Response to strollingone: a counter proposal.
Rather than us telling each other how to vote, I suggest we need to be telling candidates and office holders how we expect them to be voting and conducting themselves.
I propose that we decide among ourselves which issues are deal breakers.
Not a laundry list but the change we expect to see.
My suggestions would be
1. Commitment to a non-interventionist foreign policy, including the closing of overseas military bases.
2. Audit and take over the Federal Reserve. As I understand it, the very existence of the Fed is unconstitutional. I agree we need a national bank but WE need to own it, not private capital from God only knows where, pursuing its own private interests. AND impose fair taxes on Wall Street.
3. Federally and state funded elections, with STRICTLY LIMITED private donations from within the candidate's district only and NO outside expenditure of any kind allowed on elections, with news media required, as part of their charters, to offer a stated amount of free airtime or print space to all candidates and no TV advertising allowed and paper ballots required in all jurisdictions. Elections in which ballots "go missing" would have to be reheld, at the jurisdiction's expense.
Once we have a statement on which we can all, or most of us, agree, then we start contacting candidates and officeholders in our respective districts, and report back what response if any we receive.
Comments
I sometimes call for outright revolution
or boycotts, even a third party approach, etc., but whatever we do, it's got to be big and organized, and it's going to take funding. I compare that to an election in that it requires a great deal of organization (and money) to get enough people working together toward a goal, in that case, electing politicians.
The same concept can be applied to anything else. If we can have a presidential election with two dumb fucks where 130 million people vote, why can't we organize something independent or parallel to the electoral system. We talk about "power in numbers", which is true. We do have power in numbers. People say our vote is all we have. That isn't true, we have much more if we want.
So your proposal, while I would probably add a couple things, could be very effective if enough people participated. That's always been the key. I periodically write my so called representative here in WA state, but it does no good. If 1000 people wrote and said the same thing, maybe it would. If 10,000, that would be better.
The speech from the "Great Dictator"
Yes, it's up to the people
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8HdOHrc3OQ]
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
Agreed, but you have to start somewhere.
What I am trying in my own poor fashion is to come up with issues and wording of same which will express our beliefs and frustrations and at the same time catch the attention of others reading the newspaper or twitter or at a candidates forum. Except ours should not be catchy one-liners and slogans but have substance.
Mary Bennett
I think it will be almost impossible for us to agree
on a list of most important issues.
However, I think I can make the case of elevating one issue: political/election reform.
The reason is because whether your issue is our endless wars, the economy, health care, the environment, or something else, doing something about that issue starts with a political process.
And our political system is hopelessly broken.
hopelessly broken
I respectfully disagree here, gjohnsit.
I think nearly all of us are in agreement that we need to reform our political process, as you said. I also think we're pretty much in agreement that we need to move to a non-interventionist foreign policy, a military much reduced in size and cost, and a domestically focused, peace footed governance, and an economic system which works for everybody, not just the 0.1%.
How we obtain those things is where the disagreements appear.
But you're dead on with this:
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Process reform proposals don't get the kind
of attention we need.
I would start with non-intervention and close our bases. This is something everyone can understand. I think almost everyone has by now made the connection between outrageous military spending and impoverishment of everyone else. From there you make the point that the reason your issues are not being funded is because the DOD gets all the money which is not being spent on national debt service.
Mary Bennett
the connection
Would that were true!
Our country is still jam-packed with people who "think" we aren't spending enough on military.
I live in a major cesspool of such (Colorado Springs, CO), and so does snoopydawg!
Getting the majority of Americans to understand and accept the connection between outrageous military spending and impoverishment of everyone else is still on our plate. And a heavy lift at that. But perhaps a good place to start!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
MeToo! Silicon Valley is stagnant, migrating to defense
thanks, didn't c99 already make a list? I remember going through the exercise, but I can't find any links. dang
And the Bay Area is stagnant with monopoly. VC is dead, long live VC. Nothing says profit like a government monopoly, and nothing says that like DEFENSE contracts.
All those lovely databases consumers helped them build (while a few puny guys got stinking rich), well now they are using that data as weapons against (whoever). All of us.
good luck
Texas just took a dump on voting rights
The courts held up IDs for voting. This is another thing that has to be fixed if voting is ever going to be fair in this country. Imagine how many people don't have ways to get them for whatever reason.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
Educate me, please
What is wrong with voter identification? A picture ID from the state in which a voter resides is not discriminatory. It does not require a driver's license nor does it require anything except a place of residence. The Republicans have their own very restrictive system of "if the name's the same, you can't vote" whereas as the Dims have the march around the block to the next precinct and vote again.
