Gene Chapman, Candidate for Texas Governor
ChapmanForTexasGovernor2014.com
(Endorsed by Dr. Noam Chomsky, Intellectual of the Age)
P. O. Box 295545
Lewisville, Texas 75029
August 22, 2013
Texas Secretary of State John Steen
P. O. Box 12887
Austin, Texas 78711-2887
Dear Mr. Secretary of State:
Yesterday, I went on the Texas Secretary of State website to sign up for my campaign for Texas Governor on the direction of the Texas Libertarian Party leadership. On the site, I found a requirement that I sign that I "swear."
As a Gandhian (Tolstoyan Christian), I follow Jesus Christ's Sermon on the Mount, which says that I am to "swear not." My entire platform for Texas Governor is made up of five points from the Sermon on the Mount. The objective is to help work toward peace on earth via the instructions of Christ in his famous mountainside sermon.
According to Leo Tolstoy's book, The Kingdom Of God Is Within You, the book attributed with transforming the lawyer M. K. Gandhi into the Mahatma of India, "swear not" applied in all circumstances means the non-violent abolition of the most violent entity on earth, the state. It is my objective to inspire others in Texas and around the world to follow Tolstoy's lead, which has already proven effective in freeing India from British rule via Gandhiji's application of it, to transform the world from the current violent state conception of life into the non-violent Kingdom conception of life.
Also, I cannot "affirm" anything in the context of the oath, as a law professor acquaintance of mine proposed, as this is simply semantics for swearing an oath. (If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, it's a duck.)
Neither can I go to court to remedy the matter, if I am to be true to my platform and Gandhian religion, for the Sermon on the Mount instructs, "go not to law."
I am seeking a way, based on Truth and non-violence, that I may gain ballot access, as I seek the Texas Libertarian Party nomination for Texas Governor for the 2014 election, in light of the above issues. Thank you in advance for your thoughtful help in moving the world toward peace in helping me gain ballot access.
Most respectfully,
Gene Chapman,
Tolstoyan-Gandhian Libertarian Candidate for Texas Governor
(Endorsed by Dr. Noam Chomsky, Intellectual of the Age)
ChapmanForTexasGovernor2014.com
gkchapman2012@hotmail.com
cc: Texas Ethics Commission
Texas Libertarian Party Leadership
