Ventura - I Aint Got Time to Bleed

C O N T E N T S

THE AMERICAN DREAM

SOUND BODY, SOUND MIND

HOW IT ALL STARTED

NAVY SEALS

THE BODY

THE MOUTH

THE MIND

ACCEPTING THE SHACKLES

SELF-RELIANCE

LOOKING NATIONAL

This book is dedicated to Terry,
Tyrel, Jade, Bernice,
and George

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S

Thanks to everyone who made this book possible and my life what it is and will be. My wife of twenty-four years, Teresa; my son, Tyrel; my daughter, Jade; my brother Jan; my mom, Bernice Lenz Janos; my father, George Janos; my South Side buddies Jerry, Kevin, Lynn, Harley, Charlie Wannabe, and all the others; Steve Nelson and all my Navy underwater demolition SEAL teammates; Barry Bloom and Mike Braverman; Ken and Vincent Atchity, Chi-Li Wong, and the AEI team, especially Julie Ann Mooney; Bruce Tracy and everyone else at Villard; and all the people alive or dead I may have forgotten.

I would also like to thank Steve Bosacker and all of my current government staff and commissioners; my campaign staff and volunteers; all those who voted for me; and Shirley Chase, Alan Eidsness, and David Olsen, the three best lawyers in the world.

Thank you to all I include and those I have undoubtedly omitted.

C H A P T E R 1

THE
AMERICAN
DREAM

I didnt need this job. I ran for governor to find out if the American dream still exists in anyones heart other than mine. Im happy to say that it does. Im living proof that the myths arent true. The candidate with the most money isnt always the one who wins. You dont have to be a career politician to serve in public office. You dont have to be well connected or propped up by special-interest groups. You dont even have to be a Democrat or a Republican. You can stand on your own two feet and speak your mind, because if people like where youre coming from, they will vote you in. The will of the people is still the most powerful force in our government. We can put whomever we choose into office, simply by exercising that will.

Were a nation of bootstrappers. Were visionaries. And were not afraid to turn our visions into reality. Thats the great thing about Americansthe word cant isnt part of our vocabulary. Weve always been a can-do people. And we still are, despite all the negative things we hear about how corrupt our government has become, and despite the fact that weve become too reliant on that same government for things it has no business providing. We might have lost sight of it a little bit, but we are still the keepers of the American dream.

How else could a guy like me have become the governor of Minnesota? Look at me: Im no career politicianIm a six-foot-four, 250-pound exNavy SEAL, pro wrestler, radio personality, and film actor. I only got into politics in the first place because I have a pretty noticeable habit of speaking my mind. But I guess a good bit of what I had to say must have made sense to people, because they elected me twice.

This book is mostly about me, about where I stand, and about where I came from. But whats happening in Minnesota right now is far bigger than me. History is being made. Like many other people across the nation, Minnesotans are fed up with the good-old-boy network that cares more about keeping itself well ensconced than it does about carrying out the voters wishes. In 1998s gubernatorial race, I gave them an alternative.

Im a Minneapolis native with working-class roots. My collars indelibly blue. I belong to the private sector, and thats where Im returning the minute my term as governor is over. I stand for the common man because I am him. Thats one reason the people of Minnesota elected me: I know where theyre coming from because I came from the same place.

They also voted for me, I think, because Im not easy to ignore. Im big, Im loud, and Im not afraid to say what I think. But I also got a powerful set of ethics from my parents, some serious hard-core discipline from the Navy SEALs, and some decent people skills from my careers as a professional wrestler, film actor, and radio personality. And I can talk to people without talking down to them.

But if I had to pick one reason Minnesotans voted for me, I would have to say that it is because I tell the truth. I stand tall and speak freely, even when it isnt politically expedient to do so. That, above all, is what I think Minnesotans voted for: honesty.

This book has two purposes: first, to tell you where I standand whyon the issues that affect us all. Anybody who offers themselves for public office owes you that; and second, to tell you the story of what made me who I am. Im an ordinary guy who went for his dreams and made them happen. The only things Ive ever been handed are extraordinary guidance and lifelong friendship, without which I could never have achieved all that I have. But Im no golden child. Ive had basically the same opportunities as most of you. And if a guy like me can become the governor, so could you. Thats the way American government is supposed to work.

Unfortunately, theres an idea out there thats very destructive to the American electoral system. Its the idea that you have to cast your vote for whoevers most likely to win, because otherwise youre wasting your vote. That is simply not true. There is no such thing as a wasted vote.

Voting is not supposed to be just a popularity contest. Its not like betting on a horse race. Its our responsibility when we vote to vote for the ideas we would like to see become public policy. We have to choose our candidates by the things they stand for, not by their ratings in the polls. When we bow to the pressure of the polls, we get exactly the phenomenon were complaining about now: career politicians who will say anything to get your vote and who dont stand for anything except what the latest poll tells them to support. Yet somehow, thats become the standard. But it doesnt have to be that way.

I understand why so many people dont vote anymore, and I sympathize with them. It can seem like a waste of time when the only candidates you see in the news are cookie-cutter copies of the ones you saw in the last election and the election before that. But these days you have to look beyond what the media tells you to think and make up your own mind about the issues. Your choices arent limited to the party favorites who have the money and the influence to get themselves into the limelight. You can vote for anybody you want. My stand on voting is that if you dont cast your vote, you forfeit your right to whine about the government.

When I announced that I was running for governor, everybody said I couldnt win. They said my campaign was an exercise in futility. The media thought I was a joke. My opponents pretended I didnt exist. But on November 3, 1998, the people of Minnesota came out in droves and made it happen. This election had the largest voter turnout (in years without a presidential election) in Minnesotas history and almost the largest in the countrys history. We shocked the world. We wasted the system with wasted votes.

My Democratic opponent, Attorney General Hubert H. Skip Humphrey III, called our victory a wake-up call of the first order. Even my Republican opponent, Saint Paul Mayor Norm Coleman, said that we ignited a spark, even though he said he didnt have any idea what that spark was. They knew I was popular, but neither of them had any idea how I won.