December 15, 2011. Chicago. The first openly gay candidate for President in US history will be in Chicago this weekend attending a fundraiser, a book signing and meeting the voters of Illinois. Former Chicagoan Fred Karger is running for the Republican nomination for President and will be in town to put a spotlight on his effort. Due to the GOP’s anti-alternative lifestyle platform and the candidate’s historic and openly gay Presidential campaign, the Republican Party establishment has been doing everything in its power to black-out Mr. Karger’s run for the White House.
Fred Karger is a well-known political activist and an outspoken member of the Republican Party. A self-described ‘independent Republican’, Karger has battled prejudice, discrimination and intolerant agendas for decades. In April 2010, the California Republican announced he would take his fight nationally and become the first openly gay candidate for US President in American history. Since then, Karger has been excluded from most Republican Party Presidential events, including all of the various GOP debates held thus far.
The candidate’s platform begins with education. “I want to elevate education to number one again, to put attention on it and get public discussion. I think we need to make school more interesting and fun to get kids excited” Karger explained. Jobs and the economy are other major issues for the Presidential candidate. “We have to discourage companies from sending jobs overseas” Karger explained, “I want to work with these corporations to incentivize them to keep these jobs in America. I am a fiscal conservative; I come from a finance background. I want to work to strengthen our economy. I believe in the private sector.”
On the issue of immigration, Fred Karger seems to be in line with most of the other Republican Presidential hopefuls. He supports a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already here, while first securing the border. On energy policy however, Karger takes the opposite view of his party. The California Republican supports conservation and development of clean energy technologies to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil.
One of Fred Karger’s most talked-about proposals is to lower the voting age to 16 or 17. Then, Mr. Karger explains, “We should then encourage our schools and school districts to teach these young people about elections and the campaigns on the local, state and national level while they are happening.”
Most recently, Karger made news when he released a parody commercial tackling a recent campaign ad put out by the Rick Perry Presidential campaign. Perry, the Texas Governor and Republican candidate for President, released a brief video that received scathing criticism. The ad, attempting to motivate Perry’s religious-right base, took aim at homosexuality. It quickly became the most disliked video in YouTube history. In Karger’s ad, the openly gay Presidential candidate wears a similar outfit and walks through an almost identical prairie as in Rick Perry’s ad.
Karger begins his commercial by adopting the cowboy body language of Perry and announcing:
“I’m Rick Perry, and I admit that I’m ashamed of makin’ that ad about gays in the military an’ all. I guess I was just desperate because I’m so low in the polls. Now, my video is the most disliked video in YouTube history. I guess hate weakens America and I want America to be strong…Rick Perry might not approve of this message, but I do. I’m Fred Karger.” Karger’s parody ad has already garnered more than 21,000 views.
Fred Karger will be bringing his campaign to Chicago on Sunday, December 18, 2011. A fundraiser will be held at the home of one of the candidate’s supporters on the near north side along Chicago’s magnificent lakefront. The event will be held from 5:00 – 7:00 in the evening. For more information on the Fred Karger for President campaign, visit the candidate’s website at FredKarger.com. To RSVP for the Sunday fundraiser, email Shane Miller at shanemillerla@gmail.com.
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