By Charles Winslow / Originally published April 5, 2024, in the print INNformer

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2024 PRIMARY ELECTION SAMPLE BALLOT LOOKUP TOOL

There is something unusual and endearing about West Virginia when it comes to a candidate getting on a political party’s primary election ballot, even for such high offices as the U.S. Senate.

In the Mountain State even an average citizen to can throw their hat in the ring and run, while other states have enacted complicated rules that all but guarantee candidates are either well-connected, backed by the party’s leadership or are wealthy enough to hire a campaign staff.
 
To qualify to run for U.S. Senate in the Republican primary in New York, for example, a candidate must collect 15,000 valid signatures from party members gathered in 13 of the state’s 26 Congressional Districts, with a certain minimum number from each district.

Not an easy task, unless you have the establishment behind you or a lot of money.  

But in West Virginia, besides being at least 30 years of age, all a resident really needs is the passion, motivation and a fairly minimal filing fee to become an official candidate.

And it was that passion and motivation that made Janet McNulty, a 40-year-old retail employee from Martinsburg, stand out from the other two Senatorial candidates who made appearances at the recent Wetzel County Republicans Meet the Candidate night.

While the other two candidates, Bryan McKinney and Rep. Alex Mooney, R-WV02, [Gov. Jim Justice didn’t show] spoke about their opposition to the Biden administration’s policies and positions, McNulty gave a fiery speech that referenced back to the founding of the nation and reminded those listening how we’ve given into the tyrannies of our age.

“George Washington once said ‘Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action’,” McNulty began.

“Well, we’ve left it to irresponsible action because we have given in to ...” she continued, listing the various tyrannies, from the tyranny of the mob, career politicians, complacency, immorality and neverending debt among the underlying problems the country currently faces.
 
“These are the tyrannies we, as a nation, and as a people have become comfortable with and, as a result, we have lost our national identity and have ceded our birthright to these tyrannies for the illusion of safety,” she said.

McNulty said she would watch the news, shake her head at the talking heads, and wish that someone, somewhere, would stand up and do the right thing and she felt used by career politicians who would say anything to get elected then announce their bid for their next office soon after winning.  

“I spent the last few years complaining about the state of things and I was told that instead of just sitting around I should do something about
it. I’m putting my name out there as an option, McNulty explained to The INNformer while recognizing she doesn’t have the name recognition or funding of two of the career candidates in the race, Gov. Justice and Rep. Mooney, have.  

A published author, McNulty was born into a military family and with her mother’s career in the civil service, moved around the country when she was growing up.  After graduating with a B.A. in history from Northern State University in South Dakota in December 2006 she said shemoved to Martinsburg and has been living paycheck to paycheck, like many in the state.

For three years, while working retail full-time, she studied IT through Southern New Hampshire University and graduated in 2021 with an M.S. in information technology.  

McNulty said she doesn’t come from wealth but from a family of modest means and understands the value of hard work and sacrifice.

“I’ve never wanted a career in politics and have tried to run away from it. But life has shown me that we have career politicians who believe they own us and can run our lives for us and who have been in politics my entire lifetime.”

She said she believes West Virginia does not need future career politicians and it’s time to end their reign.

“The government’s continued response to issues has demonstrated a bigger tragedy: the loss of our freedom as those who lust for power steal it from us. For too long I have wished an ordinary man would stand up and fight the overreach by our government and fight to preserve the founding ideals of America and our freedom,” she said. “After a while, I realized I cannot keep waiting, nor can the state and country, for someone to come along. Sometimes, you have to be that person.”

To learn more about Janet McNulty’s campaign for US Senate and a more in-depth explanation of her positions  visit: mcnultywv.com.

Here is McNulty’s speech given at the Wetzel County Republican Meet the Candidates:

George Washington once said: “Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.”

Well, we’ve left it to irresponsible action because we have given in to:

Tyranny of the mob — Look at the 2020 riots by BLM activists or the twitter mob that forces individuals to bend to their rule.

Tyranny of bureaucracy — Unelected, bureaucratic bodies control every aspect of our lives through rules and regulations without oversight.

Tyranny of career politicians and political activist groups — They do anything and everything to protect themselves and their assets. To them, all actions are a play for power.

Tyranny of ignorance, especially willful ignorance — Truth will stare many in the face, yet we refuse to believe it because, if we did, we may have to change how we act, and we may have to change our beliefs.

Tyranny of lies — We allow lies to govern us. The 1619 project is one example. Prominent Historians have denounced it as full of mistruths and half-truths, yet we allow it to be taught to our children as pure fact. We allow the lie that only government can solve our problems to flourish when the real solution is us acting with common sense and doing what is right.

Tyranny of complacency or apathy — We are so entrenched in our comfort zones that we refuse to do anything that might force us out of it. Too many do not pay attention to what their elected officials do and then wonder what happened when they are blindsided by a set of new rules that affect them.

Tyranny of immorality — We have allowed ourselves to be convinced that doing what is morally wrong is OK. A great example is the sexualization of our children as we allow drag queens to perform stripteases in front of them while cheering it on, or allowing a child to perform at a strip club to be ogled by other adults. We are allowing schools to force transgender ideology (the belief that there is no gender or that gender is fluid) on our children. Some schools are encouraging sex changes on children. This is pure evil and no society will survive such an assault on the innocence and the psychology of its children.

Tyranny of fear — We allow our government, media and those in power to use fear as a means of controlling us.

Tyranny of tribalism — we’ve split ourselves into groups — echo chambers — where we only associate with people who think exactly like us, which divides us. If we do not listen to one another, we will never find solutions to the problems that plague us.

Tyranny of self-righteousness — We have allowed ourselves to become arrogant and convinced of our moral superiority. COVID is another example of this. There were those who wore their mask — and tried to force others to do the same — as a public example of how much they cared about others and would use phrases like, “I’m wearing it to protect others, not myself.” This sense of self-righteousness is the quick path to self-destruction, not just on the individual level, but for individual states and nations as well.

Tyranny of constant war — In the last 120 years the U.S. has been involved in 7 different wars. We just got out of a 20-year conflict in the Middle East. Now, we are on the verge of going to war with Russia and entering another conflict in the Middle East. These wars have bankrupted us physically, psychologically, and financially.

Tyranny of neverending debt — We are $34.4 trillion in debt and earning about $1 trillion in interest every 100 days. By the end of 2024, I expect us to be $35-$36 trillion in debt.

These are the tyrannies we, as a nation, and as a people have become comfortable with, and as a result, we have lost our national identity and have ceded our birthright to these tyrannies for the illusion of safety.

I know what you are thinking: This isn’t how politicians who want to get elected speak. You’re supposed to be kissing our behinds.

I’m not a politician and I’m not going to kiss your behinds. I’m the sort that tells you the cold, hard truth.

And the truth is: The only way to end this vicious cycle is to stop voting for what is comfortable and to stop voting for the one who says all the nice things and makes you feel good, and stop being predictable.

We need to remember the principles this country was founded upon (individual liberty, right to property, the right to self-determination, and equal justice under the law) if we want our country back. We need to remember that we are Americans and it’s high time we act like it.

And, for God’s sake, we need some common sense.