Saying he is running to help “Save The American Dream”, Charles Karam filed to seek the Democratic nomination in Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District.“
In his filing statement, Karam pointed out his main reasons for running. “We have gone to war with no plan on how to win and seen it used as justification for billions of dollars to be stolen or squandered by companies like Haliburton. Even the operation of our nation’s most vital ports was nearly outsourced to a foreign government corporation. A culture of greed is destroying the middle class with outlandish oil prices and excessive profits by big oil companies. Big brother is back with government interference in personal family decisions, like the Terry Schiavo case, and the wire taping and spying on United States citizens without proper court review. Karl Rove, Bill Frist, Tom DeLay and Jack Abramhoff are the poster children of a Republican Party drunk on power and addicted to special interest money.”
Karam an American citizen, born to a Christian family in Lebanon, a nation torn by civil war and religious strife, came to America when he was 20 at the urging of his family to seek a better life. He worked to put himself through school and in 1980, he met his wife Mary Jo, and moved to St. Louis. The couple have two beautiful daughters ages 5 and 8. “I will never forget what freedom has meant to me, which is why I want to save the American Dream for future generations, “ explained Karam.
The candidate holds a Master of Science in Civil Engineering with a minor in Business Administration. He also attended Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government and received a diploma in management of local government. Karam served for 15 years in the City of Overland as City Engineer and Public Works Director/City Administrator. He started his own development and new homebuilding firm and is currently managing a family-owned company, R.C.W. Corporation/America Home Builders, as President and CEO.
Last year Charles Karam was appointed by St. Louis County Executive Charles Dooley to serve as a member of the Board of Trustees of the St. Louis Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) and now serve as Vice-Chairman of the MSD Board of Trustees.
Charles Karam also used the occasion of his filing to unveil his New Agenda For America. “As a member of the next Congress, I want to promote a new agenda for the 21st Century. One that puts the needs of working people ahead of corporate greed, the lives of seniors ahead of the drug companies, the interests of taxpayers ahead of powerful lobbyists,” explained the candidate.
The main points of his plan are to:
Restore Integrity In Washington by closing the loopholes that high-priced Washington based lobbyists have driven truckloads of money through. We are trillions of dollars in debt due to run-away spending to satisfy special interests and their high priced Washington lobbyists.
Stop Bleeding America’s Middle Class At The Gas Pump - Exxon and Mobil’s excessive profit margins…the largest in history, should be taxed and put into alternative energy research and development.
Build America’s Job Base by keeping American jobs from being outsourced to foreign countries and encouraging new job growth…jobs that pay a living wage. We must secure our nation’s boarders, keep control of our ports and stop firms from hiring and exploiting undocumented workers.
Make Retirement More Secure by not allowing the big drug companies to rip-off America’s Seniors. There is no reason we should pay more for the same prescription drugs than consumers in Canada.
Keep Politics Out Of Family Decisions - Congress has no right to intervene in your family’s private end of life decisions as the Republicans did with such blatant disregard in the Terry Shiavo case.
Investigate Billions Missing In Iraq - Tens of billions of dollars are missing from rebuilding programs in Iraq. Those who stole this money are the worst kind of war profiteers and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Respect The Bill Of Rights and stop the erosion of our fundamental freedoms. Restore the balance between civil liberties, privacy and security.
Encourage Smart Growth Decisions - We can protect the environment by making smarter decisions in city planning, creating housing near business centers to reduce drive time and encouraging mixed use developments to provide greens space and more recreational opportunities.
Empower People Through Education - We can empower people to change their lives and help our children to remain competitive in their future careers by putting education first.
Encourage Business Development - The St. Louis region is well positioned to take advantage of advances in bio-technology, agri-business and medical research. We should encourage, not discourage, tomorrow’s industries like stem cell research. We need to encourage entrepreneurship, new business development and protect small business from predatory competition.
