The Truth About Nick Popaditch

Although I support Nick Popaditch in his bid to become the next congressman from California’s 51^st Congressional district, I have not been a blind supporter. I have been following his campaign very closely for the past few months. I have read several news articles about him, listened to countless interviews via local and national venues, interviewed him myself a few times, spoken with his wife, campaign staff members and his publisher. In addition, I have attended some of the events along his campaign trial.

I have also read comments made about him on online publications from people on both sides of the political aisle. I fully respect everyone’s right to his or her opinions, and I am in no way trying to be critical of those with opposing views, but it is becoming increasingly obvious to me that most of the negative comments and accusations regarding Mr. Popaditch have been made by people who are very misinformed or totally uninformed about the candidate.

For example, a couple of weeks ago I read comments made about Nick by a woman on the online version of a local newspaper. I had intended to provide a link here, but the paper just launched an updated version of their website without any of the comments made in the previous version. I will continue to monitor the site and if the comments are restored I will update this article with the appropriate link. Because the comments are no longer on the site, I cannot quote verbatim what was said. I can, however, give you the gist of it.

Basically she claimed that communism in America is nothing more that right-wing lies and propaganda and that she would not vote for Nick for many reasons including (according to her) he was attempting to cash in on his military service and injuries. She also claimed to have visited and read the information posted on his website and referred to it as teabagging hate speech. Finally, she said that she wanted to vote for someone who would fight for the working class and would protect such things as Social Security, Medicare and the educational system.

In rebuttal, I will address these points one at a time:

1. Communism in America is not a conspiracy theory, it is real. A simple Google search will reveal several socialist, Marxist and communist websites and political parties based right here in this country.

2. Nick is not attempting to cash in on anything. He decided to run for Congress because he has a deep desire to continue to serve the people of the nation he loves so dearly. I have listened to him speak to people who don’t live in his district. When they tell him they would love to vote for him but they can’t he replies, “That’s ok. If I’m elected to Congress, I will vote for you.” That’s not campaign rhetoric, he truly means it.

3. I have never heard Nick Popaditch utter even a single word of hate speech. He does have strong convictions, but he is also one of the most reasonable and fair-minded men I know. He approaches the issues in a real-world and common sense manner.

4. Nick is dedicated to doing the hard work necessary to bring jobs back, not only to his district, but to the entire nation. He wants to lower taxes across the board so that businesses can create more jobs and so the money that workers bring home from those jobs will go further. If that is not fighting for the working class I don’t know what is.

5. As far as Social Security and Medicare are concerned, I must admit I was unaware of his position on those issues. So this past weekend I caught up with Nick at the 5th Annual Arts & Culture Fest in San Diego and asked him about his views on the subjects. He told me he believes that if you pay into systems such as these for many years you should receive the benefits. “When the government makes deals like that with the public, then they should live up to those deals. That’s the difference between entitlements and a promise,” he said.

6. As a former Marine, Nick is very adept at multitasking. Not only is he involved in the rigors of running a political campaign, he is simultaneously attending SDSU where he is nearing completion of his studies to obtain his teaching credentials. Someday he hopes to become a history teacher. I don’t believe anyone needs to worry about whether or not Nick will protect our educational system.

As you can see, not only is this lady misinformed about communism in America, she is equally misinformed about Nick Popaditch as well.

I realize that some may have a tendency to disregard this article because of my apparent bias. They shouldn’t. I support him because of the reasons I have mentioned above. As I said at the beginning, I have not been a blind supporter. His patriotism, honor, honesty, integrity and willingness to listen to people are the qualities that earned my trust and support. If I had ever witnessed a betrayal of that trust, I would have criticized him far more that I have praised him. That will remain true in the future.

As I waited to interview Nick at the event this past weekend, I observed him interacting with the crowd—a crowd which was more culturally and ethnically diverse than a United Nations meeting. More importantly, I observed the expressions of the people he spoke with. The longer they spoke with Nick the more intrigued they became. Without fail, each person I watched shook his hand and either promised to vote for him or told him they wished that they could. Those in the latter category got the same “I will vote for you” response. And by the way, how many political candidates do you know who would even bother taking the time to speak to someone one-on-one for five to ten minutes knowing that person can’t vote for them in the first place?

I spoke with one lady who had just finished a rather long conversation with Nick. When I asked her impression of him she said, “I could see his character. He is a good man and he definitely has my vote.” We talked for a few minutes more, but as someone who knows Nick as I do, that’s really all she needed to say.

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