for Congress, any Republican candidate or conservative candidate separate themselves in this world of blogs? How do you remain your own candidate when everyone in the media is looking to paint you with their own brush and label you as the "tea party candidate" or the "Glenn Beck candidate"?

John Dennis: Well I'm not, I'll go and talk to tea parties but I can't control what the media does. I mean, I'm John Dennis, what you read about me, what you see in that game…I mean, the thing about the tea party is, and I say this in my speeches, is that I'm not about left and right. I'm not about red blue and all that. What I'm more about is the expansion of the Federal government and its effect on individual liberties. That's where the action is. People get caught up in this left/right thing, while the Federal government is going on and on and on always. There's no give or take. It's all take. It's there growth at the expense of our liberty. I want to come back to something, because we didn't finish why I became a Republican.

AND: Sure.

John Dennis: I helped with the Ron Paul campaign back in 1988. The '88 campaign where he ran as a libertarian. I just went to stuff some envelopes in Chicago. There was something about him that I liked. Ron Paul ended up getting about 500,000 votes, you know, the standard for a third party candidate. Fast forward to 2008, and Ron Paul had basically been a Republican expect for that one year that he was out, he launched a movement. I mean like Milton Friedman, a small amount of presence in the Republican Party has much more impact then the libertarian party.

AND: I'd like to move now to media on its impact on the campaign.

John Dennis: Sure.

AND: From the perspective of the Pelosi campaign, what three areas to you see yourself getting attacked on?

John Dennis: (Laughs) I don't think she's attacked any of her Republican opponents.

AND: Well, whether it be her campaign or the Chronicle or the Examiner with endorsements and things like that. How do you see that coming?

John Dennis: Oh I don't know, some odd misrepresentation. I mean, you know, I think anybody for the most part on the left can make up whatever they like. I'm a constitutionalist and I'm going to cling to that.

AND: Even for a liberal coming out of this district it has got to be frustrating to know that anything that you say can be taken out of context.

John Dennis: I'm a public figure now. I have no control over those things. As long as I remain a public figure, the media is going to do what they want to do. What I hope is that I can meet more people like you, and you know, get a fair shake.

AND: How do you imagine for someone running for Congress their first time, struggling against the media, against the parties themselves without getting painted one way or the other. We're going to get into issues here in a second, and that presents a whole other difficulty: trying to remain your own person. If you're a twelve term Congressman are you who you say you are, or have you become what people think you are? Is there anything of that person left, say after 12 terms.

John Dennis: Well, probably both. That's a great question. It's a really well thought out question because, you know, it happens the day you announce. Because all of the sudden your friends call and they say "well, what are you going to talk about?" and maybe you start giving mechanical responses and you realize "oh my god, I'm a candidate." Or you meet people who want to do fundraisers for you and they have an agenda. But I'm not going to back down from my core issues.

AND: Do you believe that the current level of political discourse, whether it be personal, political, or party attacks lack a certain amount of humanity. At least, from the voters perspective, these people aren't real. There's not human, not people you can feel or touch. The candidate…

John Dennis: Is a construct?

AND: Exactly, and how do you combat that?

John Dennis: I have to tell you something. I don't think there's anybody who has ever met me or talked to me about politics who thinks I'm going to renege on my views or my values. The governments takes way too much of our money as it is now. I've spent a lot of time talking about the abuse of the tax system and how government doesn't really have, you know…they've gotten more than they deserve. Above and beyond the constitutional enumerated powers. I'm not going to back down, I think that something sincere will cut through. I feel it already in the campaign. Something I want to mention, and I'm sorry if I repeat myself, but something that I have to mention is that, and its mentioned on Freedom Watch: Nancy Pelosi's had a number of republican challengers, and as Speaker of the House in 2008 raised more money than the previous 10 combined. That's not where my campaign is. I have 14 people on my org chart, we're phonebanking, making specific calls. We have goals we want to accomplish. During the campaign I would estimate that there will be hundreds of volunteers…maybe…from the volume of requests that we get right now, maybe a thousand. These are people who will get involved in the campaign in some way or another. The 2008 republican nominee against Nancy Pelosi had far less than that. What's the difference? Something ignited. This isn't just about the person running against her, she's probably the most reviled political figure of my lifetime. But aside from that, somebody who actually believes in individual liberties, they want to get behind that.

