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  Lawson, William "B.J."
CANDIDATE DETAILS
AffiliationRepublican  
 
NameWilliam "B.J." Lawson
Address
Cary, North Carolina , United States
EmailNone
Website [Link]
Born March 30, 1974 (49 years)
ContributorU Ole Polecat
Last ModifedCincinnatiReds1990
May 19, 2009 07:22pm
Tags Married - Christian - Straight -
InfoI'm a husband, father of three, and concerned citizen with a background in engineering, medicine, and more recently business and entrepreneurship. I graduated from Lakeland Senior High School in Lakeland, Florida, and came to North Carolina in 1992 to study engineering and then medicine at Duke University. My high-school sweetheart (now wife) JoLynn attended Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, which made Duke's engineering school (just four hours away!) even more attractive.

JoLynn and I married after college graduation, and she taught elementary school in Durham while I started medical school. After receiving my medical degree in 2000, I started neurosurgery residency at Duke University.

Despite a strong calling to medicine, I saw an opportunity to address a fundamental inefficiency in our healthcare system: to take care of patients, all physicians need timely and portable access to patient information. I left residency in 2001 to start a medical software company that solved that problem. Our company's system brings all the information needed to make clinical decisions directly to the caregiver's smartphone or BlackBerry.

While I had no formal business experience, the challenge and desire to make a difference appealed to us. Even though we had a well-defined problem and a vision for a solution, it was a risky decision — especially with student loans out of deferment, no money in the bank, and an immediate need for funding.

Taking the risk to start and grow a company was an amazing education, and my immersion in the world of raising money, growing teams, and serving customers led me to study the broader problems facing our society outside of technology and healthcare. Specifically, I started asking questions about our economic and monetary system: Why do investors seek such high rates of return to “beat inflation”? Why does the inflation I see in my life seem greater than the numbers reported by the government? Why are healthcare and health insurance so expensive? Why are college and professional schools so expensive? What are the consequences of newly-minted graduates with massive educational debt? Do a $9 trillion national debt and $800 billion current account deficit really matter? When our government “borrows” money, who lends it to us? What are the consequences of the Federal Reserve’s ability to raise and lower interest rates?

The more I learned, the more concerned I became. Not just for myself, but for our nation and most importantly my children. We have been blessed with three amazing children, and as they’ve started to mature and ask their own questions, I am increasingly motivated to change the nation we are leaving for them. You see, we have a nation that is increasingly divided. People appear to enjoy sports like Democrats vs. Republicans, Liberals vs. Conservatives, Straights vs. Gays, Blacks vs. Whites, Spanish vs. English, and so forth… when the fundamental problems we face together as Americans don’t discriminate.

While we all experience the same problems, instead of uniting and asking questions about our current direction, we’re divided amongst ourselves by labels that impair discussion and understanding. Take myself, for example: I’m a registered Republican, fiscally conservative, but personally strive for generosity. I consider myself “tough on crime” when crime is defined as one person hurting another person, but with my medical training I question why we criminalize and incarcerate people with addictions who have hurt no one except themselves. I’m very much in favor of supporting our troops, maintaining a strong defense, and appropriate use of force, but pre-emptive war and nation building in developing countries doesn’t sound all that defensive to me. I understand that my household budget demands certain discipline, and I am uncomfortable pretending we can borrow as much money as we want from foreign investors and our own Federal Reserve. While my family and I strive for moral ideals based upon our Christian faith and resulting understanding of desirable behavior, we believe that our role is to encourage and not stand in judgment of others.

Limiting our discussion to labels like "liberal" or "conservative" prevents real discussion about the issues. You see, these words we use to describe schools of thought are exceedingly dangerous. They confuse instead of enlighten, and divide instead of unite. At worst, people stop thinking entirely.

The greatest thing about being an American is that we have a foundation based upon our founding documents — the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. When you read them, you’ll discover that they are remarkably simple documents that make for substantial discussions. Confidence in having those discussions as Americans (forget all the other labels!) should encourage each of us to ask questions, learn, and speak freely.

There are too many issues needing our attention for us to remain silent and divided, and I hope you’ll join us in the discussion to take back our government, and our future.


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  11/02/2010 NC - District 04 Lost 42.84% (-14.32%)
  05/04/2010 NC District 4 - R Primary Won 45.99% (+5.37%)
  11/04/2008 NC - District 04 Lost 36.68% (-26.64%)
  05/06/2008 NC District 4 - R Primary Won 70.55% (+41.10%)
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