Open Letter to Citizens of Byram By Paul Shepherd Mayor Campaign, Election 2017

Introduction: Leadership Vacancy in The System

An elected representative of any level is a leader and in the twenty-first

century, leaders must not perpetuate stale policies and sewer-mush politics.
Authentic leaders are inspired by diversity and inclusion, infused by the
conviction of patriotism and community, and invested in our future. We insist on
visionary leaders because they exercise respect for traditions, understand people
(and our differences), and appreciates the significance of cooperation. After all,
wed never play on the football team that doesnt have a captain, or study in a class
without a teacher, or perhaps more importantly, live in a society without leaders.
Furthermore, we believe real leaders must be staunch defenders of economic
equality for all, but who dont use it as a convenient political catchphrase to
abandon their duty to us. Hence, economic equality isnt defined as access, or
fairness, or even chance! Its when every citizen all Americans has the
actual opportunity to exercise our inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness.

We recognize that hard work can achieve great things when the system
works for us all, but it has steadily ignored us, (AKA: WE THE PEOPLE), and
instead, has served the 1%. This system is both ours and democratic at its core;
built word for word, parchment for parchment, stone for stone over 240 years ago,
by our courageous founding fathers. They enshrined freedom, liberty,
enlightenment and pursuit of happiness in the very bands that bind us together,
as one people, as Americans. Oh, and it doesnt need to disappear, as some have
suggested this, for nothing more than their own selfish gains, no doubt. We know
our system functions at optimal performance when engaged citizens elect
visionary leaders, and then stay engaged. We are manipulated, by political
operatives, into using the frazzled abstraction of the system. The System is,
ironically, our Country: our history, our communities, our diverse cultures, our
roads, our bridges, our schools, our military and countless other services weve
gained through the hard work of self-governance over the centuries. Thus, it is
naturally our protection and our law enforcement, our blind, however
compassionate justice and even our very way of life. We do not accept any longer,
the political operatives who create a system that only serves the few.

Visionary leaders, like our forefathers, will boldly fight for our dreams,
vehemently protect our rights, and where possible, they cultivate the best chance
for our success - both as individuals and as a larger community. Indeed, we are
nothing if not a successful nation of dreamers.

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Open Letter to Citizens of Byram By Paul Shepherd Mayor Campaign, Election 2017

Part I: Visionary Leadership & My Vision

Americans are entrusted with the laborious cultivation of democracy and

the meaningful work of an engaged citizen. Democracy is not owned or
maintained by a single individual or small group, but a community that allows and
debates any idea, and then adopts the best ideas for a more FREE, EQUAL, and
JUST society in pursuit of happiness. The belief that every person, universally,
is created equal, is as fundamental a value as any I can live out in my life. This
equality isnt a weapon for political fights, but a shield for citizens to use against
the rot of corruption and the polarizing effect party politics has on our country.
This is a conviction I am unwilling to abandon and its why I commit to people
politics, real conversations. Democracy is why in America our dreams can and do
come true. America is a nation of dreamers, a country of citizens and a community
of people, always has been and always will be, its what makes us the greatest
superpower on Earth.

We elect visionary leaders to conduct the challenging work of self-

governance through legislating for the future, not bickering over the past. That
our leaders have for over 240 years, done the hard work to make America the
country others had thousands of years to become, (and didnt become), is the
greatest testament to the inspiring and impeccable belief that equality is for every
person, period.

History has shown us that the political operatives who pander to our fears
and anxieties, incite our cautious reservations to change, and instigate isolation as
the road to safety and peace of a people, are, frankly, wrong! Our fears are not
barriers to success, because we make a habit of challenging ourselves to face fears
and overcome them. We commit ourselves to be engaged, because liberty is simply
printed on 241 years-old parchment until we bring it to life with our actions, our
words; the chorus of a free and united people. Our loved ones and friends do not
fight for our freedoms overseas for us to simply fight each other at home. Our
teachers do not teach our children to learn, study or work in the past. Our nurses
and doctors do not heal us to prevent growth. Our democracy doesnt exist for its
own sake it exists for each one of us to take it up, to claim ownership of it and to
engage each other in the ever-useful process of conversation and debates,
compromise and action.

Leaders will once again rise from the new generation, my generation, to
pick up and wear the mantle of leadership. We will not abandon our values, but
we wont cower from the futures present challenges that require our hard work,

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Open Letter to Citizens of Byram By Paul Shepherd Mayor Campaign, Election 2017

our careful considerations, and our collective effort toward equality for all. We
discover the torch of democracy doesnt burn on its own, but because we each play
a most crucial role: citizen.