AND: Let's fast forward to the campaign, you've done your opposition research, got your polling done…

John Dennis: Sure.

AND: And you've got this 21 year old volunteer whose going door to door for John Dennis. What could they say? Most people, the moment they here "Republican candidate for Congress" blinders go up. What do you say to that campaign member? What do you say voter to say "please give me a chance."

John Dennis: First of all, presumably, we're going to have the right kind of messaging that's going to soften that blow. And I get it, I know that's something we're going to have to contend with. I'm a different kind of Republican. We've got a general election, and we have to let the people know one way or another that this is not a run of the mill Republican. And then we're going to point out that the comparatives, the differences, on the policy issues where we make a principled stand compared to Nancy Pelosi whose always over-promised and under-delivered.

AND: From a philosophical standpoint, there is this strain in your history from your younger years being a democrat to having what I would call a conservative epiphany.

John Dennis: Yeah.

AND: How do you break past all the media labeling, all the opposition research, the dehumanization, all the personal attacks…what can you say to someone in thirty seconds as a human being rather than a political figure.

John Dennis: I respect you. I respect your rights. I respect your property. Does Nancy Pelosi respect you? Does she respect your rights? Does she respect your property? Is that less than 30 seconds? (Laughs)

AND: I think so. Let's move to issues, where do you stand on abortion?

John Dennis: Well, before we discuss the issue, let me just say that it's a tricky thing. And this is interesting, as a first encounter…my positions are going to seem kind of disparate, but when united by my guiding principles about what the proper role of government ought to be. I generally don't like discussing the social issues because I don't think they have any relevance in what the Federal government ought to be doing. I don't think abortion is a Federal issue.

AND: When you talk about relevance, are you saying that the Federal government has nothing to do with the issue? Or do you think they don't belong in the venue?

John Dennis: I don't, I don't think they do belong in the venue. You know, I respect the constitution as it was written. I respect the rights of the States, and I think that the really difficult things, you know the most difficult most heart wrenching thoughts to come over political discourse have come over this particular issue. It's not a bumper sticker, it's a really intense thing. I see both sides of this condition, and I just think that the more local those decisions are made the better off we are. Well, as you can tell, on the most divisive issues that little bits of what I say are going to be partially taken…well you know.

AND: Do you believe that political candidates for Federal office should state positions on issues rather than solve the problems as they stand?

John Dennis: Okay, let me be a little critical: Absolutely. They should take positions of course, but I'd like to see the media do a better job of, and I'm sorry to say that to a media person, I'd like to see the media do a better job of trying to find out what an underlying political philosophy is.

AND: What do you think the media should do?

John Dennis: We should find out what the endgame is. What does the perfect political world look like for Nancy Pelosi? I mean what is the limit of the government? Is the limit whatever she can't get away with? This is the core thing, what the rules for proper government are. You know, it could be as the framers had intended, I hate to have the "intentions" discussion, but I think one thing is pretty clear: if they wanted the Federal government to be a free for all they would have sat down and written a document that said it was a free for all. So I find it unfair that a guy who wants to follow the constitution has to stand up and said "this is what I think the proper role is" while somebody like Nancy Pelosi does…I think the media could do a much better job.

AND: Well, the media being an issue at large by itself, what do you consider…I would say the media tends to get lost in the "fog of war" the day to day back and forth: get hits, sell papers. That's their bread and butter, how they make money.

John Dennis: Sure.

AND: What you see as, from the candidates perspective, a way to challenge the media?

