Why would anyone spend money to launch a new website to be called www.americanvoterboycott.org?
The answer is simple: I think people are sick and tired of special interests outbidding us in local government, state offices, and in Congress.
But, as I will map out this morning, we actually DO have the power to change that.
(Continues below)
Assessing the political process in America today is an exercise is creative depression: We like to think that there is a working political system, but there is NOT.
A visit to any website, like www.opensecrets.org, reveals what most of us already know: Politicians are bought and paid-for by special interests and effectively corporations have stolen the political processes.
Corporations are “legal fictions” which masquerade as humans and somehow have the ability to buy and sell influence at unspeakably corrupt levels, yet they are not accountable to voters nor do they live in jurisdictions where they wield their crooked version of power.
How We Can Change the Game
There are three aspects to the American Voter Boycott concept.
First there is a legislative agenda. This is to change voting rules so that special interests may not own outcomes – as they presently do.
- Eight year term limits for all elective offices. Two for President, four for House members, one for Senators, etc.
- Campaign contribution cap of $100 per voter per office. This would be a hard cap with jail time for non-compliance for convicted excess contributors.
- An end to all political organizations claiming tax exempt status and no political fund-raising permitted.
- No campaign money from outside the office service area. E.G. county, city, state, legislative, house districts, and so forth.
- If no person gains 10% of registered voters, the winner of any indecisive election would be decided by lottery.
Secondly, there is a personal pledge agenda. This is where each of the few thousand, or so, still-free Americans vow not to vote for any politician who accepts more than a single penny from outside the jurisdiction they serve.
Thirdly, there is a prosecution of voter fraud agenda. This would need to be passed as part of the legislative agenda in order to be meaningful, but the basic idea is this: If a person is elected to office, they may be summarily removed from office and the second-place finisher installed in their stead, should any of the following be demonstrated in a limited-range lawsuit:
- The candidate accepted money (* or other valuable consideration) from persons outside of the area served by their office. Contributions would only be accepted if from registered voters.
- The candidate accepted money (*or other valuable consideration) from any company, organization, or committee, defined as any entity that is not a singular, human, non-fictional, legal aged registered voter.
- Last, during their term in office, they voted in a manner that directly conflicts with promises and representations made to the electorate in the district which their office serves.
In addition, a natural fall-out of this movement is to band all interstate funding and fund-raising for political purposes for anything other than the Presidential election. This is the ONLY office, after all, that represents voters of more than one state in size.
Sorry, Sinator. Sorry Congressoids. No out of state money, no PACs, not Party slush funds…look how Debbie Wasserman Schultz screwed Bernie Sanders out of a fair run. Under this system, such miscarriages of democracy would not happen. Take away the money and you end the poisoning of the system.
Boycott Rationale
As I showed yesterday, the American Voter is being outbid on all fronts.
Newspapers and electronic media have turned the once political process into a huge business model. As they have done so, the Courts with perverted definitions (see Citizens United v. FEC case) have reinforced the further extreme monetization of what could otherwise be good political decision making.
Simply, the complicit Courts, broadcast, print media, and others, have turned America into an auction process.
On the specifics above, I believe the rest is plain enough to see: If money flow from outside a district, then the outcome does not represent the Will of the (resident) People. Rather, it represents voters (and non-voters alike) outside of the political entity.
This is clearly NOT what the Founders envisioned.
How Broken Systems Work
A voter boycott will only really work once the legal frameworks are passed and this would need to occur at the State Legislature level.
Here, the odds of finding still-honest political representation is somewhat higher than at the national (bought and paid-for) Congressional (House and Senate) levels.
Again, to reiterate, look who is passing out the Big Bucks to politicians and then compare this with the money raised in a home district.
Let me use the example of local U.S. Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R) Texas 5th district. From OpenSecrets.org, we read how our nominally local congressman gets big money from Goldman Sachs, the American Bankers Association, Scroggin Capital and so forth.
