About Tom Wells

Dr. Tom Wells for Congress

Tom Wells: A Political Life in Progress

I came of age in the 60's at the intersection of Civil Rights, Abortion Rights, and Medicare for All, in the aftermath of the defeat of German Fascism and Japanese Imperialism. All these were made personal to me in my father's medical career. He spent 10 years first overseas in the Army Medical Corp, then in the states as chief-of-surgery at a VA hospital. 10 years patching up soldiers crippled defeating Fascists and Japan.

He set up private practice in a mid-Georgia mill town in '56. Found immediately that the broader society did not follow the color-blind policies of the Army or VA. Found soon enough that poor women were dying untreated of botched illegal abortions. The poor community soon understood that he would risk jail in nightly house-calls to save an innocent life. And he never learned to deny care to anyone for lack of money. Working daily to exhaustion he provided our small town the Medicare for All that we as a nation still suffer the lack of.

I learned honesty and service from both father and mother. Yet in my youth I was not ready to devote my
life so completely to serving others. I chose science, earning a Ph'D in theoretical physics - the search for
root causes of observed effects. This choice gave me time to spend with my children. And I took time to
run/bike, to keep heart and body healthy. And that theoretical mindset? It now serves me well in tracing the
root of present political malaise - and a path to finesse it - the Climate will not wait for us to get our act
together.

Since 1980 I have seen, and despaired, that my father's dreams of brotherhood were collapsing around us.
That new burdens, inequities, injustices were being thrust upon marginalized communities - and the young.
Clearly my votes and activism in my social circle were not enough.

Finally in the Fall of 2015, Bernie, filling stadiums, burst upon the national scene. The next 9 months I went
to every event I could find. Between events I walked/biked campus, parks, sidewalks, late night lines outside
clubs, bus stops always talking politics, always listening/learning - then going home to study the problems
encountered.

In June 2016 the D running against Ted Yoho in FL CD3 dropped out. And I finally recognized that this was
what my life had prepared me for. I entered that race and have been running ever since. And in this time
Trump and The Court have made mockery of the Rule of Law.

I have lived to see core elements of the Civil Rights Act removed by the Court - as Roe v Wade awaits its
death sentence. To see the VA starved and Veterans treated as disposable - while wars become profit streams
only ending in defeat. To see Medicare turned to private profit. And most incredibly to see defeated fascism
rising Zombie-like from the grave replete with white supremacy, scapegoating of the marginalized, science
denial, teachers threatened if they teach simple history - while they perforce repeat Active Shooter drills.

The bloody coup of January 6 makes clear that 2022 is a test of democracy vs. fascism. It is the last warning
we will get. If we do not heed it, the fault is ours.

The good news: 99+% of the last 6,000 people I've talked with definitely got that wake-up call. We are at
the point Benjamin Franklin forewarned us of. We have a republic, if we can keep it.

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