John Dennis: Well of course you can't fire back at every little thing…

AND: No, but what do you say to attacks? Do you take the position of not dignifying them with responses and just let them hang out there?

John Dennis: Well you do, you can criticize them you can talk to them. I can point out hypocrisy in my speeches. One of my new favorite targets is Chris Matthews, another one is Keith Olbermann: two first class hypocrites. I was speaking at an event to this group, the oathkeepers, there are a lot of instances where I don't agree with them. But, their fundamental premise is that they are not going to accept…are you familiar with them?

AND: Yes.

John Dennis: Yeah, so they're not going to unconstitutional rule. They believe in constitutional order. There's a lot of interesting things that come out of that. Chris Matthews had one of the founders, and he chose to attack the guy as to what he perceived the be the oathkeeper's real endgame. And in the process effectively condoning, you know, the military and the police…accepting in essence unconstitutional rule. He's basically saying that we want you to take unconstitutional orders. I mean, where is Chris Matthews saying…defending the constitution? So, I'll go after them in speeches…you're going to see consistently me speaking out with groups who are about defending the constitution, but they're not my only group. There will always be room for people who want to defend the constitution.

AND: Moving on to a huge constitutional debate, what's your position on the 2nd amendment?

John Dennis: Ok.

AND: And what's your position on gun control? I ask them separately because I believe they are two vastly different things.

John Dennis: Well, of course, I'm a steadfast defender of the 2nd amendment and the entire bill of rights. The tricky part is of course the gun control. You know, I think a crime only happens when it actually happens. I'm not entirely comfortable…I think that the proper role of government is to protect people's rights to defend themselves. I don't like it when we get into this sort of pre-crime business. That's part of where the gun control comes in, it's this pre-crime business. It also sets itself up for the potential abuses that come out of that. I think that as long as people haven't committed a crime, that if you're not holding onto a weapon that has the propensity to harm people in and of itself then it should be legal.

AND: Talk to me about tax policy.

John Dennis: What specifically?

AND: Well what do you think taxes should be? Progressive? Regressive? Where do you stand?

John Dennis: I'm not…again, this is something where I'd like to see it unwound responsibly. You know where I stand on the long term issues, but everything I want done I want it done in a responsible way. Advocating anything else than that is just not right. I think we need to protect the island of liberty we've created here. I think that the government is overspending. I mean, if you look at what we've done now. That's all borrowed money, and we've way overspent. And what I'd like to see isn't the growth of government slowed, I'd like to see it cut. Real cuts, and dramatic cuts.

Pelosi and the Campaign

John Dennis: If you take a real hard look at what Nancy Pelosi has done to this country and to this district, I mean, people want to say that "oh look she brings the bacon home." Look close, look at what has happened in the American economy. We've got a disaster with spending. And amazingly, some people are saying that if we spend more, that it's going to get us out of it. What we're doing is diverting resources from the productive economy, the real economy, into stuff that makes her look like she's doing something. That's number one, what's happening in the economy, the economy is a disaster. She doesn't have a clue what she's talking about. She has no clue. If we go along with the same ideas we'll, if we're lucky, look like Japan did. Specifically, this has two impacts. One is obviously the economy, and the other is about who we are as a people especially in Afghanistan. If she put the muscle behind leaving Afghanistan as she put behind Health Care, how long do you think it would take for us to get out of Afghanistan? We'd be out of there in 60 days. If she called the President and said "Sir, I have the authority, I have control of the purse strings and I have the relationships to get the votes to rescind the authorization." She could get the votes to back HR (?). She could us out of there like that (snaps fingers), to everyone's relief. And what's interesting is that, you know, she won't get must resistance. For the most part, the left didn't support 248, you know 248?

AND: Yeah.

