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I have a vision for California’s future. Providing for California’s current and future water needs is one of the most challenging issues we face. We must secure water sources in order to be prepared for drought, wildfire, and flooding, as well as increasing private, commercial and agricultural demand. Over the past few years our local farmers have been affected by the critical need for water. Agriculture, jobs, and the cost of produce at the grocery store have all affected the people. I will fight to have our pumps open and our water flowing. We must ask ourselves if we should save our agriculture, jobs, and our families’ basic livability, or save a habitat that is disappearing,- or can we do both? I believe we can. Addressing these critical issues requires that all of us work together to decide what is the best solution for the price we can afford.
California’s constitution is clearly outdated unsuited to 21st century realities. Patches to laws that don’t work plague our constitution. We must stop patching things here and there when it will continue to leak. We must update and modernize our constitution; we must sit down and look at what we have that works, and then remove what does not. In a time of Twitter and Facebook, the people now have a bigger voice in the running of government. We must allow the people to contribute ideas to this new constitution in order to make it truly ours and once again work for us. Every year we face budget problems, legislatures unable to reach deals and make deadlines. This is a failure both of leadership and structure, having an outdated constitution also contributes to this problem. We must have a two-year budget that will give us more time to prepare for the next budget. The hard-working people of this state need a two-year budget so that they will be protected. The hard workers of this state do not send IOU work to the state, so it’s unfair for the state to send them IOU’s. Daycares have closed, hospitals, schools, and government offices have made critical cutbacks. Government offices will not have to close on furlough days, and our libraries will not have to cut programs, materials, and services by 35%.
During this economic downturn the use of our libraries has risen but revenue has fallen I have witnessed first-hand these troubles in the library system as president of the Fowler Teen Action Group. We must protect this precious resource by campaigning for more federal grants and re-pass Measure B in 2013. This measure has brought new books, DVDs, audio books, new computers, and even new libraries to our communities. Libraries are always an incredibly valuable resource, but even more so in economic downturns.
Investing in local economy protects our livelihoods and our community’s vitality. We benefit from keeping the downtown areas of California friendly, vibrant places for families and visitors, and from supporting and stimulating small businesses. In downtown Fresno’s Fulton Mall we should provide incentives to encourage people to set up shop and bring life back to the area, the old theatres should be repaired and reopened and show old movies, charge a reasonable price so that kids and teens with little pocket money have a place to go after school and catch a movie or two instead of roaming the streets or riding the buses around until it’s time to go home. We must ensure that downtown Fresno isn’t turned into “Sports Central;” it should be remodeled in such a way that it appeals to everyone, sports fans or not. We must invest in the protection of our water, maintain a diverse community with good jobs and affordable housing, mitigate the cost and impact of growth, and provide modern and energy efficient opportunities for all modes of transportation.
Citizen involvement is something that we need more of, we make better decisions when the whole community, including decision makers work together for the benefit of all. It’s important to keep identifying ways for people to learn about issues and make their opinions known. Sharing information and communicating about our choices early in the decision process gives us a platform to build solutions that more people can support. One major way we can learn and make our opinions known is to volunteer. Volunteerism is a very wonderful opportunity, it leaves a very lasting impression on your, and the people you’ve helped lives, and the communities where we live. What you do can leave stories that you can tell your children and hopefully your children will be so impressed that they will choose to follow in your footsteps.
I would like to take this time to address the obvious. I am only 19 years old. I am the youngest person to have ever sought this office. So it is understandable if any of you may have doubts right now about my experience and qualifications. I must say that this campaign means a great deal to me and it means a great deal to this district. I am standing before you today telling you that Sacramento needs a breath of fresh air, the age of the “Good Ole Boy” politics is over. It is time for this generation- my generation- to step up to the plate and take up the responsibility of making sure that this country will do its job, for the benefit of all. When I take the oath of office, I will be taking an oath, a promise to the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of California, to the people, to myself, and to God. I want to be someone in politics that younger people can look up too, and if I take this oath and break my promises then what will that show the youth of this nation? When I get into something I finish it. I don’t get into things that I know I can not do. I’ve known since before my last campaign, that I want to and can serve the people. I am a natural born leader; I am a leader in my community. I am strong willed, and I will never give up, I will never give up on our country, on our people, and I will never give up on our State. That is a promise! This world needs the qualities of the youth-our state of mind, a temper of the will and want, a deep imagination, predominance of courage, and an appetite for adventure. We are the future, and the future is in your hands.
Finally I leave you with this quote by Cesar Chavez. “ Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You can not uneducated the person who has learned to read, you can not humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours.”
Thank You.
Christopher Alexander McCowan
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This website is Approved by Chris McCowan for Assembly 2010.
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| Latest
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September,29,2009
19 Year Old To Announce California Assembly Run
Fowler, Ca 09/26/2009 -- Christopher Alexander McCowan 19 of Fowler, California will announce his candidacy for the California State Assembly District #31 on Saturday October 3, 2009 at 8am.
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| Upcoming
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January 15,2010
Volunteers Needed
I am looking for volunteers to help me this Friday collect signatures in lieu of the filing fee.
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