Pragmatism is Not Compromise.

It is the refusal to burn down the house to win the argument.

Get to know Lester Leavitt

VoteLester.com

I spent eight months last year trying to get somebody to challenge the incumbent in House District 89. Everyone saw it as a fool’s errand. So I’ve decided to conduct some research and see just how hard it really is.

Lester Leavitt · Rural NW Illinois

Taking on Goliath → Help me get on the ballot →

Get Me on the Ballot

I am running as an Independent for Illinois House District 89. You won’t be asked any partisan questions if you’re willing to help.

It’s a simple question: the person currently holding this seat has never had an opponent on the ballot since extreme gerrymandering created this rural remainder (i.e. “safe Republican”) district in 2020. In truth, she is not answerable to her constituents. In 2024, almost 1-in-5 voters left the bubble blank.

Three thousand signatures in six weeks sounds insurmountable. But reframe it:

300 people × 10 signatures each

Visit the Campaign Resources page to download a print-ready petition sheet and event posters you can use to spread the word. Get 10 signatures, and I’ll arrange notarization and come pick the forms up. Deadline: May 24th.

Download petition sheets → I have 10 signatures — let’s arrange notarization →
It's Not Fiction - It's My Life: Book a focus group event before May 17th

Book a “It’s Not Fiction — It’s My Life” Focus Group

Lester’s presentation tells his story as an ethnographic analysis of how colonization created a climate of “extraction” — and how the most effective lie was that it was one’s duty, as a “good Christian,” to be a “single-issue voter.”

Host a focus group discussion at your church, service club, or community center. Lester will bring petition sheets and, where possible, a notary.

See Lester’s availability →

Book a “Vote Your Values” Showcase

In the American two-party system, there is no “third way.” If we were a single-issue voter in the 2024 election, were we duped into supporting authoritarian rule?

The Vote Your Values Showcase helps your congregation or community group identify the five values that matter most — and test them against the Gospels. Together, let’s end the weaponization of Christianity.

See Lester’s availability →
Vote Your Values - Book a showcase event before May 17th

Why an Independent helped a Republican Navy veteran challenge his own party’s incumbent

Josh Atkinson and I came up with this idea together. His campaign for mayor of Freeport had exposed a fractured support network — a coalition of people who knew the city needed change but could never agree on the best narrative to define what Freeport actually needed. That fracture, by default, returned the incumbent and the entire old guard to power. The experience left us both with the same question: if the ballot access system is structurally rigged to protect incumbents, shouldn’t that be provable — regardless of party?

About a dozen dedicated volunteers gathered 1,028 signatures on two-lane county roads where the houses are a mile apart. What we learned became the evidence for State Board Cases 107 and 108. What it proved is that the system isn’t broken. It’s working exactly as designed — for incumbents.

Read the full story →
SaveRuralChurches.org — the beliefs that were weaponized, the red-letter denominations that paid the price, the empty pews awaiting your return

WWJD?

In an election year like none other in our lifetimes, it has become dangerous to consider ourselves a “single-issue voter.”

If you are a member of an area church congregation, visit my resource page for a proper framing of the question.

SaveRuralChurches.org →
Map of churches across Illinois House District 89

Church congregations across House District 89

The Research Behind the Campaign

Masters of Extraction flyer

The nonfiction documents the hierarchy. The fiction imagines what happens when someone challenges it. Both start in the same place — the rural remainder.

The oldest trick in the book — 1982 vs 2025

The oldest trick in the book — but algorithms made the pile grow faster and the lie spread further. Documented in Masters of Extraction.

The Scholarship

Scholar of Narrative Governance & AI Democratic Accountability. Twenty-two requirements across six functional layers — derived from first principles in public administration, social psychology, narrative theory, and network theory.

DriftlessRivers.us →

The Consulting

I help campaigns train their staff on how to generate new governing narratives capable of displacing the damaging narratives that we are all too familiar with.

DriftlessRiversCoalition.com →

The Technology

When I was a graduate student doing doctoral research from 2011 to 2015, my work led me to create an information system that anticipated AI capabilities a decade before the technology materialized.

MOCSIEsystems.com →

The work is already happening — across every district

Congressional Districts 16 and 17 are gerrymandered so badly that county central committees are split and their resources diluted. These three projects refuse to respect those artificial lines.

Layer 1 · The Diagnostic Engine · MOCSIE Req. 1-5

Vote In Your Own Best Interest

Podcasts and YouTube Shorts that identify the ideographs — the words and phrases that govern how you vote against your own interests.

Layer 2 · The Displacement Engine · MOCSIE Req. 6-8

Don’t Take the Bait

Media literacy and anti-disinformation. How rage-bait captures attention, how disinformation exploits trust, and why “just don’t engage” was never enough.

Layer 3 · The Contact Engine · MOCSIE Req. 9-10

Silence Is Betrayal

An uncontested race is not a sign of consensus — it is the sound of a system working exactly as designed to ensure that no one shows up to ask the questions that matter.

View the full specification at mocsie.ai →

Share the Campaign

Square-format graphics designed for social media and digital sharing. Right-click or long-press to save.

Masters of Extraction — HD89 books

Masters of Extraction

The books behind the campaign. Pragmatists, not purists.

Silence Is Betrayal

Silence Is Betrayal

The accountability question. Volunteer before May 24th.

The Christian Bargain of 2024

The Christian Bargain

What Christians were shown vs. what actually became law.

The Vision — In Four Books

Three speculative fiction novels set in 2028 — House District 89, Soybeans, and Allegory Protocol — imagine what it takes to challenge the rural remainder. The nonfiction companion, Masters of Extraction, documents the history that made it necessary.

Browse the books →