John Dennis: There were all kinds of ways that they used to recuse themselves from supporting it. But the truth of the matter is that the left will go along with the withdrawal. You know, Dana Rohrabacher who wrote of the Mujahideen, and is not anybody's dove, and Tom McClintok both said in an article in The Nation that the majority of the Republican congressional caucus wants to get out of Afghanistan. So, how's it shaping up? If she put the muscle behind it, she'd have the support from the left and little or no resistance from the right…I mean, what are we waiting for? Why are we still there? People are dying, not the least of which are our soldiers, every single day; but what about the people on the ground living in Afghanistan? Their lives matter, too. She's done nothing for them. Meanwhile, you know, I just wrote something that we're going to put out. I'm not sure how we're going to put it out but…this is having a devastating impact. War is never a good thing. Think about the economy, think about the huge diversion of resources. We've just re-uped to the tune of $30 billion, could that $30 billion be used here to help out the economy instead of wasted over there in Afghanistan? It just doesn't make any sense. I want the voters to go back to…I want the voters to hold her accountable.

AND: From what it seems like to me, it seems as if you're talking about some sort of disconnect between what Nancy Pelosi is perceived as doing for the district and what she's actually doing.

John Dennis: Oh, absolutely. Let me go back to something. You know in 2005, she made simple and declarative sentences in her words against Iraq. Aimed at the administration, challenging Bush telling him to "get us out, get us out." Now when she's talking about it, whenever she mentions it, she's hopping. She's all over the map. Completely opaque, you know, unclear. She's had three different votes about withdrawing and funding and all this other stuff. Her constituents, the people of San Francisco, poll them. Find out how many of them want to stay in Afghanistan. Get out. Just get out. Just take a look at all the things that she's done, that she wants, and then take a look at what the voters want. Look, does she represent their interests? Do you want someone who keeps wasting and wasting money and losing lives in Afghanistan? If you do, if you want that, well then go ahead. Vote for Nancy Pelosi. Because that's what she stands for. She is just not willing to stand up to a President who, I think, just wants to go into reelection as wartime President. He wants to go into November 2012 as a wartime President to increase his reelection chances. And that's just bullshit. Look at where she is now, I mean have some courage. The woman is 70 years old, she's accomplished everything that she wants in life, how about standing up for something that you believe in. There's no way that she believes we should be in Afghanistan. Look at what they've done. We need to get out of this mess. People are dying and we're wasting money. It's one of the big tragedies of our time. In the middle of that, we are about to, I feel like what's coming up here and it makes me a little uncomfortable is that I think we are headed towards a meltdown like the one we faced after Labor Day in 2008.

AND: You feel that, with everything we've done, we're facing a catastrophe?

John Dennis: From the debt perspective, Absolutely. Look at shipping activity, it's had a precipitous drop. Not good. Look at unemployment and look at how you're going to get out of this housing problem. We've got historically low interest rates but people don't have jobs. So we're not going to get out of this until we have real sustainable job creation. Somebody who has never worked inside the private market, simply doesn't understand that.

AND: I'd like to take you back to what was said early about the disconnect between the perception of what she's done and what she's actually doing. Who are the gatekeepers of perception?

John Dennis: The gatekeepers of perception are the, of course the main stream media, and the partisans. But it's really a condition people have faced for many years where they feel they have something to gain by perpetuating the phony left/right fight. People think that just because they're on the left that she represents their interests and that they have to, in spite of the fact of all her sins against what they supposedly believe in, that they have to keep enabling her. What they don't realize is that she's playing a different game than they are. They think that they have to look at me like I'm George Bush. I'm not George Bush.

AND: Do you think that the Republican Party's nomination has hurt you?

