He wants to eliminate homelessness, ban guns and replace the kitchen knife -- and, he's running for president. Sixty-year-old Hanover resident Ed O'Donnell announced his candidacy for president of the United States in the 2008 election, explaining that he is running in the Democratic primary to gain publicity in order to get his name on the ballot as an independent.
"The Republicans and Democrats are burnt out," O'Donnell said. "They have no new ideas and they should be put out of business."
Since O'Donnell believes Ralph Nader is not running as the third candidate, he wishes to take over that role.
The bulk of O'Donnell's platform focuses on eliminating violence and promoting mental health. He extends his campaign to acknowledge not only gun violence, but the potential violence of a kitchen knife.
"We have advanced scientific knowledge in this country. Can't we devise a kitchen utensil which will serve the kitchen purposes that a knife serves, but cannot do harm to human beings? I don't know. I'm not a scientist. But with all this advanced technology it's something we should do," he said.
Guns too, O'Donnell argued, should be illegal in the United States.
"In England, Holland, Japan and Australia no one has a gun. They had twenty or thirty gun murders last year. We had twenty thousand gun murders reported," he said, adding "But I don't trust government statistics so we probably had many more."
O'Donnell has set his sites on hunting guns especially.
"I'm a vegetarian and I don't believe in killing animals," O'Donnell said. "Every hunter I've ever known -- I'll be honest -- they're mean people."
O'Donnell suggests the implementation of a "national gun turn-in event" where American gun owners receive rewards for giving up their firearms.
"The only issue we would run into with this plan is with the militia and extreme pro-gun people like that who refuse to turn in their guns," he said.
Another focus of O'Donnell's campaign is improved mental health among the country's teenagers. He is the current president of the Winthrop Foundation, an organization that contributes money to high school mental health courses, and he proposed that high schools nationwide implement these courses.
"The major two political parties give no attention to mental health. There aren't mental health courses in ninety percent of our high schools," he said.
If elected, O'Donnell plans to implement a program that guarantees charity-funded jobs and shelter for all Americans.
"No one's dealing with homelessness in our country," O'Donnell said.
O'Donnell claimed that the country has 800 billion dollars in the "bank account of the nation's charities" and suggested taking 20 percent of the reserves to hire every unemployed person in America to clean up litter or pass out coupons for small businesses.
"The crime rate would go down and we could get them all apartments and health insurance."
He also advocates a four-day work week to minimize stress and anxiety associated with the workplace and a non-violent foreign policy which focuses on providing food, clothing, shelter and education in the third world countries.
O'Donnell has volunteered for the United Way, the Delaware Council on Gambling Problems, United Negro College Fund, the United Nations Association (different from the United Nations), the Foreign Policy Association, and Bread for the World. A religious man, O'Donnell said that he does not take credit for his charitable contributions but practices "spiritual humility" and gives all credit to God.
"My accomplishments in the charitable field are as good as our current president's, or any of these other major candidates' accomplishments," he said.
O'Donnell plans to publicize his views with radio and newspaper advertisements funded by donations from high school and college students, peace activists, street preachers and his own money. While he has received over 1,000 donations, he cannot afford television ads.
Over the past five elections, O'Donnell has run in the New Hampshire primary as an independent candidate and said he received a cumulative total of 246 votes over the those five elections.
"In the past, I ran for a few weeks with very little money," he said. "They were like trial runs. But this time, I've prepared for ten months with a decent amount of money."
Believing his platform to be distinct from other presidential candidates, O'Donnell hopes his uniqueness will make him stand out.
"In almost every issue, I'm taking the counter position of what the major candidate is taking," O'Donnell said. "I don't have to win the New Hampshire primary; I do have to become nationally known."
O'Donnell said that his stamina qualifies him, above other candidates, to be president.
"I don't put anything unhealthy in my body. I work out like a National Football League player. I am certain that I am physically and mentally tougher than anyone who's ever been in the White House, or even run," he said.
