Tim, voters deserve ideas – not insults

I wrote and submitted this op-ed last week. Since it was not published, I’m sharing it here as you all deserve the chance to read it.

Representative Burchett, you and I are political opponents, not grade school children engaged in a battle of who can come up with the most creative taunt to shout across the school yard. The constant name-calling is getting old.

In a recent email, you called me your “radical Democrat opponent.”

Tim, what about my platform – or myself – is radical?

Is it radical to believe that our government should serve the people of East Tennessee, not just corporate interests and career politicians?

Is it radical to want to use my PhD in civil engineering to advocate for investments in our region’s infrastructure?

Is it radical to be a small business owner who wants East Tennesseans to have good jobs, living wages, and to be able to afford groceries, transportation, medication, and housing?

Or is it radical to hold open town halls so those you seek to represent can ask you tough questions?

Voters deserve the opportunity to choose between us on the merits of our ideas and experience, not partisan name calling.

Later on in that same email, you call my supporters “a posse of woke leftists.” I’m sure the many Republicans and Independents supporting my campaign take issue with their elected official calling them “woke leftists” simply because they are unsatisfied with their current leadership in Congress and support my candidacy.

I have no interest in “making nice with the Swamp crowd”, though I am interested in working across the aisle to solve the problems facing East Tennessee.

And as far as sipping “champagne” and kissing “the rings of the Washington big shots,” I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that only one of us accepts corporate PAC money in this race, and it isn’t me.

I don’t call people who think and vote differently than me “radicals”, “sewer rats,” or “twisted.” I’m meeting them at their doors every day, asking them what issues matter to them and how I could effectively represent them in Congress if given the chance.

And do you know what they tell me?

They’re tired of the mudslinging and culture wars. They want a leader who will work across the aisle to deliver on the issues that the majority of Americans agree on: Lowering costs. Getting money out of politics. Investing in East Tennessee’s infrastructure. Fixing our broken healthcare system.

I believe that our country is at its best when we can engage in civil discourse about our different ideas to solve the problems our country faces.

Do you have any ideas to share, or just insults?