New Website Asks District 1 Voters, “Should I Run?”
 
(Westhampton Beach, N.Y.) - Westhampton Beach resident for 19 years and Suffolk County School Counselor for 26 years, Richard Blumenthal has launched a website, http://shouldirun.com , detailing his ideas about government and requesting feedback from the voters of New York’s First Congressional District in Suffolk County. Asking the question, “Should I run?”, Blumenthal presents an approach he calls, “Plan from Strength”, which provides a sharp contrast to the incumbent’s performance in Congress.
 
Using the analogy of a family’s need to improve their home, he posits,  “Should you demolish the good house, down to the ground and start all over again? If you did, you’d probably spend all of your savings and then some, going into a lot of debt and still you couldn’t be sure if the new house will even be as good as the original.  What’s the alternative? You could keep your perfectly good house and simply add on the rooms you need for a fraction of the cost and a fraction of the risk. In other words, you plan from the strength of what you already have and make the necessary improvements to reach your goals.”
 
Blumenthal shows how “Plan from Strength” works in the areas of energy, transportation, and health care. He frequently cites authorities in his proposals and offers links to the original sources, encouraging his visitors to check his facts.
 
Blumenthal also explains the dangers posed by the government’s mounting 11 trillion dollar debt, calling attention to what he terms the “Buy Now, Make Our Kids Pay Later” voting pattern of the incumbent who, according to Blumenthal, funds all of his leaders’ pet projects with a “credit card style of government”, leaving the United States on the brink of bankruptcy.
 
Another section of the website called, “Stimulus Watch”, tracks the 1st Congressional District’s projects from the stimulus package, voted for by the incumbent. Blumenthal shows that many companies receiving large monetary awards for work performed in the District are actually located off of Long Island, often out of State.
 
Welcoming the comments of his visitors, Blumenthal provides an email address for easy access to him, richard@shouldirun.com