GARY SHUMWAY for Summit County Council

I welcome you to my candidate for Summit County Council web site! I am Gary Shumway and I approve this web site. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you do not find what you are looking for, if you find inaccuracies, or if you seek clarification of this site's functionality, content, or my platform.

You know, you finally have a choice this November 4th. You have a choice of continuing politics as usual with the two major parties vying for power. Or you can elect a member of the Constitution Party who's over arching mandates include open and limited government, personal responsibility and freedom, family, free enterprise, property rights, abolishment of special interest entitlements and championing liberty.

I, Gary Shumway, am that candidate. I am a viable third-party candidate offering you a choice. With three Masters degrees and my continued schooling, I have far more education than my opponents. Among other institutions of higher learning, I have attended the University of Utah and Utah State University. My Great-Great-Grandfather, Charles Shumway, was one of the first pioneers in this area.

Unlike one of my opponents, I am not a CEO of a holding company with "a broad range of interests in the County." I will not have to recluse myself from voting on issues that are important to you. Unlike my other opponent, as your council member, I would not be tempted to further my own vocational agenda, for I have no business dealings with the County (other than the County collects taxes from my wife and I). We own a condo in Jeremy Ranch and hold no other property in the County. What this means is that I am able to do the people's business without the bias of doing mine.

I am a member and the Summit County Chair of the Constitution Party but I am not dictated to by the Party. I ran as a Libertarian in 2006 for State Representative. I feel comfortable politically in either party, as a Ron Paul Republican, or even possibly a blue dog Democrat.

Let me be among the first to implore you to vote person, not just party. This is because voting straight party without researching the candidates has weakened our Republic. Not all Republican candidates are the same. Same with the Democrats or any party, for that matter.

Know who you are voting for, then vote your conscience. Voting your conscience is never a wasted vote. Unless you have no other choice, your vote is only wasted when you vote for the lesser of two evils. This underscores the importance of the third-party candidates or write-ins.

Politically, I am fiscally conservative and socially inclusive. I believe our human rights come from God, not government. We must reign in government or government will reign over us.

Some have asked me why I have placed my platform material on-line. I have been told that I will alienate some voters by specifically stating my platform rather then beating around the bush, not to mention giving my opponents ammunition with which to snipe at me.

But I have created this web site because:

I need, your input. Communication is one of the planks of my platform. I am obviously not omniscient, yet I do have my core beliefs and thoughts regarding issues confronting Summit County. I hope you take the time to contact me regarding my platform and other issues you believe important. Let's discuss the issues.

In order to facilitate open discussion and give the citizens access to their council member, I have created the web site http://www.tellshumway.com. This site will be a forum for citizen discussion of the issues facing us. I will also be able to respond to your queries in a public and timely manner at tellshumway.com. I plan to include polls on the site so you can vote on the issues and I can get feedback regarding same.

I'm serious, I'm spending the time and money, and in order for you to know where I stand, I have to tell you. Thus this campaign web site. Please contact me if you have any questions.

Core beliefs are sometimes difficult to get a candidate to elucidate upon. Thus, I would like to briefly state some of my core beliefs. They are (in no specific order):

Spirituality: I believe the evidence best supports intelligent design vs. a purely random universe. Other than providing a basis for human interaction, belief in a Creator and one's spirituality is deeply personal. Overly zealous individuals should pontificate from the podium rather than lecture from Council chambers. I believe, "...that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Politics: I believe that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are best accomplished in a free society with minimal government intervention. Governments are created to protect the citizenry from being subjected to force or fraud, not perpetuate it. I believe in the rule of law, equally applied. I also believe that the more corrupt a society, the greater extent it tries to control its citizens via intimidation and laws. Victimless 'crimes' are not crimes. Morality cannot be legislated. The Constitution of the United States is an inspired document.

Family: I believe the family unit to be the basis of society. From family we should learn morality, self-reliance, and the proper interaction with our fellow humans. A village (society, including organized religion) may participate, but parents have the responsibility of raising their child.

Economics: Given the human condition, I believe capitalism is the most moral economic system and fascism, socialism, communism and their statist variants to be the most corrupt. I believe Lysander Spooner, Murray Rothbard, Friedrich Hayek, Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman, Ludwig von Mises, and Henry Hazlitt stand head and shoulders above the likes of Francois-Noel Babeuf, Robert Owen, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx, Eduard Bernstein, and John Haldane.

Leaders/Politicians: My contemporary political mentor in the U.S. House is Dr. Ron Paul (R). Thomas Jefferson is my pick of the Founding Fathers.

Political Ideology: I believe my core beliefs, if they could be summed up in one ideology, would be most closely aligned with pragmatic paleolibertarianism.

National Identity: I believe that national identity is critical to hold a country together. Common language, purpose, culture, and defensible borders are among those things that hold a country together, thus the reason globalists discount them.

Along the lines of my core beliefs, I am not interested in getting elected to office simply to get into office. Rest assured that I will not modify my core beliefs just to get elected. As to politics, I will be beholden to no one but my core beliefs and the people; not the party elite, not the press, not the globalists, and certainly not even doing what is the political flavor of the moment. That said, I also know that I will not be able to please everyone.

One last thought. Please see my rebuttal regarding the concern some voters have about a 'wasted vote' if they vote for a third party candidate. This rebuttal in the 'Is Voting Your Conscience a Wasted Vote?' document in the right column of this campaign site.

Please consider casting your vote this November 4th for Gary Shumway, Constitution Party Candidate for Summit County Council, Seat 'D'.

Yours in Liberty!

Gary Shumway