(If you missed part one, CLICK HERE)

Like Neo in the Matrix; Richard is well aware that many people like the idea of being in the (political) game, and most of them agree to the rules already in place. In that knowing, there is systemic conformity of illusions that this guy seems to be willing to entangle with for the sake of curiosity of his own logical power and the power of the logical people.
Richards greatest power is his broad range of interests, and his ability to speak for the under spoken and disenfranchised.

He is highly researched in history; wars, and all topics relating to social study. His own inquisitive and rebellious nature gives him inquisition into laws, ordinances and how governments influence societies.
Rich has had more than one friend who has been homeless, and seemingly lost in hopeless drug problems. He cares about people and quality of life, but not in mainstream “One Up Your Neighbor with Meaningless BS for The Sake of It” kind of way.

He speaks kindly of Mayor Richard Kaysen, whom he has had the ability to get to know through these socio/political events. Rich appreciates Kaysen’s’ passion for children and veterans, he enjoys how Kaysen asserts his passion for these demographics publicly. Richard speaks out lovingly toward our current Mayor all while admitting that they agree to disagree on some of the finer points when it comes to things politically.
Perhaps an example of how Richard speaks for the underdog is that he knows a sub-community full of reformed felons; basically, people who did something stupid in their late teens and early twenties that they have since, and will continue to pay the price for with an unsavory label.

Individuals, who are now older, wiser, productive assets in our little society.

Individuals who now have kids that they care about.  Children whose futures matter, and are hopefully not lost in some stupid legal red tape that they can never cross.

Johnson makes a clear fact that certain labels come with a “keep out” sign when it applies to a voice in the voting booth.

Richard has been the voice of the unspoken community of Cheyenne, and the greater state of Wyoming by going to local business’ and public hangouts in order to petition for Medical Cannabis.

His ability to get signatures was some what squashed by the fact that those who would like a vote on the Medical Cannabis platform, are unable to, because of said previous felony status.

You know what? The only people I represent are the people who never had a fucking voice, ever. And literally, yesterday when I went and wrote (to the public) about what I stand for in my campaign ;  and it’s ‘no signs, no money, no this, no that,’ People, were like, ‘shit, I don’t know if I would really support you for Mayor, but Jesus Christ, did you read my fucking mind when you wrote that shit?’

People are pissed…but you know the (one) thing that sucks is, I would have a lot more voters if felons were allowed to vote. When I was doing the Medical petition and I went to the tattoo parlor, I was like ‘ Ah shit, I will probably clean house! Probably get 50- 60 signatures,’ and yet everyone had to turn me away because, everyone was a fucking felon.

So literally everyone I hang out with.

 I said it in the debate for City Council, ‘Where do you get your feedback from?’

I get it from felons…ya know? People who usually screwed up sometime between 18 and 25, and now they are paying for it…and they can’t vote for me because of something they fucked up in the past.

I mean who would have thought that I would be the candidate to work with the police the most? I talk to the Chief of Police, every week. I never would have thought that.”

Richard speaks well of Chief Kozak, and how he has done great things for the police force and the city of Cheyenne.  Rich was empathetic toward Kozaks’ desire to get hired closer to his family in Minnesota while simultaneously being glad that we get to keep the Chief for a while longer.

Johnsons’ greatest fear with the transfer of  Kozak, being that Kozak, would be replaced with a person who is “a cop first and foremost” running with a “good ole boy” mentality, stuck on archaic laws and ways of asserting them.

