Horsewoman Fights Government Overreach and Wins

Candace Oathout of Crystal, Minnesota has operated under the belief for years that if people are taught the right principles, they will learn to govern themselves. The main goal of her work is to create an engaged, informed populace.

“I am open-minded and willing to agree with the other side if they are right. This has always been my principle,” said Candace.

Candace is the director of CARE-USA (Citizens Against Recreational Eviction USA). Her interest in the affairs of her city began with her interest in the affairs of nature. Being an avid horse rider and having a direct interest in the preservation and proper use of land, Candace realized that she needed training in the political process in order to affect the changes she was looking for.

Candace took American Majority’s Activist Training in February, 2009 and New Leaders Campaign Training in May, 2009. She credits American Majority with helping her focus on specific things she was looking for in candidates and learn how she could support them.

“American Majority Training helped me improve on those skills and definitely improved the effectiveness of my work in my current city,” said Candace.

In her younger years, Candace was used to having beach access to ride her horse. Upon learning that she was losing access to horse trails because of government regulations regarding endangered species, Candace began engaging in local politics to protect access to the nature that she loved.

“It [horse riding] has been my passion since I got my first horse in California in ‘91. It’s a part of my nature,” Candace said.

Candace realized that lack of liberty in one area of life leads to other encroachments on liberty as the web of overreaching laws grows. From her small equestrian beginning, Candace went on to fight the overreach of government on other planes in her liberal-leaning district.

“The learning curve was huge,” Candace said. “I had to learn how to refute misinformation and misstatements. I had to learn about sewage treatment and the Endangered Species Act”

It took two election cycles to make a difference in the political climate. During the 2013 election cycle, Candace helped elect a conservative mayor. When the previous liberal mayor had claimed that “the public has no right to protest tax increase” Candace and her friends believed that she had to go.

Another group Candace was a part of, Community Solutions MN, put together a petition on taxation and collected names in the neighborhood. The group introduced themselves as concerned neighbors so as to avoid partisanship.

“We were completely honest about our intentions,” said Candace. “We did do negative campaigning, but it was always on issues rather than personal attacks, and we tried to catch the other side with their own words.”

When asked what  advice she would give those seeking to work in politics, Candace replied, “You need to be active in your community. You have to learn how government works and you need to establish a presence in your community so people know who you are. Build a base of support, which doesn’t necessarily have to be political. You have to touch people.”

One of Candace’s greatest frustrations is seeing people run for office who are not involved in the community. “The first step is definitely to get involved. It could be as simple as becoming part of the teacher-parent organization in school, a youth pastor, or volunteer at a homeless shelter.”

Candace’s final words of advice are on a sobering note: “Before you run, decide what your principles are and what your values are, and stand by those because you’re going to be hit hard.”