New Year, New Reform, New Voice?

2011 is here. 

A brand new year, a brand new new Congress that is now controlled by Republicans...

... a brand new Senate under new leadership…

Well, no, that didn’t happen.

There were not enough seats up for reelection in the Senate to make a dramatic change there. Yet the lack of improvement in the Senate can not be merely attributed to the smaller fraction of seats up for election this past November. Some personalities that should have been given the boot were not booted out at all. In fact, in spite of all the horrific press he garnered for himself, Nevada could not shake Harry Reid out of his Senate seat. And there Harry remains, much more than a mere Senator, but the Majority Leader still. And of course the executive branch remains the same – nothing changed there – and it reliably continues on in a fixed socialist state of mind.

The Tea Party deserves credit where credit is due: they have managed to shine a light on the notion that core American ideology is diametrically opposed to socialism and progressivism. The general popularity of the Tea Party movement has helped to galvanize a great number of people to get a little more aware of politics, maybe attend some energy-charged rallies, and to get out the vote. A number of new fresh faces ran for various offices at the state and federal level. If these fresh faces were lucky and kingmakers Karl Rove, Glenn Beck and the rest of the “non-journalist” news entertainers did not seek to lampoon their low-funded campaigns, then these candidates who fought solely on love-of-country and a desire to engage their government have the distinct pleasure of knowing they ran good races for the right reasons, and not because they were ever “to the manor born.” Some of these scrappy reformers even managed to get elected, but only one here and one there. Meanwhile, Tea Party people are thrilled that they have helped to cause a shift to the right, or so they think.

At final analysis, however, the question begs to be answered: is the fundamental problem a conservative/liberal problem, or something else?

How I observe, filter, and then process the political issues I see on cable news (or what I read in blogs) is quite similar to how I handle the issues and dysfunction I see in smaller group dynamics. Dysfunction is nothing more than a system of people engaging each other in ways that are not functional, after all, and that concept can certainly apply to both the macro level of social structure as easily as it can the micro level of family units, since people are people wherever they go. Another constant we can count on is this: People make choices and are solely responsible for them. At the same time, however, choices are never made in a vacuum. The environment will support, encourage, or nourish a choice, or it will shun, discourage, or react with unfavorable consequences.

For example, an obese man who can no longer get out of bed because he weighs half a ton is responsible for what he has done to himself, but he did not do it all by himself. There had to be someone else in the house willing to bring him lots of food every day. Someone is always supporting the drug addict’s ability to sustain his addiction. In this realm of family dysfunction, food is not the primary evil; drugs are not the primary evil. Human behavior and the desire to sustain self-indulgent activities is the primary evil.

Likewise, I see a country that is mortified by the largesse of government. I see the country trying to put new people into the system to make better decisions in that system – but the system itself is the same. Fundamentally, the prognosis for the new freshmen in congress this year should be no different than that of the freshmen class of 1994: full of resolve, will likely lead to initial positive results. But look at what the 1994 class had turned into by 2004. No surprise: they simply entered a system and an environment that supported favoritism, elitism and an ultimate lack of consistent accountability. They go in lean and come out fat.

Do we expect that our current lean machines will remain so when they walk into a house where they will be fed every temptation you can imagine? Remember, the election cycle did not remove one iota of lobby influence, and there are no term limits. Oh, and let us not forget Big Media, who is more than happy to influence our understanding of what goes on in Washington and what relationship we have with our representatives. They are capable of painting stories an infinite number of ways depending on what is good for ratings, advertisers, and ultimately their pocketbooks. Their ability to hold accountable any politician is impeded by their own self-interest. The environment is unchanged, just a few new personalities playing in it. In the macro-political realm, liberalism is not the primary evil; progressivism is not the primary evil. Human behavior and the willingness to abuse power is the primary evil.