According to Rich, Kozak comes across as a family man who is interested most in serving the safety and well being of this town; willing to work with various individuals and entities in order to do the job well.
I have a great Chief of Police. I couldn’t ask for a better one. He listens to me when I speak, and together we are looking at (the laws and ordinances for) spitting, weapons, chickens, electric fences, and food trucks…

I have to work with the police… so I have to ask ‘ okay, what do you do?’ And I told them, I know Wyoming is in a budgetary crunch, so when I go to Kozak, I ask ‘ What do you need me to do, to make you and your guys’ lives easier; with the resources we have, and maybe, actually solve some crime?’
Richard wants to seek out the weak spots as a community and fix them, or at least call them out so they can be put on a path to fixing. He notices that we have plenty of “fluff laws”… just words in a book, ready to be used by lawyers in the right situation… however many are no longer enforced due to stipulations within certain licenses and ordinances.
Recently Rich attacked the broad legal definition of “weapon”; siting to Kozak that one can legally walk around the State with a 9mm, but brass knuckles and pocket knives were subject to citation. Meanwhile, in this argument, Johnson has been fed some backlash by those who believe the language will somehow save their loved ones; to which Rich responds;
“This is what I literally wrote to Kozak when I brought up this weapons thing…

I was like ‘ I can carry a 9mm anywhere I want to go, in the state of Wyoming; but if I have brass knuckles or a knife in my pocket… I can get a citation?

I asked, ‘how the hell is that right? If I have a gun… am I not at the top of the fucking food chain? What’s in my pocket, doesn’t fucking matter.

And then another councilman brought up that I am putting his wife in danger because of my desire to repel all this language on weapons. He said “Richard, my kids, and my wife might be in danger because some kid might have brass knuckles in their pocket… and that puts them in danger.”

And I am like, ‘ here is the thing, let’s take the nursery rhyme about schools and books and pencils and dirty looks’.

I could take a sharpened pencil and stab you in the fucking throat, or I could take a textbook, (if kids even use textbooks anymore… most likely a tablet,) but I could take a tablet and smash your fucking face. And, so, that is blunt force trauma and injury from a stabbing utensil… but guess what? I am not repealing assault and battery.

If I assault someone, it doesn’t matter what I use; it’s still assault and battery. If you get an assault charge, what matter does it make, what utensil you used?”
Richard Johnson appears to be logically taking language into consideration when it comes to real-life situations regarding the law. He is actively working with law enforcement to make laws more accessible to the community, all while challenging the establishment, in one broad, albeit a rather non-threatening swoop.
I make a mental question as to why anyone is complaining or refuting his stance in a primarily Republican state that likes to keep the law at bay.

Many of Wyoming’s citizens are hands-off when it comes to delving in legal matters; unless absolutely necessary.

Richard is directly attacking those issues with his own confrontational questions and comparisons. These seemingly inane issues have become very relevant, given his close interaction with people who have criminal records. People in our own community that would like to get on with their lives as productive people.
A highlight of one of Rich’s recent trips landed him in a five-story museum dedicated solely to weapons and their use through time. He was able to see, historically, how people have used the most rudimentary and accessible items, to create weapons meant to hurt another human. Whether a pointed stick; a rock tied to a stick, a backpack of shrapnel and marbles in a pressure cooker all the way to drones and laser-guided missiles; one doesn’t have to seek out a license or distributor of “weapons”, in order to create destruction… language isn’t going to change that.

What matters most; is holding those who do harm, accountable for their actions. Richard then reminds me of the Oklahoma City bombing that was the byproduct of a fertilizer explosion in a rented van.

The internet is rife with content, and one need not venture out to the local library, anymore, for a copy of the Anarchist Cookbook. Every avenue of destruction a vengeful being may seek is right at their fingertips.
“You should be a little afraid of what you are seeing. Outward appearances are everything. I wear a costume, people don’t think it’s a costume but it’s a costume to wear a fucking suit. But people say that is what you have to do to be taken seriously. You wear a fucking suit.”

Richard Johnson puts the suit on when required, and to a certain degree, I am sure he is afraid of it.

Afraid that it will have power over him much like the Stanford Prison Experiments had over those students back in 1971… where the lives of some kids changed quickly and forever, based on some uniforms and supposed labels of positions of authority.

Quite simply put, a series of imposed labels, aligned expectations, and illusions. This seems to be one of the ways our local representative Richard Johnson, is peeling back the layers of the onion that is our own micro Matrix.