This is both legal and currently proper because that’s how the system is built. Hensarling is a big deal in House Finance bills so, yeah, the money interests pay it forward.
But you see, as voters in the Texas 5th, Elaine and I are asking who are all the financial groups and why so much to Hensarling? How is this helping us out here in the dingle berries of East Texas?
Which gets me to the point: Hensarling and his other colleagues that we collectively call the Fools on the Hill are hardly fools at all: They spend a pile, are essentially up for bid, and they will have retirements for life far beyond the maximum Social Security payment per person allowed us mere mortals, so who can blame them?
They see the loopholes (like Trump working depreciation of huge buildings, right?_) and they run and get “elected” – all the while promoting the illusion of “responsive government.
My ass.
Real Responsive Government
Real Responsive Government is something we don’t have. The Code of Federal Regulations is over 80,000 pages long.
Like the IRS Code, you will never meet a lawyer who has read it all – that YOU can afford.
There are three simple steps to making American government responsible once again.
The first is why I am willing to put up (as my buy-in) the AmericanVoterBoycott.org website name. And the concepts that go along with it enumerated above.
The second is to end the lousy seniority system in Washington in both the House and Senate. Draw lots and things will change.
The swamp will quickly evaporate when the power structure is in constant flux and when voters are measuring results, not political bullshit. Oh, and the corporations can’t buy outcomes.
This is ONLINE GOVERNMENT.
The idea here is simple.
I don’t think our local Congressoid should have to purchase a home in a spendy high-density swamp land like Washington (much of which is really built on fill, by the way).
Instead, he should do what the rest of us in consultant land so: Skype from home….or in his case, maintain (and cast votes from) his office in the home district.
The question I’d pose is simple:
Will a seniority-selected representative who seems to get most of his money from outside the home district and who lives in Washington D.C. act and vote a little differently than a…
Randomly committee membership representative who gets ALL of his money at no more than $100 per person from inside the home District and who LIVES IN THE DISTRICT?
The answer to this is simple: Of course.
If you don’t believe it, then congratulations, you are a political pseudo-crook ( sociopath?) and eminently qualified to run for office.
Because this defines you as a person working toward your own ends, not those of the community in which you live.
And this boys, girls, and those of indeterminable gender, is why we desperately need an American Voter Boycott.
Though it may already be too late.
Write when you get rich (of if you’re a member of congress, in which case how about sharing some of that insider trading stuff that the rest of us would be jailed for trading on?)
George@ure.net
You realize of course you just put a target on your back don’tcha… Oh wait were you just kidding? The website “www.americanvoterboycott.org” can’t be found by Firefox.
Got the domain – working on setting up the pointers to the webservers today or tomorrow when comes up on the list.
Awesome!
Boycotts, picketing, speaking out,and a convention of states. Nope, won’t work. No business model in any of them. Martin Luther King got it right, most of the above and a buiness model, they stopped using the busses, walked and shared rides.
With everything above creat a business model, like Promote stay vacations, make, repair, grow, share, barter, go shopping in stores and on line only when you have no other choices. Money motivates action.
Come to think about it, Martin Luther from the King James Bible put a dent in the popes income. The action was swift and deadly, but it worked.
He’s already got a target on his back and we all know it by jon’s presence…that is THE sign that George is on the leader board. Let’s call it the Globalist Open.
Watching “The Distinguished Gentleman” should be required viewing at the high school level, you know, where they used to teach civics. It lays it out pretty clearly how the system works, with laughs.
I have mentioned before that congress stopped adding house members years ago. House members who used to represent 30-60K voters, now represent closer to a million. If that limit were lifted, we would elect a lot more people to the House. If they were required to live in their district and do business by internet for the most part, you bet they would be more responsive. It would also preclude the insane gerrymandering that we see today, people would have much smaller districts to defend and they couldn’t pick and choose their constituency. Capping the cost of running for office would certainly bring better people into the system. I know of well-meaning local people who ran for office only to find themselves owing money in the end and losing to a well-financed corporate hack.
