This isn't specifically about gun rights, but more about taking back government from the thieves and liars, and get normal people into office:Originally Posted by sniper7
1) Start a non-partisan organization of concerned citizens. I like the "Tweed something (party, organization, group)", a reference to the infamous corrupt politician "Boss" Tweed. Everyone wears a little tweed lapel pin. It's catchy.
The organization develops a set of 20 or so simple black and white rules for politicians (ie no lying, no cheating on spouses, no cronyism, no corruption, term limits, no voting for things that apply to citizens but not politicians, no wasting tax dollars on yourself, you must meet with constituents this many times per week, etc.). Just 20 simple rules that no politician would not agree to, theoretically. Rules that both sides can agree on that we expect from our politicians, and also things that there can be no disagreement about.
2) The group elects a revolving board to determine if any of the rules have been broken. The group gives all politicians a grade (like the NRA), and publishes it regularly. It won't matter at first, but it will draw attention to the worst politicians out there. The rules aren't about partisan policy. It's about the way that politicians act and get things done.
3) The organization starts signing up average citizen members. "Here are our 20 rules that we're going to make politicians live by. If you like these rules, become a member of our organization. There's only one requirement of being a member of our organization: after the point we reach 1 million members (we'll notify you by email when we reach that point), you will promise to never again vote for a politician who has not agreed to our rules. They can be D or R, or anybody, but they have to agree to our rules or you promise not to vote for them, or just don't vote at all. Up until the point we reach 1 million members, vote for whoever you want."
Why 1 million members? Because then people will feel like the group has some clout, and they're not just wasting their vote. I might rather vote for a D who agreed to the rules, than an R that refused the rules. But only if I knew that D was being held responsible to the rules by a group with clout. If there is no clout, they wont follow the rules. 1 million seems like a point where you have some clout.
If you can sell average people on this idea, it's a winner.
4) You start publicly pressuring (or ambushing with video camera) politicians to sign up with the organization. "Why wouldn't you agree to these rules? There is absolutely no reason to not agree to these rules. There is nothing about our rules that you shouldn't want to agree to." They'll be hesitant at first, but they will come. The real beauty is that once you get a million members (and growing), they will happily agree to join the group to be able to get the votes. You won't have to pressure them, they'll line up at the door. Maybe some local media starts pressuring local politicians on it, and that's where it takes hold. Get both Rachel Maddow (*shudder*) and Rush Limbaugh to mention it once, and it's game over for the politicians.
5) Oh yeah, when a politician agrees to the rules, they literally sign on the dotted line. They agree that if they break any of the rules they will resign immediately, or will be shamed from office, or at the very least will definitely not get our votes in the next election. The organization determines when you have broken any of the rules (see #2). If you don't resign immediately, you lose our votes forever. If you do resign, you can admit your corruption and try again in the future, and we still might vote for you. At least we know you held up your end of the bargain by resigning.
6) Politicians will pressure their opponents to join. "I joined, why don't you? Because you're corrupt, that's why!" "Look at my little tweed lapel pin, my opponent doesn't have one because he intends to be corrupt in office. "
7) If the idea took hold, the citizens completely turn the tables on the politicians and get a handle on our out of control government. From that point forward, the politicians do whatever we say they do, and act how they're supposed to act, or they'll never get into office, or if they're already in they will feel the wrath of a millions of voters. We can stamp out everything we don't like about Washington. Not necessarily the policies, but just the feeling that we've got a bunch of people fleecing us. We'll know they're not fleecing us. We'll know they're scared of the voters, and someone is watching and holding them accountable for everything they do.
If you feel powerless as an individual to change anything, you're right. The real problem is that we're a people divided, intentionally. We hate the other side because we hate the politicians and how corrupt they are, and we ignore those same types of people on our own side. But imagine if we could all unite together under a set of rules for politicians to stamp out corruption. We can take back the power.
I would feel a lot better about gun control regulations if I didn't think they were being pushed on us by a government that wants all the power. If the people have the power, and I knew it wasn't coming from a corrupt place, it would scare me a lot less. Then we can at least talk rationally about the issues facing the country. Right now we can't talk rationally because we don't trust the motives of the other side one bit. Take out the political motives and corruption, and it's a different story.
We have to unite together with the other side to take back the power from the politicians. There's no other way. Can we at least agree on 20 simple rules for politicians?
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