Part II: Safety First

The protection of life, property and rights in our small community of Byram
will be my top priority as Mayor. We live in the safest times in history, but our
Mississippi has suffered from decades of poor leadership. Many of our
communities are experiencing floods of criminal activity under continued poor
leadership. Byram is fortunate in that we have been small for a long time, which
made us unattractable to most criminals. Nevertheless, with our growth comes a
challenging opportunity for our emergency personnel to revisit our strategy and
engage the community in efforts that facilitate conversations and generates ideas
for improvement. I believe by involving citizens, we ensure that our focus remains
centered on what is important: protecting our community through service. A
failure to do this will condemn us to the cycle that plagues developing and
developed cities across our state who lack visionary leadership, if any leadership
at all.

My experience as a child who grew up in the neglected world of poverty

and witnessed firsthand the cruel and unusual policing strategies rooted in hate
and greed, fired-up every fiber of my body to ensure every citizen, irrespective of
income, residence, gender, race or any other label blind of all labels - every
person be treated with dignity and respect, and they must be served with equal
protection under the law. This can only be successful if we come together,
contribute to the process and voice our concerns and our ideas for each others
consideration and feedback.

When you elect me as Mayor on May 2 and June 6, I will serve to facilitate
engagement, conduct research, gather data and facts on our concerns in a timely
manner, provide information in an unbiased manner, and defend every resident
of Byram in the Administrative duties I carry out, ensuring citizens remain the
center of focus, always. Byram residents will feel safe not because the Mayor, or
the Police Chief or anyone else says to feel safe, but because as an engaged citizen,
empowered by a modern government, you can generate ideas, contribute to the
process, engage the outcome, and with transparency, hold us accountable to the
mission we set ourselves on. You can feel safe and in control once again. This is a
government, of, for and by the people because in the 21st century, we can be

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Open Letter to Citizens of Byram By Paul Shepherd Mayor Campaign, Election 2017

engaged and have an impact on our representative government, even in our small
community of Byram.

Part III: Economics Second

Our region, state and surrounding communities impact our economic

security conservative values have been misplaced by conservative-claiming
politicians who plead ignorance when confronted, all for power and self-interests,
above the common good of the people. This has left Mississippi and her
communities suffering from decades of poor economic policy and absent
leadership while cities around the world engage citizens and thrive. Democrats of
the past have failed to yield any results, with their addiction to establishment and
corporate interests, without regard to the common person or common good.
Nevertheless, citizens persist. We suffer from a lack of amenities; our way of life
looks like a backdrop of an antique relic more than a modern, 21st century
community in our pursuit of happiness. In the business world, our ultra-extreme
deregulation of markets has run their course and the results are crumbling
infrastructure, rising crime and cyclical repetition of stale political rhetoric that
concentrates power in mega-sized corporations, exposes citizens to financial
hardship and long-term insecurity, and challenges our patience as we watch
things regress not improve; yet despite all this, we persist.

We believe in each other while we search for any hope of political reform
that enshrines our values and gives us the protections we always seem just shy of
having. Byram isnt suffering (yet), because our growth is only just reaching the
point of potential, that point which requires visionary leadership. I do believe
Government shouldnt interfere with our lives, but I know I cannot protect myself
from every threat and in a modern world, and many threats are real, even if
artificially created. Government must use its power to protect us because it is why
we elect representatives, to facilitate a common protection that is equal and serves
us.

Citizens are equal when we read the 241-year-old parchments, but it is our
actions, our words and our inactions, our silence, that determines how that
equality manifests in society. Equality isnt an entity of its own accord. It is our
social agreement to treat each other fairly, respectfully and as an equal to ourselves
in dignity, rights and in life.

I believe engaged citizens can determine their economic future instead of

political operatives and corporate interests. This may not have been possible in the
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Open Letter to Citizens of Byram By Paul Shepherd Mayor Campaign, Election 2017

19th or 20th century, so we can forgive our politicians from then, perhaps. We live
in the 21st century however, and citizens require access to keep government
transparent and accountable of its commitments to citizens. This tangible
possibility, from the comfort of our homes we can use the affordable and secure
technology we already own, to engage and hold accountable our elected
representatives. We can have free markets, equality and success without slapping
our values in the face and without giving up our protections; that which we are
entitled to by the mere fact: we are born in The United States of America.

I will bring bold and progressive growth that gives hope again, but couples
it with the reality that we live in. I dont need to raise taxes, but I am willing to
raise the bar and demonstrate that a leader can attract the talent, resources and
engagement required to fulfill a citizen-centered economic vision that grows our
city on citizen demands first and always.

Part IV: Modernization

Lets face it, we live in a world where we can order anything online today
and have it delivered, in some places, the same day. We can pay our taxes online,
and we can order pizza and have it delivered in 20 minutes from our smartphones.
We can watch news 24/7, from anywhere in the world. We can learn any subject
online, for free. Cars can now drive themselves, medicine is finding cures to
cancers left and right, and improvements in space flight technology have led to a
renewed space race, (and once again, we are failing to lead perhaps we can make
a comeback, like the good old days). We un-paralyzed a person last year and
developed new technologies that will improve our quality of life and allow us to
manipulate the human genome, potentially unlocking longevity in the process.