The battle here is at the school board level. The Koch Bros, via the Independence Institute run seminars, gathering people to run for office, grooming them and financing their run. A few years ago, it became obvious when four people running for the school board basically ran together with the backing of “outside” money planting LTE’s and buying advertising on their behalf. We’ve run them off for the time being, but it is clear that the system is entrenched to take over entities from the bottom up, while destroying the public school system.
Things have to change and quickly or we may as well fold it up. I find myself tiring of the whole mess, and I am one of the old guard who used to believe in our government. I look at the people who now pass for “statesmen” and understand how we have sunk into this pit.
To paraphrase the title of a rock album, evil never sleeps. We will always have to do battle in some way with service-to-self individuals who seek power over others. Right now, they have the upper hand and the future does not look positive, but IMO we have to fight for ourselves and posterity. If we go down, quoting Billy Joel, we will all go down together. “Better to die on our feet than live on our knees.”
George Washington was a ‘special interest’.
No matter how you add it up, George Washington was the first government official to turn guns on American Citizens.
G & the Urban Survival Fellowship,
It’s heartening to see the trolls in full effect!
‘Anonymous on June 20, 2017 at 08:30’ – attempted to stir the pot by its “wtf” comment. Nice try but git along lil’ trolly.
+’jon’ expects its ‘professor’ to respond to a rout concerning ‘his-story’. Yes, apparently this IS its first rodeo…
YeeHah from a Yahoo!
Thank you George for you continued works, entertainment & inspiration.
Best to you & yours always,
From NJ with Love
With you George but how to make sure it isnt only conservatives and libertarians that sign up and dont vote? Do we end up facilitating the election of a bunch of lefties?
The way the game works is, they have to get our consent before they screw us. By voting, we give our affirmation of the system’s validity. I have not yet decided if an Article 5 convention is the best and safest way to go, but we are out of time and something has to be done to stand up for ourselves.
exactly.. well said sherlyn
These representatives don’t follow the Constitution now, how do you propose to force them to do it after a Con-Con?
The only way I can think of is with a short length of rope and a strong oak tree branch or a lamp post.
Here in Covington, LA the old ‘live’ oak trees in front of the old court house served that purpose. They can always be rejuvenated!
Maybe it’s time for an Article 5 Convention of the States?
the CON CON…would be taken over by the scumbags that have ruined our Constitutional Republic…a run away CON CON…would install the scumbags NEW constitution….soooo NO Con Con….imho
Too complicated.
Try this: No political spending unless you are a registered voter qualified to vote in the election at question. All political spending identified publicly with the name of the person who spent it within 48 hours of being spent.
Have been gut-shot by this linked video, that fits right along with today’s subject. It’s pretty scary, but puts the responsibility on each of us, personally, to hold every politician’s feet to fire. Hold on your britches and listen to Jason Chaffetz and why he’s leaving Congress.
http://www.independentsentinel.com/chaffetz-nothing-changed-since-obama-deep-state-charge/
“The answer is simple: I think people are sick and tired of special interests outbidding us in local government, state offices, and in Congress.”
Amen George.. I am so sick of the macarena group. So sign me up .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGIr4Mq_4C8
What is even worse.. is not only that they no longer write the bills they absolutely refuse to even read them..
God I feel a rant coming on.. LOL
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_federal_politicians_convicted_of_crimes
yet we as a society keep voting them back in even with all the rotten work ethics .. election after election .. under the table deals are no longer under the table but more or less in my opinion tossed in our faces daily.. our court system allows lobbying firms open access to our congressmen to sway their voting through gifts and donations ( in defense of the congress though If a lobbyist was to toss a bag of money on my doorstep I probably would be just as eager to please them to..). election after election they run on the same old bills.. then table them after reelection only to be ran on again during the next campaign.. ( I can’t see why the voters don’t recognize this..but then they never notice that bad news dump on fridays so its forgotten by monday http://politicaldictionary.com/words/friday-news-dump/ ).. gay bathroom access anyone its the new dead horse.. put in stalls and do away.. who wants to be this will be dredged up the same as abortion during the next campaign..
they all should be voted out every election … instead we will continue to vote the same old group in election after election.. term limits absolutely but hey.. that has to be passed by congress first.. oh well what do I know….
