Sanjeev Manohar's Campaign

Sanjeev is a scientist and engineer passionate about serving the public through political office. He moved with his wife and daughters to Nashua in 2006 from Dallas when he got a job as a university tenure-stream faculty member. He has lived in ward 5 in Nashua, NH for 18 years. Before moving from Dallas, Sanjeev had lived in southern Illinois, rural central Arkansas, rural Oklahoma, southern OH, and Philadelphia. He loves to hike and drive long distances and has driven close to a million miles (covered all 50 states).

Throughout this journey, Sanjeev has always felt energized in a public-facing mode advocating for something bigger and better than himself and in reaching out to those with differing opinions and viewpoints and coming up solutions that make measurable, meaningful changes in our lives. Having lived in heavily republican-leaning communities, including a farm in Arkansas, he found that there are more things that unites us than divides us. He often would have spirited conversations with his neighbors and colleagues and, as the sole democrat, he would be derided and even called a traitor (!). But, after some time, he recalls that the tone would soften and they would end with something like "Sanjeev, I don't agree with you, but you're all right". In our current political climate, we need more of this. Sanjeev feels it is very important to reject labeling others are "the enemy", to keep an open mind, and reach out to those with opposing views. He wishes to bring these traits with him to Concord if given an opportunity to serve. He has considered serving the public through elected office for a long time and recalls a humorous incident when he sent out feelers to stand for election in Hamilton County OH as a Democrat. He literally got laughed out and was told that "even FDR failed to carry Hamilton County twice"!

Democracy or Democrazy? Sanjeev decided to stand for election now because he believes that our fast-paced, technology driven republic is approaching what could be called a "dangerous intersection". The danger is clear and present. As a scientist Sanjeev knows the importance of everyone agreeing on a "common set of facts" before conducting the next experiment. He says that is how science progresses, layer-by-layer, on new facts that everyone agrees upon. That is also how a democracy progresses with policy "experiments" conducted at the city/county level which provides the data (or facts) that may or may not scale up to the state/national level. For instance, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, James Madison, and George Washington were all considered community scientists who used scientific reasoning and analogies to support their ideas about government. The best way to defeat science is to cast doubt on the validity of previous findings which will end up paralyzing the next experiment. Soon scientists will break out into camps, each with their own set of facts and truths. The best way to bring down a thriving democracy is to cast doubt on the facts and data that drive public policy. And the fastest way to do that is to cast doubt on the systems/methods that generate this data, to doubt science itself. What results is chaos with society turning into ideological tribal camps, each with their own set of "facts" and their own "scientists". Labeling scientists and engineers as brainwashed left-wing nuts, universities that train them as commie-camps, and passing legislation to defund critical data collection (on gun violence, for instance), all point to a well-organized, concerted campaign to bring down our nation. This clear and present danger is far more dangerous than any external military threat. It's the same old template that societies are so vulnerable to, (i) first define a shady and cunning "other" that is trying to take away what is yours, (ii) make sure you lie repeatedly about this "other" through media outlets so a small vulnerable population gets properly infected, (iii) go national with this so the unsuspecting general population starts believing there ought to be some truth to this, (iv) cast doubt or demonize hard facts that refute these claims by attacking science and scientists who gather these facts. Wash, dry, fold, repeat. The next phase is what will really bring down our democracy, (v) win a presidential election on these lies with majorities in both houses, (vi) overhaul the judiciary by appointing crony judges who will do your bidding, (vii) overturn well established precedent and divert individual rights upward towards a ruling cabal, (xii) make the nation's highest judiciary confer blanket immunity to the leader of this cabal. Such a nation may look like a democracy from the outside, but it's all rotten and crazy on the inside. That is how a democracy becomes a democrazy.

As we all know, many of these things are happening or have already happened - including the blanket immunity ruling. Then there are the Dobbs, Chevron, and Janus rulings. All this tells us clearly what is going on here. The only defense against this internal threat is to go on offense. Each one of us must stand up and "fight like hell" to defend our democracy. We must organize, put our petty differences aside, work like hell, and do whatever it takes to preserve our system of government and our Constitution.

If not now, when? If not you, who?

Please contribute whatever you can (even $5). Down ballot races like Sanjeev's are grueling, time consuming and expensive. Each yard sign, for example, is $12! When you give to the top of the ticket please also consider supporting local candidates who need resources to go against opponents funded by big donors. Thank you!