Life goes on, whether we like it or not. We dont quarrel with that but what
is painful is our elected officials, whose tasks is to maintain democracy, improve
government, protect citizens and not least, lead us forward, choose politics over
progress, establishment over people, and self-interests over country. Our
politicians have become self-interested corporate mouthpieces for political power
that tells the people freedom, but gives us inequality. I believe, like you, equality
is the baseline measurement of freedom. And equality changes over time, for sure,
but our freedoms should not. Our freedoms should always be a direct measure of
equality in the changing times not a political weapon for manipulation and
power-grabbing. My fundamental value of equality sees the perfect opportunity
to put technology to use and allow citizens to participate and make decisions
together, effectively, taking back real power from the few.

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Open Letter to Citizens of Byram By Paul Shepherd Mayor Campaign, Election 2017

We cannot eliminate the offices for Mayor, City Council, or any office of an
elected representative, and I wouldnt ever suggest it! We need actual people to
do the daily work of government and to act on our collective behalf. However, we
can expect our leaders to include us in the processes that matter and impact our
lives. Budgeting can be a team effort, for example I believe citizens can
participate in the process and change politics forever by collectively deciding what
a certain percentage of the budget gets spent on. This is a proven solution that
makes people feel great because they get to decide for themselves where their
money is spent in the City. Thats unheard of in Mississippi, of all places. This will
not only beat corruption it will energize citizens to once again enjoy their
freedoms, their equality in pursuit of happiness, just as our founders envisioned.

Part V: Transparency & Accountability

Modernizing our government to meet the demands and needs of 21st

century citizens will allow us to take advantage of the 2-for-1 wisdom, two
birds, with one stone. We can finally provide citizens with real, substantive access
to government in a way that keeps us informed, allows us to participate and would
serve as our secure port to hold government accountable and access the
transparency tools that make that possible. This is vital to ensuring citizens have
access to their elected officials in an unabated manner. Government officials
would be accountable to citizens in more ways than ever before in history.

I cant prevent all corruption, its a fools errand. What I can, rather, what I
will do, is work with state-of-the-art tech at the most affordable costs to ensure
YOU get the power back, from the comfort of home! The power to hold
accountable those elected to represent us. If that isnt worthy of our votes, I dont
know what is.

Summary: Are you ready?

We need leadership, visionary leadership. The absence of it has caused us

great problems. I am running on a fundamental commitment to you, my fellow
citizens of Byram: I will bring visionary leadership that upends the stalemate of
our growth potential and the separation of the PEOPLE from their Government
that has soured for so long. I can do this because I am 26 and I have not grown up
under the thumb of ideology or establishment rhetoric. I grew up inside
government, as an orphan clinging to only the most basic principles of our
democracy, the ones we are taught in some of our earliest experiences of

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Open Letter to Citizens of Byram By Paul Shepherd Mayor Campaign, Election 2017

childhood. I lived, for over a decade of my later childhood, in what the systems
results are when it operates in the shadows, and when citizens are left out of the
process on decisions that affect our lives. Its a reality where money funnels up
and yet still manage to somehow pull the bottom down, and funneling up is all
that matters to the few. Its been like an elevator that lifts the rich and crushes the
poor underneath, the few inside couldnt care less whats under their feet. I dont
have a vested interest in any businesses, and I dont have any big-spenders
backing me. I dont have an ivy league degree or decades of experiences to flaunt
as false pretense to get elected. This, for me, is personal. Its a personal conviction
and a life-long mission to bring people, us, the government back. If I had a
personal or selfish reason for asking to be your Mayor, it is that my country, my
state and my community is the only family I have left. I couldnt change my
childhood, but I am not prepared to sit back and allow pseudo leaders to dictate
how we live our lives. I left that system of ruling when I won my emancipation
and I dont intend to allow it to infect our society and erode our freedom and our
happiness.

I do not run because of my experience as an entrepreneur, starting my first

business at 17-years-old, servicing computers. I do not run because I am a writer
and love people. I do not run because I was an orphan for 10 years inside the
belly of the beast we call the system. Yet, these contrasting journeys so far, have
provided vast amounts of knowledge, experience and wisdom I otherwise
wouldnt have at just 26-years-old. I sacrificed a normal childhood for an early
adulthood through a rapid-fire course of hard lessons and steady learning by
trying and trying again. I run because I have a fundamental, perhaps even old-
fashioned belief that we are all created equal. I have a conviction, a burning fire
inside my spirit that only sings American and only speaks red, white and blue.
This energy is for you, my fellow citizens. Lets dream again, vote more and lets
make America ours, starting right here in Byram. After all, it is our votes that
matter the most. Now, weather we vote or not, determines what matters after
Election Day.
Are you ready?

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