George
The Best Way to get Money out of elections is to change the 100 National Elections back into 100 Local Selections, by repeal of the 17th Amendment.
Go back to indirect selection of Senators.
Senators do NOT represent the People, that is the House.
Senators are supposed to represent the States, and preserve the States Rights.
You and I can’t get an appointment with our Senators, we don’t have the cash to get their attention.
But my state house member has a Sports Trophy Shop just about a mile and a half from here.
I CAN get his attention and give him an earful.
He CAN get the feedback on his lousy selection if it comes to that. And he Knows full well that the zillionaire paying for the commercials has exactly the same number of votes I have, 1!
Without an election the need for the ads goes away, and the canvassing and the polls, etc.
Put it all back the way our forefathers intended, it worked well enough for many years.
EVERY attempt at injection of more Direct Democracy has either failed or had disastrous unintended consequences. Back to being a Republic!
I have two or three other reforms as well.
Next a constitutional amendment that says
any office holder may NOT be followed into his office by any blood or marriage relative or progeny for four generations. This needs no explanation, considering our last 30 years history.
After that, 20 years max service by any individual (which because of the step before, also limits his family) 4 years in house, 6 in senate, two terms as pres, or any combination, and the family goes back to earning a living.
And as to tax policy, I told you my plan about that.
A simple $1.00 sales tax per trade, on any trade not done for the account of a retail client.
Any ROBO trade, program market tracking trade, front running trade, anything done automatically by a computer, and anything done for the “Houses” account and not an Identifiable client with either a SSI (Or a TIN for a small business or a recognized retirement account/Mutual Fund)gets charged a $1.00 fee. One buck is nothing in any one trade, but on 2BB volume a day, 90% of it program trades for the House(s), it’ll add up, and reduce the load on us guys.
Lets Do It.
George, I’m totally on board. I’ve voted a few times and every time I lost, so why endorse the system. If it was honest, I’d have second thoughts. I avoid the system to the best of my ability, pay minimal taxes as required, and generally withdraw from participation in an unfair system. Unlike Jon’s comment, I’ve found that when enough locals get upset, things happen. The state level is difficult because of its size, but the balanced budget requirement helps eliminate the most egregious boondoggles.
The federal approach that you defined is very good. I’d also add a paragraph that any candidate needs to enumerate campaign promises on paper, with the proviso that these are guarantees and he/she/it will be PERSONALLY LIABLE to any/all voters for breach of that explicit language. That should at least give pause to glib phrases passed off as truth.
I see no need for a party structure at all. Any candidate can set up a website today and go stumping. Media complicity and intangibles such as sex based influence need to be addressed too.
George,
As you know, I agree with your identification of our broken system bought and run by plutocratic interests. I particularly like your restrictions on political funding – excellent. Of course, one wonders how it would be implemented politically, since we have seen how even Trump’s quite modest efforts to right our ship have been stymied by the Washington bought dog kennel.
However, as someone formerly involved in politics and with a poli sci degree before the J.D., there may be some weaknesses in your proposal, to wit:
1. State governments do not exhibit any more integrity than Disneyland on the Potomac. In fact, because of their smaller scale, state and other local level politicians can be and are bought for far less than the D.C. dogs. I lobbied in Sacramento and can assure you from that experience that all of the folks in state capitals regard their elective offices as their own little entrepreneurial enterprise, just as the Capitol canines do.
