Independent Lynn Kahn Says She Is Only POTUS Candidate With Plan to Transform Government
On her second trip around the country, independent presidential candidate, Dr. Lynn S. Kahn, says she is gaining support everywhere she goes.
"All I have to do is announce, 'Independent Candidate!' and people are interested," she said.
Kahn says she feels like she is carving out the middle.
"2016 is not politics as usual," she said. Conventional media is not covering independent candidates, but Kahn claims that there are many quality independent candidates out there to choose from. She recommends herself, of course:
"I am the only candidate who knows what to do on day one. I know what my first executive orders are. I know what I can do with the Department of Justice, the Department of Education, the Department of Veterans Affairs on day one. I am going to do two or three departments every day until I’ve got to all of them. I know who my advisers are, my senior White House staff, I know what is getting in the way of reducing waste and getting rid of programs that have no results."
Kahn has described herself as a sort of government mechanic. She has an inside view of how the government works. For the past 32 years she has worked in government as an organizational consultant. She has written three books on conflict management and transforming government:
"I am the one who is talking about transforming government. I am the one who is talking about how we go in and change the mission, change priorities, change the policies, and realign budgets and staff to new priorities and missions. I know how to design and put in place citizen summits, what we used to call Conversations with America, to bring the American public into the dialogue. I know how to do regulatory, and work reform. There are models for the kinds of transformation that needs to happen if our nation is going to be united and look forward to economic and historical growth."
Kahn says once she has people's attention she is able to impress them with her detailed, knowledgeable plans to put the people back in control, and fix government. Government is upside-down, in her view, and completely disconnected from the people:
"Government reform is basically the government listening to the people and doing what makes sense - letting people have a huge hand in our government ‘of the people.’ There is not one domain of government where regulation is making our lives any better. The reports and numbers that come out of Washington make no sense in the lives of people and our communities. There are so many ways in which the federal bureaucracy is coding regulations, requirements, and policies without input from the people."
Kahn has already won ballot access in California through the Peace and Freedom Party. She is seeking small party nominations in 5 other states, but is not currently releasing details. Kahn says she is confident that she will be on the ballot in 45 states, and will file paperwork as a write-in candidate in the 5 states that are the hardest for her to access.
Running outside of the two-party system is very challenging, but she says she is not deterred by bureaucracy because she knows how to navigate the system. Kahn currently has about 200 people volunteering for her, preparing her on policy, and getting signatures for ballot access across the country.
Late in 2015, she finished a 'listening tour,' a sort of proof of concept run to see if her message made sense. Kahn says she has plenty of energy and confidence going into the next stages of her campaign. In the next 6 to 10 weeks, Kahn expects to tighten up the "tactical phase" of ballot access, operational strategy, and fundraising. She says she has raised money, but not enough. Her fundraising goal is $1 million. She says as her message gets out, she continues to build support in votes and funds.
There was a shift, she said, between what she heard from people on her listening tour in 2015, and her last trip around the country. She sees movement from anger, to fear of where this country is going, and the future of America. Kahn believes only an independent candidate can heal the divisions in the US:
"What is new that I am hearing is nervousness and anxiousness about hate speech and the drums of war. People are afraid. When people learn that there are options besides Republicans and Democrats, I think they will start getting involved. People don’t know, because conventional media is not covering independents. There are a lot of good independent candidates out there...It is not politics as usual in the 2016 election, so get out and register independent, and vote."