Meet Tim Shipe

I was born in the year of JFK's demise. My formative years were deeply influenced by the nation's experiences in Vietnam, and with Watergate and the never-ending Cold War. As a result, I became profoundly interested in politics, and correspondingly, very suspicious of the process and political leaders.

Even more personally, the sex, drugs, and rock n'roll cultural revolution was a pervasive environmental condition for day-to-day life. I escaped this general culture for months or years through such things as religious awakenings, Army basic training for my 6 year National Guard stint, and some extensive overseas travel, mostly solitary journeys or spontaneous missions of the heart.

The sum total of my life experiences to this point, have left me in the following state of being. I am 44 years old. I am most passionate about my Christian discipleship as an enthusiastic Catholic convert, and alongside of that, my two young daughters and my wife are

God's greatest gifts to me. I am most undeserving of them, but it is my vow to become a progressively better man and Christian, in order to do some justice for this great treasure of family for which I owe God eternal gratitude. I also believe that being a good man entails being someone who stands up for the Truth, and is willing to assume a leadership role in his community,if such leadership that exists is lacking in moral vision and competent knowledge. I have been a Catholic religion teacher for the past several years, and prior to that I taught English-as-a-Second Language in such places as- Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel/Palestine. Other countries where I have spent considerable time teaching, travelling or working on some kind of mission, would include Tanzania, American Samoa, England, Spain and a few other places (ex. Austria, Egypt) that have shaped my view of the world. I have two graduate degrees, in Education and Theology.

Finally, I am inspired by the notion that in a democratic society, we all need to assume some responsibility for the actions of our government. I always get pumped up when I see the classic Jimmy Stewart film, "Mr.Smith Goes to Washington". I see myself a bit like the outsider, the underdog, who longs for honest government. I want to practice what I preach to my students. I want to help shape the society, the State where my daughters are growing up. I run as an act of conscience, as such I have already won. But I will try hard to make this a competitive race, with little money and no quid pro quo agreements made with contributors. My beliefs and moral principles will not get lost in the fundraising process. I will not run as the perfect man, with a perfect past, and a perfect image. I run with ideas that should be Floridian policies; let us be civil in our disagreements, however passionately opposed we may be. In America we are free to enter our beliefs into the marketplace of ideas, and this is where my campaign begins. Thank you.

Back 03.01.2006.