From Puppies to Politics
I was born in St. Louis, Missouri in December of 1984. My parents moved our family around a bit and by the time I was in the third grade they settled in Rockford, Illinois. Thankfully, we always kept our St. Louis roots.
My dad set up a stereo in my bedroom so I could listen to the St. Louis Blues and St. Louis Cardinals on KMOX. Living about an hour outside of Chicago I had to remain up to date on St. Louis sports so I could debate with all of my friends who were of course, Blackhawks and Cubs fans. After all, I had to be sure that Mark McGwire was still ahead of Cubs star, Sammy Sosa, for the record setting home run race. During the winters, I would proudly wear my St. Louis Blues “Starter” brand jacket to school – it’s a jacket I still have stashed away in storage (hey, it’s vintage now)!
As the oldest of three in my family, I wanted to be a good role model for my
younger siblings. I knew that if I smoked, drank or did any drugs that my younger siblings would be more likely to do so. I carefully navigated my way through high school, at times losing friendships for saying “no.” I also gained a few life-long friends with similar values.
In 2003, I left Illinois to head up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to pursue my education at Northern Michigan University. I spent the next five years working on a degree in Digital Cinema (film editing) while minoring in English Writing and Electronic Journalism (broadcasting).
It was in my final years of college that my political views changed. Up until 2007, politics were boring to me. I considered myself a Republican as both of my parents were.Admittedly, back then, I didn’t know much, if anything, about the details of the party platform. I agreed with having lower taxes and a strong military – at the time, that was all I associated with Republicans. I had never watched a presidential debate and the thought of doing so was incredibly boring.
In May of 2007 I found myself sitting in front of the TV, ready to watch the first Republican debate for the 2008 election. I listened as the candidates said essentially the same things, just in their own words. It was about as boring as I expected. Until they came to a Congressman from Texas: Ron Paul.
His answers were not like the rest of the group. Not only did he talk about just lowering taxes, but he had a real plan to eliminate some of them all together! He was ready to nix the income tax and erase the IRS – I loved the idea. He talked about auditing the Federal Reserve and bringing our troops home from the unpopular war in Iraq. He promoted peace, liberty and prosperity. He was the only candidate on stage that supported Freedom. Over the remaining debates, the more I listened to Ron Paul the more I wanted to know. I found out he was a Libertarian and had once run for president as such in 1988. I researched everything I could about the party, and although I don’t care for labels, by 2008 I considered myself a Libertarian.
I graduated from Northern Michigan University in 2008 and remained up there for a year. In 2009 I moved to High Ridge, Missouri. I also returned home with a best friend, my first Siberian Husky, Koivu. I had no intentions of starting a sled dog team – but Koivu did. His passion and desire to run influenced me to go back to school and become a dog trainer. It was during this time that I began to get involved with rescue groups. Up until this point, starting a sled dog team was a distant thought in my mind. But once I saw so many dogs without homes, I made the decision that not only was I going to start a sled dog team, but my team would consist of all rescued/adopted Siberian Huskies.
I met my wife, Leah, at a local dog kennel where we both worked. Back then, I only had one dog. She agreed with my philosophy about the sled dogs and slowly we began adopting dogs together. We eventually bought a house with acreage out in Hillsboro, Missouri, it is the house that we still reside in. Our family has grown to 14 Siberian Huskies (12 of which were adopted from rescue groups), 1 Pomeranian (Bebe married into the family as she was Leah’s first dog) and of course, our newest family member, a healthy 1-year old boy.
Starting a sled dog team in Missouri was no easy task! I had no mentors and was forced to learn everything on my own. At our first race I learned that having a sled dog team consisting of all adopted dogs was unheard of. Most mushers had a start similar to mine – with a stubborn Siberian who loved to run. But eventually they switched over to the faster speed machine’s, the Alaskan Husky. Most bought experienced, older dogs from other teams, especially leaders. For my first race our leaders were Koivu and Mandy. Mandy was adopted from Dallas, Texas and had probably never seen snow until the race! Their only experience was pulling me on rollerblades on Grant’s Trail! To this day, we finish last place in nearly all of our races, but our main goal has never been to win. It has been to give our dogs a loving home with an outlet for their energy.
So, why am I getting into politics? Like many Americans, I watched the entire 2016 election process unfold. But I watched from an outsider’s perspective. Politically, nothing offends me. I love hearing different ideas and hearing the personal beliefs of those around me. I want to understand how people see the world and what experiences led them to hold such beliefs.
I was amazed by all of the divisiveness in the country – which has arguably only continued to grow. Neither side cared to understand the other. Whatever side people stood on, the mindset seemed to be: If you weren’t “with them” then surely you were “against them.”
As the unrest spread, I began having serious talks with Leah about the possibility of running a campaign. In the summer of 2017 I decided that I was going to get involved with politics. I sent out messages to some of my closest friends with an early version of my platform. The responses were positive and encouraging. I contacted the Libertarian Party of Missouri in October and began my journey to today, as the Libertarian candidate for Missouri State Senate, District 22.
– Richie Camden