Like many concerned citizens in America, I often wonder if anything I do can make that much of a difference. The only influences that seem to have any real push are the larger herds (like political parties with their platforms). While most of us join herds as a means to promote some of our real, personal interests with government, our individual voice seems so very insignificant, and so we tend to overly rely on our identification with party to define who we are. But parties, as we have seen, can abuse power too, Republican and Democrat alike. So how can we assume that this country has come, as a "national family", to a “rock bottom” place where the country is willing to take on truly radical reform to rid itself of its political dysfunction? Is a political party - call it Republican or Tea Party, Democrat or Libertarian - capable of permanently denying its own capacity to abuse power to a degree that it can reliably hold government accountable? Is there anything we can effectively do, as individual citizens, to hold parties and platforms accountable that does not require prior party approval? Do we need to develop of a completely new kind of "herd" to hold the existing herds in check? Well, in fact, GOOOH is a concept that addresses this problem. Interested in learning about it?

I am passionate about GOOOH as a reform solution to the political dysfunction that plagues our system. It remains true to the intention of the framers of our Constitution. It enforces term limits. It is infused with undeniable accountability since GOOOH enforces that representatives are immediately answerable to the very people who selected and elected them.

I occasionally hear naysayers that suggest GOOOH will never go over – there won’t be enough buy-in for it to work. My response is this: naysayers tend to look at GOOOH as if it is the introduction of a new political party. It is not a political party. Moreover, it is an actionable way of selecting true citizen representatives who can be held to exact account for their campaign promises by direct accountability of the very people they represent to a degree similar to what could be done back during the early years of our country, when politicians were very familiar to the people in their hometowns and districts, and a sense of relationship was truly there. And for those who tend to always fear new things: Do valid, enduring movements grow from anything other than small seeds? They do start out small indeed, and they only grow if they continue to prove their own solid merit. Since its inception in 2008, GOOOH has grown quite nicely to well over 86,000 members. GOOOH is growing. It is growing because those who seriously check it out seriously see how much sense it makes. It is not merely a new herd, it is a new way for voters to be able to engage politics and have a clearer voice.

If we collectively continue to not change how our House representatives are elected, we cannot expect that the people we have occupying our House now will ever become any less corrupt than they ever have. If we want to save our country, it is time to quit with half-measures or to bow solely to the cult of personality, which is all we are doing if we only seek to vote for new faces. Honestly, if we don’t do something more substantive to fix the dysfunction than just electing a few new people with new promises, will our country do anything but get worse? It is time for the whole country to consider doing something better: let’s get GOOOHing.

Find out more about the GOOOH process for selecting and electing true citizen representatives at GOOOH.com. You can also:

• Find GOOOH on facebook. 
• See if there is a GOOOH meetup in your area on Meetup.com. 
• Some of the GOOOH membership has taken it upon themselves to launch a whole online community, the ultra brand-new http://usa.goooh.com. 

Do something new for yourself this 2011 by allowing yourself to consider that our political system can be radically improved, and that your time working towards this improvement is not time wasted. Learn about GOOOH, and share it with your friends. GOOOH will be put into operation in 2012; GOOOH is a system that will be tried out. Come and seriously consider this brand new measure to improve and strengthen our country. If you, like so many of us, find yourself completely struck at the simplicity and profound merit of the GOOOH solution, then join us and tell your friends to check it out for themselves. GOOOH wins on its own merit every single time.

I certainly wish the best for our new conservative representatives in Congress. It is my deep hope, and belief, that they will seek to do this country a lot of good in the next few years. But let none of us be afraid to make further reformations to our political selection and election system, especially since doing so will strengthen our country after the current bunch of representatives are long gone.

The Evil of Two Lessers

We’ve all heard them, haven’t we? Those cute phrases informed voters apply to the candidates at election time: “Why should I vote for the lesser of two evils? I still get evil.” Or “Once again it’s Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber.”

