Biography
Ben Lowe is a Democrat running to represent Illinois’ 6th District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is a graduate of Wheaton College, an active member of the Wheaton Chinese Alliance Church, and a resident of the city of Wheaton.
Much of Ben’s professional life has focused on environmental stewardship and climate change. He co-founded and currently co-coordinates Renewal, a national grassroots network committed to equipping students to care for the environment. He previously served as director of outreach for A Rocha USA, part of an international conservation organization. Ben is also the author of Green Revolution, a practical book showcasing the growing Christian environmental stewardship movement and inviting others to join in. He advocates aggressive development of green jobs, in service of both the environment and the economy. Ben further believes that reducing our dependence on foreign energy sources reaps the added benefit of promoting our national economy and guarding our national security.
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Until the age of 16, Ben lived mostly in Singapore, studying in a public school system which exceeds the American median in educational standards and attainment, especially in math and sciences. A country which does not lead the world in education risks its future. So Ben is also passionate about finding workable solutions to a system that still leaves too many children behind, particularly in our less affluent cities and towns.
His years living overseas, coupled with a summer science-research grant in rural sub-Saharan Africa, nurtured another passion in Ben: a concern for a more nuanced foreign policy, and the renunciation of foreign adventurism and nation-building. He advocates the highest care for our troops serving bravely in the face of danger; one of the highest forms of care is a foreign policy which acts more judiciously before thrusting troops into danger. Ben supports an expeditious end to wars that have proven devastatingly costly in terms of both American soldier and local civilian casualties. Money saved from war could more usefully promote economic development abroad, so as to re-brand America’s image throughout the world, using our global position of influence to encourage peace, respect for human rights, and religious freedom.
The son of a naturalized U.S. citizen, Ben has spent considerable time interacting with both prosperous and impoverished immigrant communities. This experience drives home the need to reform our broken immigration system.
Yet another dimension of his life overseas – and his career serving with non-profit organizations – has been first-hand experience of the risks of being uninsured or under-insured. He advocates reform of our health insurance system to ensure that all Americans have access to adequate, affordable health care. Additionally, the recent economic downturn underscores the need to provide a safety net for those facing joblessness and homelessness, yet within the parameters of fiscal conservatism.
Ben is an accidental politician. He intended to spend his life as a grassroots community organizer working toward concrete improvements in areas of urgent need: care for the environment; care for the poor, the uninsured, the marginalized, and the refugee; advocacy of mutually-beneficial engagement with the world. When there was no Democratic candidate to stand in this election he approached several colleagues that share these same values and concerns: each declined to run, proposing instead that he do so. Their persuasion fostered a vision, a passion, and a mission.
Do you share this vision, passion, and mission?
Then join Ben Lowe; bring our hopes and concerns to the forefront of this election. Together, we can work for change in the 6th district, in Washington, and throughout the country.
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Why I am Running
Constructive. Responsible. Fresh.
This is not a personal campaign, but a principled one. As a political outsider, I am running for office because I am sick of our ineffective and gridlocked government. We cannot afford more posturing and obstruction on the part of our representatives in Washington; it is time to reclaim our voice as citizens, and to be heard on the important issues affecting our district and our country.
Our elected representatives have been voting in the interest of their ambitions, their parties, and the lobbies that donate money to their political campaigns. As a result, Washington has become increasingly gridlocked and beholden to corporations, Wall Street, and special interests. This is not the good governance and fair representation we deserve.
Now is our opportunity to come together to hold these politicians accountable. We can choose to move past the old partisan system of politics and pursue meaningful, creative, and constructive solutions to the greatest challenges of our time. Good ideas are not limited to any one political party in our system, and it is time that we pursue common ground to deliver common sense solutions for the common good.
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Reclaiming Constructive Governance
A Pew Research Center survey from 2005 quantifies what we all intuitively know: Contention defines the American political process today. According to the report, 77% of registered Democrats and 61% of Republicans characterize the country as more politically divided than in the past.
The situation has deteriorated further over the last five years. On February 15, 2010, a respected senator from our neighboring state announced that he will not seek re-election. Senator Evan Bayh blames excessive partisanship and legislative logjams for his withdrawal from national politics. He cites two examples from early 2010: the voting down of a bipartisan commission to address what may be the biggest threat against the nation, the ballooning deficit and national debt; and the failure of both left and right, for doctrinaire reasons, agree on legislation to address the most urgent issue facing the country – job creation.
The American public rightly despises this partisanship, the politicians who promote it, and Congress as a whole for succumbing to it. Our nation – and its citizens – deserves and demands an entirely new way of doing politics.
There is no better time than now to demand new political priorities and practices from our government. Here is what we will put first in order to meet those demands:
Country over party: America is stuck with a two-party system, but when we score cheap political points, we inflict lasting damage on our nation and our people. We must always put national interest above party advantage if we want better lives for our citizens.
Cooperation over obstruction: We will always have philosophical and political differences, but these disagreements must never overtake the shared values that unite us. Progress through agreement is always superior to gridlock through partisanship.
Responsibility over blame: Our economy is still in crisis. The worst threats of recession may have passed, but unemployment remains unacceptably high, large numbers of American workers have lost their homes and jobs, and millions remain without access to affordable health care. We could make cheap points with party loyalists by blaming one another for the crisis. Instead, the nation looks to its political leaders to work cooperatively toward recovery, and those leaders must set safeguards in place to ensure that such a meltdown never happens again.
Integrity over smears: With each passing election cycle, political campaigning and posturing have less and less proximity to truth. But while politicians using smear campaigns may win elections, they lose the respect required to govern. Let us represent one anothers’ positions with truth and honesty, not with smear or innuendo.
As President Obama said in his State of the Union address, we need to reform not only legislation, but also legislators; not only the work we do, but also how we work together: “Washington may think that saying anything about the other side, no matter how false, no matter how malicious, is just part of the game. But it's precisely such politics that has stopped either party from helping the American people. Worse yet, it's sowing further division among our citizens, further distrust in our government.”
Our nation cannot afford such division during times as crucial as these. I commit myself, for the course of this campaign and into my congressional career, to the following:
- to seek the welfare of all people of the 6th District, and not of Democrats alone
- to seek constructive consensus, wherever possible, for the advancement of our district
- to reject dirty politics in favor of respecting my competitor and his party
If you share these same concerns and values with me, then please join us. We need all the help we can get to overcome and reform the entrenched political machine in the 6th district. Together, we will restore a constructive voice for us in Congress.
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