080227_moneyHi all!

I have been an independent voter as long as I can remember.  I have NEVER been a supporter of the two party system.  Neither major party has EVER represented my views.

Our most recent election is the first time I have voted for a Democrat.  (i have NEVER voted Republican)  I felt I had to; I could no longer just “vote my conscience”.  America needed change, and I had to help make that happen.  AND WE DID.  Ending the Bush Regime was necessary for America.

I knew that Bush was lying, I knew we didn’t need to go to war with Iraq, and I was one of the people screaming from the beginning that it was not in America’s best interest to do so.  I also knew that those responsible for the 9/11 tragedy were NOT affiliated with Iraq.   I knew it because I did my homework at the time; I didn’t follow the lemmings, and I didn’t listen to mainstream media.  The truth WAS out there, I just took the time to find it, as did many others who wanted to know the TRUTH.

It took about six years before the rest of the nation caught on.  Six years, at roughly $8B a month, with thousands of lives lost.

So we as a nation voted for “change”.  We listened to the promises of the Democratic party:  the opposition of the incumbent, war-profiteering machine.   Our hope was renewed.  “Hope and change!”

It has been 8 months.  Have we seen hope and change?  Well, not really.  Is this a surprise?  Well, actually it is.  We really did believe that change was coming.  We really did feel hope restored for a while.

So what happened?  Were we misled?  Were we just foolish?  Did Obama flat-out LIE?

I don’t think so.  The President has always appeared to be an intelligent man who cares about his country, and he still does appear so to me.  But I do believe he learned the real politics of Washington:   It’s all about the “Benjamins”, and almost everyone is in someone else’s pocket.

Since the election, there is one thing that has become crystal clear as THE primary problem within our government: the influence of corporate lobbyist money.

I’ve always known that the influence was there.  I’ve always known that perks and incentives were part of the political game.  But I have never before felt the way I do NOW, that the corporate lobbyist money has gone BEYOND influence, to outright PAYOLA for CORRUPTION.   This is clearly the case, and it is not localized to one party.  Both sides of Congress are equally guilty of selling out the citizens they represent, for the corporate powers who fill their bank accounts.

The influence of corporate lobbyist money must be CUT OFF.  There is no way we as individual Americans can compete with corporate entities to buy politicians.  Nor should we HAVE to.  The Founding Fathers never meant America to be a “pay to play” nation.   But who in their right minds would expect Congress to kill the golden goose?  Surely the players in position today will never vote to stop this source of funding.

So what do we do?

Many Americans today are expressing their frustration with the government.  Even those who voted for “change” are losing faith, indicating they will “sit out” of the next election, or will stop contributing to Democratic candidates.  This frustration is justified, as we are not getting the service we voted for last November.  But to “sit out”, or to rescind sponsorship of one party over the other indicates a critical flaw in thinking.  WE NO LONGER NEED TO BE LIMITED TO TWO PARTIES.

This is the 21st century.  The age of the Internet.  For the first time ever, the individual has a voice loud enough to be heard around the world.  People all over the nation, and the globe, can hear these very words if they simply log in to this page and read them.  We are no longer restricted by the limitations of the extreme financial requirements to use the previous age’s popular media.  We don’t need radio; we don’t need television, and we don’t need millions of dollars to participate in our own government anymore.

So, WHAT DO WE DO?

I’m glad you asked.  As in, that you’re still reading this, and still want to know.  Here’s my plan:

1. WE MUST SEPARATE THE GOOD APPLES FROM THE BAD

Not all politicians are bad.  Some are very good.  They act in the best interests of our nation as a whole, and in the best interests of their constituents.  THESE politicians must be identified and endorsed.   Meanwhile, the bad apples must be identified and scrutinized.  We must list their wrongdoings publicly, so there can be no denying that their removal is necessary.  We must remove those who have been bought by the highest bidder, who have voted against policies that empower the people of this nation, and who have voted for policies which victimize us as well.

2. WE MUST IDENTIFY TRUSTWORTHY INDIVIDUALS TO TAKE THE LEAD

Obviously, we’re going to want to eliminate a lot of incumbents, because really, there’s a lot of rotten apples in our bushel right now.  Who will replace them?  I’m sorry, but I am no longer satisfied with choosing the “lesser of two evils”.  The days of voting this way have lead us to where we are today.  IT’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH ANYMORE.

We must identify trustworthy individuals.  Real “salt of the Earth” types.  People you’d trust to watch your kids, or care for your sick mother, or have helped you and many others, selflessly, because it was the right thing to do.  We must identify these men and women as decent Americans, who will answer the call from their community and their nation.   People who will understand that this is THE TIME.  This is it, now or never, to step up as patriots and reclaim our government.  A government meant to be “by the people, for the people, and of the people.”

3. WE MUST SPREAD THE WORD AND MAKE IT HAPPEN

Some of us already know quality individuals that would “fit the bill”.  How many people have made you say to yourself, “I’d vote for them in a heartbeat”?  Well, YOU may know this person, but what about your neighbor?  They may not know.  How do we share this information effectively?

To do this effectively, we must use our new power, the Internet.  This medium is truly the people’s medium.  YouTube, social network sites, and blogger sites are the way for us to share TRUTH, share power, and ultimately take control back from those that would hoard oower for their individual gains.

I am working to create a website now.  The purpose of this site will be to identify and expose the good and bad politicians, as well as the trustworthy citizens to be suggested as replacements for candidacy.   Eventually I will expand this site to allow public discussion of bills, so we can truly identify the public’s opinion, not the opinion manipulated by media spin; not the opinion paid for by corporate funding.

We can do this.  We can rebuild our Congress.  We have the technology, we can rebuild it, and it won’t cost $6 million dollars.  This will be our revolution; 21st century style patriotism.  The web will be our battleground, and we will win.

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tyler-durdenKQµårk 死神AdLib Recent comment authors
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KQµårk 死神
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Excellent post and you made some great recommendations that I fully endorse.

One of the first things we need to do is dismantle the idea of corporate person-hood. Nothing has perverted our system of government more than giving corporations all the rights of individuals like freedom of speech etc. Citizens through government should be the masters of corporations and not visa versa.

AdLib
Admin

Have you seen the documentary “The Corporation”? It is fantastic, very entertaining as it shows how corporations moved from being single purpose entities for the public good into the vicious, greedy “people” dominating our planet.

Not PlanetPOV of course.

AdLib
Admin

The additional challenge here is the status quo in the Dem Party who can be just as adversarial towards the will of the people as the GOP.

They will continue to pour money into Dem candidates who stand in the way of progress just to have a majority and retain power.

What I would really like to see as part of the approach you propose is a grass roots, online funding setup, much like funded Obama, that was organized specifically for the purposes you detail, for people to finance alternatives to the status quo, corporate puppet politicians.

If such candidates won and wanted to receive funding again for re-election, they’d have to show allegiance to what’s best for the people and fend off corporate influence or another candidate would be funded against them.

Anyone got a few million to get the ball rolling on this?