Evan Carter: Our Future's Perspective

Evan Carter is a 16-year-old young man who helped with our campaign for several months over the summer. Our campaign has been adamant about working to plan for our future so I was naturally excited to have a young man like Evan onboard. I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity not only for him to receive some education in the political process, but also for the campaign to be constantly reminded of why it’s important that we work so hard to bring some positive change to our government.

It didn't take long for Evan to capture a place in my heart as I worked with him daily. He is passionate about politics and extremely well educated on numerous issues. I enjoyed the numerous and spirited discussions that he and I had regarding the various issues that our State and our Country currently face. Unfortunately, Evan had to return home to prepare for school, and his time with us came to an end. Before he left I asked him if he wouldn't mind putting some of his thoughts about his experience with the campaign down on paper. Even though I knew I would miss him when he left, I was unprepared for the effect that reading his description of the campaign would have on me.

Typically when people submit potential columns for this website I spend time reviewing and editing the content. Often it’s just grammatical corrections or writing style that is addressed. However, Evan’s article moved me so much, and hit so close to home that I thought everyone should have the opportunity to read it exactly how the typed it. I haven't added a comma for moved a period. Young people like Evan are our future, and seeing how he feels about this campaign is touching to me and hopefully enlightening to you. So here it is, unedited and unchanged, 100% Evan Carter:

Down-to-Earth Values Beget Down-to-Earth Politics

            My name is Evan Carter and I worked with Jud as an intern this summer.  So when he asked me to reflect on my time with him in a blog post, I jumped at the chance because I had such a wonderful experience.  I was pleasantly surprised by Jud’s down-to-earth attitude on politics and the perspective he has on government’s proper role.  The way Jud approaches campaigning and policy issues are so radically different from what I have seen from your run of the mill politician.  He not only works harder than most politicians I know of (Jud is a workaholic); he also has a genuine interest in the wellbeing of his “future constituents”. 

            The Pastor Norman Vincent Peale once said about hard work “It takes struggle, a goal and enthusiasm to make a champion”.  Time I spent with Jud made it apparent that he carries all three of the qualifications needed.  First let’s look at struggle; Jud spends much of his time working at his family law office in Brookville and has to fit in running for office only after his work is finished.  So after working your usual 9 to 5 work day, Jud will be out another 5 or 6 hours knocking on doors or attending community events and dinners.  The amazing thing is, Jud does this week after week, month after month and still ENJOYS it.  I believe that this won’t end if he gets elected to office because he can’t just sit and do nothing or he would go crazy.  I like that about Jud.

            Jud also fulfills the second qualification: having a goal.  Jud’s campaign slogan is qualified leadership, fresh perspective; in other words he wants to bring strong, new leadership to district 68.  A different way of exemplifying Jud’s goal is a quote by Gandhi that you will find all over his office “Be the change you wish to see in the world”.  Jud really works toward being the person he wants to see in office.  I especially remember this one time when Jud was heading to the Bright Fireman’s Festival; we had just finished walking in the Festival’s parade and we were getting ready to go the festival grounds.  Some people walked up to the Jud bus thinking that it was one of the shuttles transporting people from Bright Christian Church to the festival grounds.  Instead of giving people the normal response and telling them politely that they had found the wrong bus, Jud, seeing that there was room on the bus, invited the people on the bus.  To Jud this story is just about simple common sense and helping others out and to him this story isn’t special at all.  These are the kind of values that Jud wants to bring to the State House.

            The third specification was enthusiasm.  Jud has a LOT of enthusiasm.  He is enthusiastic about talking to people in district 68.  He was even enthusiastic about going out and knocking on doors in the 90+ degree weather in July.  The campaign meetings he has are always positive and upbeat.  Jud always made the choice to positive even though he was about to run what he thought was a death-defying 5K.  Most impressively I can remember the few times Jud got frustrated; this frustration was because there just wasn’t enough hours in the day for him to go to all the events he had been asked to go to.

            Now the reasons you will vote for Jud are because of his sound economic principles and seasoned traditional values, but I would argue that these attractive attributes are rooted in his hard working mentality.  It’s the fact that Jud works overtime at work, the fact that he helps out others, and the fact that he does things because he loves doing them that make his convictions so inseparable from him.  If Jud has seen his neighbors watch their budgets, it just makes sense to him that government should do the same.  It makes sense that Jud stands for traditional values because that’s what he and the people he talks to believe in.  Finally it makes sense that powerful political institutions have very little sway over Jud because he struggles to run his own campaign and feels like the only people to which he owes anything are the people he serves.  These are the reasons why I respect Jud so greatly. He not only says the right things but he has a strong base of hard work to stand on when those values are challenged.