John Dennis: No, but there's certainly the perceptions by those kinds of people that I have to overcome. Absolutely, in that respect, there's a perception but, you know, I think when people learn a little bit more about me and about what I stand for and the people who are around me who endorse me they'll understand that my stance is one of principle. I mean, think about it, I won the Republican Primary with an anti-war position. I mean, this is San Francisco but this is still the Republican party. So people should look at me as a different kind of Republican, but sure there's people who are so caught up in this phony left/right game that their mind is completely shut down. I'm not going to reach those people. But I have to say that I think there's enough angst out there, that's there's enough anger that people, especially the independents and even a good portion of the democrats will feel like "well she doesn't represent me." Here's what she represents, let's go down the list: she represents the war party, the war crowd, she represents big insurance companies. Who stocks, which stocks went up the day after the health care reform went into law? Health insurance companies mostly. She represents the interests of the oil companies, namely…Nancy Pelosi co-sponsored the $75 million dollar liability cap for oil companies for when they have spills. Who represents the interest of the banks? Nancy Pelosi. Who represents large manufacturing companies? Nancy Pelosi. She bailed out GM and Chrysler. Nancy Pelosi is not even a socialist, she's a corporatist. She's a cut and dried corporatist. Nancy Pelosi…here's the caption that everyone should get when they see her face: Nancy Pelosi, corporatist. She's all about representing corporate interests meanwhile selling herself off to the left. I mean what is she, how does she even connect? She leads this incredibly elitist lifestyle. She didn't even earn it. She's an elitist on the taxpayers dime. And now she has…she's representing the interests of large corporations at the expense of smaller operations. And yet, the left just looks the other way. I'm not looking the other way.

AND: What it is that you would say it is that insulates her from that kind of inspection by her very own voters?

John Dennis: What insulates her?

AND: Well looking at the latest poll numbers she's got some sort of insulation against any sort of close scrutiny.

John Dennis: Well, no one has seriously challenged her from this perspective. I think that's the first thing. But aside from that, it's just conditioning. I mean look at her history. I mean, say you're Mr. Left or Ms. Left and you're looking at Nancy Pelosi. Look at her actions. Look at everything she's done while she's been there and then tell me if she represents your interests.

AND: What would you say to those people who would be willing to look at that, and then look at you and say "but you're a Republican and everything that comes with it"?

John Dennis: Look at the things that I stand for: I stand for individual liberty and freedom. I stand for working for peace in the world, not having an aggressive foreign policy, but a humble foreign policy. I stand for not supporting special corporate interests. The cuts that I want to make in spending are, on the domestic stuff, I want to cut out all those parts of things like the Department of Agriculture that support the interests of corporate farmers. Those are the things we need to cut. We have to…here's the thing: we have to cut spending. It not whether we should, but we have to cut spending or we are in serious trouble. Everyone across the board sees what's happening with the exception of the Martian Paul Krugman. But the cuts that I want to make are in areas like that and I also want to review all of the bases. The 700+, some people say 900+, bases that we have overseas and ask if they're really defending us. Do we really need a base in Zambia? Do we need the base in Bulgaria? Do we need the base in Crete? Do we need all the bases we've had since the second world war? I want to go through each and every one of those and they're going to have to make a pretty good argument as to how they defend America. The overwhelming majority of them are not.

AND: Would you say that members of both parties who had a hand in building all those basis have a pretension to empire that they're just not willing to talk about?

John Dennis: The American people pay for them. They have to talk about it. I'm talking about it. If you do want to talk about it then I represent your interests. If you're not interested in talking about it then vote for Nancy Pelosi. She's not addressing it. They have all of the power in the world to do these things and what has she done continuously? She's voted to fund. She personally voted, in a close vote 215-210, to continue funding Afghanistan. She refused to bring the vote on the bill to audit the Fed: The Fed who enables these wars, the Fed who enabled the bailout of the banks, the Fed which is the very definition of a cartel. I mean she doesn't address any of these issues. What she does is rants to the left and defends corporate interests. Look at the record, it speaks for itself. Here's a woman who…here's another thing…here's a woman who went to Tienanmen square and made a scene and a spectacle of herself protesting Chinese human rights. Meanwhile, in this town, at the AT&T building on Folsom street we found out that after 9/11 that the NSA was running warrant-less wiretaps.

