An Unlikely Candidate: Reflections on My Run for Congress

In March, 2010, when no other Democrat had filed to run for Congress in Missouri's Second Congressional district, Arthur Lieber filed. His campaign was unique because he neither solicited nor accepted contributions and his focus was on elevating the political dialogue. He lost.

Arthur Lieber attended American University in Washington, DC; graduated from Washington University in St. Louis, and received a master's in education from Webster University.

Following college, he taught for a year in the St. Louis public schools and two years at an independent school in St. Louis County. In 1972 he became director of an alternative school in near-North St. Louis.

In 1974, he was co-founded of Crossroads School, then and now the only non-sectarian independent secondary school in the city of St. Louis.

In 1989 he was a co-founder of a non-profit called Civitas. Its work encourages students to be-come self-learners motivated by their curiosity rather than by the pressure of tests and papers. It sponsors a number of programs to promote active citizenship by students.