Just one helpful suggestion: As you criss-cross your state in search of votes, you might want to avoid the use of light aircraft.

Aaron, my best wishes. But I really think you should be rational about this and only promise puppies to people in your congressional district.

Your riff on number illiteracy reminds me of this(video).

guaranteed college educated single-puppy is on the table

Aaron Datesman: Hope YOU make a serious run and win.

What SteveB said on the top. $500-600 billion is a helluva lot of money.

Well Aaron, it seems that you have another goal in life. I think you would be great in congress and promising a puppy to all Americans will insure more jobs listed under pooper-scooper wanted. Go for it!

Aaron, don't be a pure purist hippie greenie. You have to be realistic and support the lesser-evil candidate instead of running for office yourself. Hope for gradual change over several decades - that's the only way progress happens in this country and you're unrealistic to fight for anything else. Maybe if you grovel and whimper at the feet of your local republicrat you can get him/her/it to adopt a small part of your platform, like sending ever twentieth person in your district a small picture of a puppy. Don't let the good be the enemy of the slightly-less evil!

I hope you live in TN. I'd vote for you, if so.

Just found your blog via AfterDowningStreet links and I must commend you all on excellent work.

B'Man

Aaron, don't know if you know this already, but Dean Baker actually ran for Congress (during graduate school, I think). He was in a district that was Republican so the Democrats barely ever put up any resistance. So he was able to sneak in and get the Democratic nomination, and then run a campaign making giant amounts of trouble (although he then of course lost). So if you lived somewhere else it's not beyond reason to think you could do this.

run a campaign making giant amounts of trouble (although he then of course lost).

Wasn't this Robert Redford's plan in The Candidate?

Of course, I've never seen Mr. Datesman, but he could be a dead ringer for Redford.

Although it's nice to see I have my mother's support - and of course I do look like Robert Redford in the sense that I am also bilaterally symmetric - I was being snarky rather than serious. Nevertheless, the idea of telling my wife that we're moving from Chicago to Nebraska so I can run for Congress is.....interesting.

I didn't know that about Dean Baker. It increases his groupie factor by at least 3x.

(Mr. Datesman is a dead ringer for no one except for Tom Green, unfortunately.)

Just one helpful suggestion: As you criss-cross your state in search of votes, you might want to avoid the use of light aircraft.

SteveB, what a horrid, horrid month that was.

I would have expected a lot more people talking about the possibility sabotage, demanding investigations, etc. I've heard very little. What do you know?

SteveB, what a horrid, horrid month that was.

I'm surprised we haven't seen more demands for an investigation, and talk about sabotage (and I mean from people OTHER then the standard conspiracy population). What do you know, anything?

Catherine

You might be able to send every 100th person in your district a picture of a puppy, so long as you agree to increase military spending by several 100 billions. After all, politics is the art of compromise!

Catherine:
No, I don't have anything more than the usual suspicions (although if I did know something, I wouldn't blab about it here - I suspect Schwarz is a government operative who passes all of our IP addresses on to the Department of Homeland Security.)

Oh, and here's one more reason for candidate Datesman to avoid plane travel.

I suspect Schwarz is a government operative who passes all of our IP addresses on to the Department of Homeland Security.

Ha ha ha ha ha! What a funny joking joke that is so far away from reality that it is not even worth thinking about for one second and soon I will delete this entire post!

Aaron, why not ask your supporters to move to where you are....Chicago, Nebraska or wherever? You will surely get elected, strength in numbers you know!

"I honestly wonder whether anyone at all would be the wiser"

You are absolutely right. With the bankers in the eye of the storm and waiting for citizen deluge to attack them, no one is paying attention to the Pentagon and loss of billions missing from its budget would not be noticed except by your prospective supporters. Again, that would increase your chances for victory! So run Aaron run!

ps could you make an exception and instead of a puppy, buy my little friend a turtle? I am sure, you will not need Whitehouse permission!

@ Mr Schwarz:
Where and when did you learn to censor free speech?

Rupa - It's a good point, I think the financial bailouts have served to educate somewhat about the million/billion/trillion distinction. But I can't believe that even 5% of the population could really peg the defense budget at its proper scale in relation to the federal budget or the GNP. I would be interested to know whether 5% of voters could do this.

Aaron, I am agreeing with the point you are making in your post. When I say "loss of billions ", I do not mean stolen money from defense budget, I mean "cut in the budget" that would result from your position, and it would not be noticed by majority. From the ones who would notice, almost all would become your supporter.

Aaron, some advice from my dissolute telemarketing days selling magazines -- quote the cost per day or week. People understand that better.

In my experience, talking to hundreds and hundreds of callers, none of them could ever (or would ever) convert "only $1.57 per week for three magazines" to eighty bucks a year -- an exorbitant amount for three magazines (but a nice income for me).

Now here you want just the opposite effect, because the numbers are huge, so you wow them with "When I’m elected I promise to spend over five hundred million dollars per day, every day, including weekends, for our nation's defense," and watch the votes flow in.

Aaron: Don't forget to reduce foreign aid too.
Say, to half the level of Sweden.

Reminds me of the Satirical Canard Enchaine's headline after the Socialists reduced the French work-week to 35 hours:

"Government increases work-week to 35 hours."

(Cruel but funny.)

You get my vote. But better hurry and do it before I renounce my American citizenship, because after that I won't be able to vote in US elections any more. I'm planning to trade in my used American citizenship for brand new citizenship in my adopted country. Where, incidentally, I have free health care. And three puppies.

I hear our chocolate ration is going up too, to 20 grams. Double-plus good!

I hope for your success, Aaron, and will support you how I can.
There is one concern.(Maybe we should communicate about it privately, though...)

Aw, to heck with it! Could I have a kitten, instead of a puppy?

Why would you be so cruel to all those puppies? Just so they don't get hurt by all the stupid, insensitive people out there, I'll have to run against you. Either that or take all the puppies myself.