2. Ending the seniority system may sound attractive, but eliminating it will actually hand the Deep State bureaucrats, congressional staffers, lobbyists and those whom they serve an additional advantage. Seniority and multiple returns of candidates to the same elective office allows them through experience to acquire expertise in the subject matters assigned to the committees on which they serve so that they cannot be as easily hoodwinked as would be the case when they are the new kids in town.
3. Assigning committee roles by lot would inevitably yield grotesquely counterproductive results. Imagine monumentally stupid and crazy representatives, such as Maxine Waters or Sheila Jackson Lee being randomly selected to chair the Foreign Relations or Armed Services Committees, for example.
4. While I like the concept of voting being done from the home offices of the representatives so that they can feel the heat of their constituents more immediately than the lobbyists’ siren songs and blandishments, relying upon remote electronic voting would expose the system to mischief and fraud that would be very hard to control. When all of the representatives in the Senate and House are right in the same room, it is much harder to game the vote count (although statutes outlawing voice votes would curb the abuses frequently engaged in by the criminal Nancy Pelosi when she was Speaker). Perhaps the system you propose should have an added citizens’ certification committee chosen by lot within the district two months in advance to serve one day (i.e., new committee each day) wherein they must witness all of the votes cast by the member and sign certifications to that effect that are then transmitted, compiled and reviewed by a national citizens’ committee chosen by lot (and serving only one day – new committee each day) that reviews the certifications to be sure that the votes are as recorded by respective legislative chambers’ staff from the electronic voting. Serving on these committees would be handled like jury duty and reasonably compensated (unlike jury duty). But it may just be simpler to have representatives continue to meet and vote in Washington.
5. As one of the responders in the comments section of your website noted, boycotting the elections abdicates the field to the worst among us, which would result in even worse measures being passed under the existing system than is now the case (hard to imagine, but ineluctable). Even with high turnout in the last election, the relative good guys (again, relative) managed to leave the Congress in the hands of the GOP and the White House to Trump (not a delightful result, but certainly preferable to the Democrats with their treasonous and insane policy predilections holding the majorities and the presidency). I do not see how boycotting will ever bring about the changes you seek. Indeed, it seems akin to putting in the throttle too early when recovering from a spin in an airplane; all it does is accelerate the downward velocity, and thus increasing the likelihood that you cannot pull out of the dive without ripping the wings off.
6. As another responder noted, I cannot see how, under the current system, whose flaws you described so eloquently can ever be expected to enact the reforms you propose.
7. I know that you are indifferent to typos, but when you typed “band,” you meant “ban,” right? Just checking.
My own solution, as voiced before, also has its host of weak points and caveats; but I favor violent revolution to restore the ultimate rule of law and our Constitution as originally intended. There is nothing the matter with our country that the purposeful slaughter of those who have systematically betrayed us and who support them will not cure. I am not saying that there are not problems and risks with such an approach, but the path to a more satisfying resolution is shorter by virtue of being more direct.
You’ll have to forgive me for asking (and officer of the court) this but how do you handle the slaughter part without due process?
Or, is the logic that we are no longer a nation under laws (as opposed to One Nation under Contracts and payoffs)?
Because it would be a revolution, the due process part is temporarily tabled in favor of effectiveness. The idea here is to achieve the goal of restoring due process across the entirety of the governmental activity, as it was intended to be in the first place. This cannot be achieved without elmination of the forces of darkness that are arrayed against us. As I recall, the Americans who fired on the British at Lexington and Concord did not trifle with due process before taking aim. Our country needs our help and we need to help ourselves. Otherwise, the course that the country is on will be continued, to perdition
One point that’s never addressed is that voter registration info needs to be secured and confidential. Any party and many others can get lists of voter rolls to harass people at home and coerce them into voting. This is a strong disincentive to register. There’s also no reason that a politician should know how you likely voted when you call or write him/her/it to complain or request something.
I’d revoke the motor/voter law. All it does is to encourage those who are uninterested to be registered automatically, and in the past I’ve actually been registered to vote without my consent. I deeply resent that.