Dr. Ken and Elaine Hildebrandt made Virginia history this year as the first husband and wife on the ballots for Congress. Ken is running in the 5th district, as he did in 2012, and Elaine is running in the 6th. As Chris Hurst, news anchor at WDBJ7 recently reported, “The main plank in their platform, industrial hemp.”
The Hildebrandts favor industrial hemp as the economic shot in the arm our nation and Virginia needs now. Hemp was called a “NEW BILLION-DOLLAR CROP” in the February 1938 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine and has been estimated to be over a trillion dollar crop now, yet it‘s illegal. Hemp can be used to make over 25,000 products including fuel (enough to lower our dependence on foreign oil and perhaps even eliminate it entirely), food, fiber and medicine. The Hildebrandts say we need to stop outlawing solutions, particularly enormous ones like this.
Regarding hemp’s cousin marijuana, the Hildebrandts point out that when law enforcement are busy chasing over ¾ of a million people for plant possession each year that means more real criminals will be at large as a result, which is simple deductive reasoning. They claim statistics back this up, with only 1 of 10 getting away with murder in the US in the 60s, whereas now it’s over 1 of 3. They also invite people to check out LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, established in 2002, to demonstrate they’re hardly alone in their views regarding this issue.
Elaine and Ken bring up other simple yet profound solutions via their campaign sites.
Neither campaign is asking for contributions of money they say few can afford but rather contributions of effort asking others to pass on word of their campaigns. The Hildebrandts both feel they will have very good chances of winning if included in the debate(s). Should not all candidates on the ballot be included so voters can make informed decisions, they ask.
Ken is a former chiropractic physician from new jersey who practiced claims free until 2000 at which time he gave up his practice to focus on largely hidden aspects of US elections as an independent web journalist. Elaine is a former elementary school teacher, businesswoman, and nonprofit organizer, who spent some of her time in new jersey but most in Manhattan before relocating with Ken to Virginia in 2004.
After conducting an interview with Green Party presidential candidate, Dr. Jill Stein, on the streets of DC in 2012, Ken was asked to run for the US House of Representatives by Carey Campbell of the Independent Green Party of Virginia. Early in 2014 Mr. Campbell and his wife Judith visited Elaine and Ken Hildebrandt at their home in Nathalie, Virginia, at which time Carey personally requested that Elaine also run in the upcoming November election. They knew it would be tough but didn’t think they had much choice considering, as was stated by Ken in the Hurst segment mentioned above, “Our very planet’s future’s at stake — right now.”
Both candidates are available for meetings, interviews and speaking engagements.
Ken’s campaign website is http://electken.com/ and Elaine’s is http://electelaine.com/.
Of note, Ken recently nominated his three opponents to the ALS Ice Water Challenge and took the opportunity to also challenge them to a televised debate(s).
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