Why? Why would anybody run against such an entrenched machine politician as Nancy Pelosi? As a longtime star fundraiser for the Democratic Party, Pelosi certainly enjoys no lack of funding; furthermore, her brand of limousine liberalism seems perfectly tailored to the San Francisco electorate, which just installed Willie Brown as "Da Mayor" and Terence Hallinan as District Attorney. Why would anybody in their right mind take on the sleekest, most unassailable cog in the Burton Machine?
It was, quite simply, her vote to send 32,000 Americans off to police the blood-feuds of the Balkans that did the trick: this was the provocation that made a run against Pelosi a kind of moral imperative. It was the sheer hubris of this misguided and disastrous vote that motivated me to plunk down $1336 for the filing fee and energized me to go out and get the signatures. The monstrousness of the idea that the United States is morally obligated to police every border, to solve every ancient tribal feud, to act as a global Solomon -- this is what drove me to throw down the gauntlet and take on an opponent that enjoys every advantage.
This so-called Bosnian "peace mission" is nothing but a prelude to war. It is a misadventure so perilous to the future of our Republic that it is necessary for opponents of this policy to act without delay and without regard for their own personal convenience. And that is why I am running. Not that I intend to run a single-issue campaign: as an ideological conservative, my disagreements with Pelosi span all the issues, from the nature of government to affirmative action, and I intend to raise all this questions in my campaign. But on a personal level, in answer to the question "Why did you do it?", it was the sheer madness of Pelosi's vote to send our boys and girls into the Bosnian quagmire that really did the trick.
This website will carry all the news releases put out by the campaign, as well as other pertinent information about our activities, in addition to the numerous position papers we will issue over the coming months. It will be updated as quickly as possible, and we welcome your feedback as well as your active participation in what will no doubt be an exciting (and unusual) campaign.
-- Justin Raimondo
December 27, 1995