AND: You mean the building on 2nd & Folsom?

John Dennis: Yeah. So they're running these warrant-less wiretaps except that we found out that they were doing it prior to 9/11. And when questioned about it, the White House said that "oh, we briefed all the top levels of Congress." Well, Nancy Pelosi, who I think was the Minority Whip at the time…there's nobody under the sun who believes she didn't know about that. She's refused to answer that question. So here she is protesting for Chinese human rights, in China, and meanwhile her own constituents are being warrant-lessly wiretapped and she won't even talk about it. Ok, I ask you again Mr. & Mrs. Left: does she represent your interests? She doesn't represent mine. I don't want my conversations wiretapped. I want a judge. If somebody wants to wiretap me, they should have a third party look at that. What's ironic about it is that the FISA standard is so absurdly low, it's so ridiculous, and they couldn't even get that. With the FISA standard you can get a warrant 2 days after, and it's a rubber stamp, they didn't even want that.

AND: With all these things that you have to say, especially regarding you opponent, what is the campaign doing to reach that 20% that 25% who seem not to be listening.

John Dennis: Well I thought it was a lot more than that.

AND: Well, let me explain that. There seem to be a certain number of people who are going to vote democratic and a certain number who are going to vote republican no matter who is running.

John Dennis: I'm not going to reach that 25%. But there's another group out there, three quarters of independents who I think I can reach. I can reach about a third of the democrats, maybe more. I think they should also listen to what I'm saying, because these are all thing they supposedly believe in. I'm saying I agree with you, she doesn't, and you're going to still support her? But I don't, you know, it's a question of I guess psycho-epistemology. How are you going to get through to people right?

AND: Well, talking about everyone in the district whose got a vote, what is the campaign doing to get through to those people.

John Dennis: We are doing all the tradition stuff that you can imagine. But we're also going to do some unusual things. We're going to get out. We're going to do some online stuff that might go viral. You know, I'm just going to be a writing machine. I'm going to keep putting it out there and putting it out there. I'm going to put out Op-Ed's and put out a story and get out into the media. I'm going to talk about why people to take a second and look at Nancy Pelosi.

AND: Between now and November is there any chance, has there been any discussion with the Pelosi campaign about the possibility of a debate?

John Dennis: (laughs) You know the funny thing is that we haven't even tried yet. But we will. We'll do that this week, get it out there and on the table. I doubt we'll get a response. They haven't reached out to us.

AND: Is there a message you'd like to deliver in public to the other side I'd be happy to write it.

John Dennis: Fine. Let's talk about that. She should…the people deserve to hear about the basic beliefs of the two candidates. She takes them for granted. It's evident in her style, it's evident in her actions, it's evident in everything about her. She takes us for granted. The people of San Francisco ought to hold her accountable for that. They should force her and demand that she has a debate with me. I'm going to bring up very important issues that are going to be about what the future of America is going to look like. Is it going to be a country that bankrupted itself because it couldn't say no to war? I mean, is that where we're going? Because that's where Nancy Pelosi is guiding us: right off the cliff. Are we going to go bankrupt because we couldn't say no to the empire of bases we have around the world?

AND: Come November, and the election, who do you think is going to show up?

John Dennis: To vote?

AND: Yeah.

John Dennis: It depends on how effective we are at getting our message out. I mean, here's what I see happening. Frankly, I see an environment where everything will be in my favor. You're going to see an electorate that's obviously agitated about why we continue to stay in Afghanistan. If I'm right about the economy you're going to see an electorate that is angry about the mess that the Federal government has gotten us into. 95% of what we've gone through is due to the Federal government, most of it has also gone through the hands of the Federal Reserve, which is supposedly under the oversight of Congress. We can't even get an audit of the thing. Going back to transactions that happened almost 30 years ago, we can't even get records of what they did with foreign central banks 30 years ago. We've got this massive shadow organization, and Nancy Pelosi won't look at it.

