Former Congressman James Traficant who was released from Prison several months ago and has a growing nationwide following, has recently stated that he is interested in returning to Congress. While Traficant served as a democrat he is a true independent and has challenged his own party's agenda in congress. Traficant has not yet stated which political party he will run under. His conviction would not bar him from running for congress, however Congress could vote to refuse to seat him. Traficant has stated that he will officially announce his intentions within a month. He is considering the 6th, 16th, and 17th Congressional District in Ohio, most of which are competitive democrat held seats. Traficant said "he is seeking revenge against the suckers who helped put him in prison."

Many of his supporters are also urging him to run for president in 2012. Traficant said "there’s a group out of Washington, and in several cities around the country, that want to bring back the old Reform Party, combine it with the tea party and bring the Libertarians in and everybody, and they want me to run as an independent for president." He told them "I think you’re all getting high smoking dope," and they said, ‘to the contrary, you have a base following in all 48 contiguous states." 

Much like Congressman and former presidential candidate Ron Paul, Traficant is seen by many as a leader of a growing America First, Populist movement that taps into the sentiment of many Americans who are fed up with both major political parties and the power elite. Traficant has expressed a lot of the same concerns as Congressman Ron Paul such as the loss of national sovereignty and constitutional rights. In Congress Traficant was a strong critic of the IRS, Federal Reserve, Wall Street, NAFTA, Free Trade with China, and illegal immigration.

Traficant calls for the abolition of the Federal Reserve which he views as a tool of international bankers to control our economy.  He sponsored legislation that protects citizens from the IRS unjustly confiscating their property. Traficant said "he doesn't like an economy that rewards dependency, penalizes achievement, subsidizes illegitimacy and chases jobs overseas."  He prefers a flat, 25% final sales tax affixed to everything sold in the United States that would replace the current income tax and abolish the Internal Revenue Service. He says “If they do not do that, America will collapse like the Soviet Union.”

Traficant says that as a congressman he was “the number one target of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.” He caused controversy in his defense of John Demanjuk, who was accused of Nazi war crimes, and was facing execution by Israel. Traficant's used the freedom of information act to prove he was innocent and who the real individual was.  This will make a run for public office an uphill battle since the Lobby generously funds the opponents of those who stand in their way. In his article on American Free Press, ”Powerful Israel Lobby Has Death Grip On U.S. Politics, Elections, Policies”, Traficant states that “Israel has a stranglehold on American government, commerce and the media,” and "has involved us in foreign wars to aid Israel expansion, bankrupts our great nation and has our kids shipped back to us in body bags.”  

While he was one of the few elected officials to stand up to the Israeli Lobby, he does not single out Israel but is deeply concerned about our government being controlled by foreign and globalist interest who have no loyalty to this country. He has also addressed the dangers of of our trade and deficit policies that give China great power over our Nation. He takes an unorthodox stance on the war on terror  that has not been addressed by both political parties, blaming terrorism on the conbination our lack of immigration enforcement and interventionism in the middle east.