What most folks don’t understand is that these candidates don’t magically appear from the ether: The process in their selection starts IN THEIR OWN NEIGHBORHOODS and PRECINCTS. The traditional and, many believe, often rigged method for selecting all those folks with the silly hats and goofy signs we see at the Demopublican National Conventions on TV every four years begins in OUR NEIGHBORHOODS.

Nearly all these “delegates” have come up from their precinct, county and state conclaves where they are elected to go to the national convention. There they vote on platform planks, rules, and, of course, for their presidential and vice presidential candidates. If you get the feeling that most of those matters have been decided long before you got there, give yourself a big “Attaboy.” Sadly, unless one is a political junky, that requires more effort than most of us are willing to expend.

And if you’ve ever been to a precinct, county or state session, you know that they are often swarmed by party functionaries and regulars. These are folks who arrange to put and keep themselves in control of the proceedings lest things get “out of hand.” Nothing rankles them more that to have meeting “hijacked” by “outsiders” who don’t quite grasp the importance of maintaining the party line status quo. That can be more than a bit intimidating for the few “non-graspers” watching the majority of “regulars” dominate the proceedings.

While traditional candidates for Congress who make an impression at the county or state conventions can emerge with a “bump,” the process for actually selecting them is a less controlled one. It involves direct participation of the general electorate, first in a primary then in the general election.

The good news is that the top spots on the tickets were never intended to be as powerful as they are today.

The bad news is that they are because we’ve not paid sufficient attention.

For years, I’ve been amazed at our quadrennial fascination with the beauty contest known as the “PRESIDENTIAL RACE.” Our inattention and/or apparent desire for a king or a strong man dictator has allowed it. Couple that with the growing numbers of un or ill-informed citizens and we have a recipe for the disaster confronting us today. We have allowed our system to morph into the present quasi-monarchy from its original foundations as a representative REPUBLIC.

The most important thing to remember is that the Founders constructed the system to put – AND KEEP -- the KEYS TO THE FEDERAL CASH REGISTER IN CONGRESS. Attila the Hun could occupy the White House and without the dough to hire the bureaucrats, buy the desks and computers, etc., etc. ad nauseum, Mr. Hun would be hamstrung. It is PRECISELY why the Legislature was established in Section 1 of our Constitution, with the Executive and Judiciary at 2 and 3.

As mentioned at the top, THAT process starts in YOUR STATE and CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT by finding and supporting decent candidates -- at ALL levels -- who will go to YOUR state capitol and Malfunction Junction and do the necessary periodic house cleaning. Marching on Washington may be exciting but until MILLIONS of pitchfork wielding citizens crowd the Mall, those events only amuse the political aristocracy. The only folks who benefit from the finite patriot resources devoted to them are the airlines, hotels and restaurants in D.C. Marches, withholding contributions to the national parties, writing them poison pen letters may be personally satisfying but are not as effective as THROWING OUT THE CURRENT MISCREANTS. THAT is how to get their attention. Effectiveness also requires watching the NEW GUYS like a hawk to make certain THEY don’t go bad from imbibing too much of that power Kool-Aid so popular in Disneyland on The Potomac.

And there is more good news concerning this approach: The controlled so-called national mainstream media are so busy distracting us with that presidential beauty contest, they have less time to devote to these widely separated congressional races. That makes it easier to get some good folks elected.

And speaking of “good folks,” GOOOH – a REAL grassroots and nonpartisan organization -- has made it easier still. If you’re looking for an alternative to the controlled establishment party system and you haven’t yet checked out GOOOH’s website and signed on to participate in one of the candidate selection sessions, you really owe it to yourself to do so. The website is here: http://goooh.com/Home.aspx. There you will learn that there IS “Hope” for making the “Change” needed to move us back to the Constitutional moorings from which we have been cast adrift. There’s no requirement to do so, but you could even find YOUR name on a ballot at some point.

Joseph D’Maistre once correctly observed that “People get the government they deserve.”

I believe we deserve better.

If you share that belief, GOOOH is a good place to start.