Lawrence Gaughan, 5th District Congressional Candidate (photo by John P. Flannery)

Lawrence Gaughan, 47, his family name pronounced “Gone,” as in “Gone with the Wind,” has launched a special political campaign in Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District as the Democratic nominee.

“This is the district,” Lawrence says, “where it all began,” a large district from Fauquier in the North to Danville, where the nation was conceived, declared independent of Great Britain, given birth when the constitution was ratified, and re-born at Appomattox after our civil war.

In a year with few rhetorical campaign excursions beyond the same-old wedge issues that manipulate voters at the polls in cookie cutter campaigns, Lawrence is staking out some plain talking common sense basics to get the nation going again, focusing on governing our nation, instead of tearing it apart.

“Democrats, independents and Republicans alike,” Lawrence says, “feel they are not being properly represented in Washington.  Many Virginians have lost faith in the ability of our federal government to fix long term problems such as the debt or our broken immigration system.”

Lawrence was born in Charlottesville, raised there, and he’s a professional actor, director and producer (you may have seen him on the series, “Veep”), but Lawrence has also been a political activist, obtained a Masters Degree in Social Change Theory from Pepperdine University, and founded Gov360, an organization seeking to make our government representative of the people when it is not.

Lawrence’s first principle is that each of us has to have skin in the game by actually voting.  Lawrence found that Americans are not proportionally represented in our U.S. Congress and it’s because they are not voting.  Robert Reich said, “The largest party in America is neither the Democrats or the Republicans, it’s the non-voters.” Lawrence is fond of a remark by Jefferson, “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold, is for the people of conscience to remain silent.”

Of course, Lawrence is fast to admit, you have to give the people a reason to vote. He tried to encourage others to run for Congress, and finally he took the bit in his mouth and announced, and won the nomination to run himself.

At a gathering at Supreme Court Justice John Marshall’s home the other evening, many were baffled why the public would even consider returning the incumbent Republican Rep. Bob Hurt to the U.S. Congress when Hurt proudly sought to close down the government and risk default on the national debt.

At the time of the shutdown, one constituent was critical of Rep. Hurt, saying that “Mr. Hurt and Congress should take responsibility for their own inaction and lose their paychecks until they come to a resolution.”

Brian Roeder said, “I supported Bob Hurt for Congress but, when he risked the collapse of our financial market, I shifted my support to Lawrence Gaughan.”

“We’ve seen a nation divided by factions,” Lawrence said, “that want to shut down the government they work for.”

“We are closer and closer to a potential oligarchy,” Lawrence said, with “people slipping through the cracks.”

“National security is the driving force,” said Lawrence, “[but] we need a defense not an offense department … homeless and veteran are two words that we should never have to use together again, … we need health care not warfare, and education and jobs are critical.”

Lawrence played an old Blue Grass spiritual re-cast with the words, “ain’t nobody else gonna vote it for you.”

Now Lawrence is working hard to encourage voters to vote for him.