The article
Upholding Texas Photo ID Law, Federal Appeals Court Deals Blow to Voting Rights
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
Voter ID per se is not the problem.
All they have to do is standardized the document required and then give it to everyone for free. It can be required to get a voter ID card or the document itself could be used when voting. The problem with voter ID isn't requiring it as much as it is making it hard and expensive for people to get.
I have a much bigger problem with purging voter registrations, moving and hiding polling sites, stealing primaries, long lines to vote, having to vote in person instead of online or by mail, the two-party system, money in politics, omg I could go on forever.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
This is the kind of stupid I object to.
I live in SE Michigan which is a hop, skip and a jump over the bridge or through the tunnel to Canada. Michigan just passed a new law that says I have to prove my citizenship in order to cross the border and the only document that will do that is a passport or an "enhanced" driver's license or state ID. A birth certificate is no longer acceptable anymore. Anything to make a buck or steal a vote.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
If you absolutely need a voter ID
what's wrong with your voter registration card? Problem(if it is one) solved.
They say that there's a broken light for every heart on Broadway
They say that life's a game and then they take the board away
They give you masks and costumes and an outline of the story
And leave you all to improvise their vicious cabaret-- A. Moore
I am with the gator here.
Get out in the neighborhoods and get people registered. Go door to door. Cancel the fancy pants events budget and hire some capable college students to do the registration drives. Have a team to help people obtain proper ID; the students could give referrals and give names and addresses, with permission of course, for follow up on getting people their IDs.
Mary Bennett
your issues list
An excellent list, Nastarana!
Taking it by item:
No dispute here. I'd add: the closing of about half of the domestic military bases as well, especially in localities where DOD spending is more than half of the local economy.
The mere existence of a central bank isn't unconstitutional; but the transfer of the money creation power to a private entity is. If the Fed is to be the creator of our money, then it must be nationalized and protected against privatization. Private entities -- and this includes hybrid entities like the Fed now is -- have no business controlling our money supply.
I'd adjust this so that TV advertising would be allowed on the same exact terms as for radio, i.e., require the TV stations, as part of their charters, to offer a stated amount of free airtime to all candidates, with no purchasing permitted. Print should remain completely unregulated (literal "fredom of the press"). Internet network neutrality should be mandated with serious felony teeth behind the mandate.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
4. Phase out fossil fuels
The habitability of our planet depends on this one. It’s a survival requirement and also eliminates the major cause of war — oil.
"Please clap." -- Jeb Bush
As for habitability of our planet
Meat consumption will also have to be addressed. The factory slaughter of millions of animals every year and the feces from these animals is contaminating the water, earth and air every bit as much as fossil fuels. Then there is the acres upon acres of land that is wasted to grow feed for these animals that is also heavily poisoned with pesticides.
I like the idea of organizing
Policy based expectations and sending them to office holders and candidates. It's an excellent way to utilize our numbers and our voices. Bravo!
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
I wholeheartedly embrace your counter proposal,
Nastarana, and endorse your list as presented.
I also would include the extremely rapid phasing out of the use of fossil fuels.
I think that the list should not be too long...four or five, maybe six at the most, but not necessarily only those presented so far.
Just the action of following through would address gjohnsit's concern about reforming our broken and counterproductive political/election process.
And, as stated above, we endorse a list and take it to ALL of the candidates regardless of party. (I can see myself now at a Republican fundraiser asking the candidate for U.S. Senator if he endorses the Caucus 99%'s Tenets of Responsible Government!)
Thank you, strollingone.
Of course I agree about phasing out fossil fuels. One of the worst offenders is industrial agriculture. Another is passenger air travel. Try suggesting to some upscale activist that he or she should stop racking up the frequent flier miles. Something that could be done right now today is to ban plastic bags, in fact limit plastic use only to essential industrial needs. And, think of how much fuel our modern military uses.
I like the way thanatokephaloides put it; an economy which works for everybody, not just the 0.01%. Which can be obtained by 1. cutting back DOD spending and 2. auditing and nationalizing the Fed.
What I think is needed is a short series of questions or demands or both which would force candidates to reveal where their loyalties lie, to themselves, to the country and their constituents, to their particular tribe, or to their social class. In the book he wrote about the passage of NAFTA, Jeff Faux wrote about his conversation with a young woman who said we have to help Salinas because, I am not making this up, he went to Harvard and therefore is one of us. Never mind what might be good for Americans, it was all about the international elite for her.
Mary Bennett