AND: Well you have to admit that she's been able to get away with things because the voters allow her to. Why do you think the voters don't seem to care.

John Dennis: Oh I think that the voters care about it. She's pretty unpopular throughout the country. In the City she gets a pass because, I think, people perceive that we receive some benefit by her being Speaker of the House. They think that she's bringing resources back, that she's bringing jobs back to the district because she brings the pork back. She's in a special position to get pork and there's some truth to that. But consider this: first of all, of every dollar that leaves California only .75 comes back. That .75 doesn't go back to the people who paid it out in the first place, it goes out to friends of Nancy. Friends who are strategically placed to keep her in power. That's first. Second, look at…that money goes to help only a small group of people. It comes out of the broad economy which hurts everybody. The policies that she's got in place are never going to help grow the economy. Never, not in a million….it just won't work. You have to look issue by issue, you have to look at the seen and the unseen. Some of that money comes into San Francisco. Some of that money is going to come into San Francisco if I'm in office too. But how does that effect the economy as a whole? How much anxiety do you have about your own job? How much anxiety do you have about the future of the country and your kids? That's the unseen, and that's what you have to blame on Nancy Pelosi.

AND: Looking at Congress, and looking at the last 9 months, it seems that everybody in power from Obama to Reid…Obama's numbers are in free fall. Reid looks very likely to lose to a tea party activist. It would seem that everyone from committee chairman up to the President have paid a significant political price but Nancy Pelosi.

John Dennis: And I'm going to have to deal with that. I'm going to have to explode on the scene like a supernova in order to get name recognition. I've got a little name recognition now because I won the primary. So I'm known in Republican circles, I'm known a little bit in Independent circles. In order to be in the fight with her, I'm going to need to really explode. I have to say that…

AND: Are you getting any help from the National Party?

John Dennis: uh…

AND: It's ok to say no.

John Dennis: (laughs) Here's what I think about that. What's that old saying? Banks only lend money to people who don't need it?

AND: Yeah.

John Dennis: Once we show the right numbers and we show that we're viable we'll get on their radar.

AND: Well, specifically in the last 30 years would it be fair to say the NRCC has written off this district and that's done some harm?

John Dennis: Yeah. I mean look, they're not, the NRCC and the RNC are not the Federal government. They can't print money and they have only a certain amount of resources. I think they place their bets where they think it makes sense. But if they think, for a minute, that there's a chance to win in this district you bet they'd be behind me funding the campaign.

AND: What do you think of your fellow Republican candidates, like Meg Whitman for instance?

John Dennis: I met her once. She was very nice very affable. Smart and clearly capable and, you know, I don't wish that job upon anyone. But she's very capable, people don't have that kind of success at E-bay by mistake. So if anybody's got a chance, it's her.

AND: And Carly Fiorina?

John Dennis: Same thing, I've met her a couple times. She's a fighter. I disagree with her on some issues. I don't know why she doesn't support the legalization of marijuana. But yeah, I mean I think she generally gets it. As opposed to her opponent who generally doesn't get it.

AND: I'm sure you've seen the blogosphere and the media. Why do you think that Meg Whitman gets national play, Carly Fiorina gets national play, and it would seem logical for your face to be next. Why do you think it's not?

John Dennis: Because people don't think this is viable. Here's what's going to be put us on the Radar: A poll is going to come out showing me in the 20's or the mid to low 30's and all of the sudden we'll be national news. We haven't shown those numbers yet, but I think we're going to be in a place to show that.

AND: Would you say you're confident that come November there's going to be a real opportunity for you?

John Dennis: Let me say this, I know what the odds are. I know what the challenges are and what I'm actually up against. I think that if anybody is going to bow Pelosi, to take the fight to her, that's it going to be somebody like me. A guy whose can look past the right and the left.

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