Independent Americans for Change:
The War of Independents and a Plan of Action to Retake our Country
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Long-Distance Service
Let me ask you a question: do you know who represents your congressional district in Washington? If you don’t, you can forgive yourself. Almost no one I ask has any idea. It’s just another sign of how distanced we have become from the political process. We see the problems everywhere in our lives, yet the leaders who are supposed to be representing our interests, the ones who are actually supposed be making a difference, are like ghosts, flitting apparitions appearing around election season, before vanishing again.
What Washington Calls Change
It’s clear from the slogans of the presidential campaign that the American people desperately want “change.” But the kind of change the Republicans and the Democrats offer is purely cosmetic. Career politicians of the Dead Old Parties will never bring it about. It’s against their lifelong interests. It would be idiocy to trust those who have gotten us into this mess to lead us in a better direction. What our leaders will never accept is that they are the ones who must be changed - with a swift kick out of office. The catalyst is a wholesale changing of the guard in our House of Representatives.
The Two-Headed Monster
Real change begins with an expansion of the two-party system. The Donkeys and the Elephants have monopolized power for far too long. They have become monopolies. Their first calling: party loyalty, right or wrong. Their partisan bickering has grown so strong that pandering to the base has become a necessity, whether it’s the far right or the far left. One way or another, the independent voter in the middle is left out of the equation, forced to vote for the lesser of two “lessers.”
Lifetime Leeches
For these so-called leaders, remaining in office has somehow become their right, feasting at the public trough. Once they get a taste they are addicted to the power and adulation. Who wouldn’t want to earn a full pension after five years? Who wouldn’t want to earn a couple hundred thousand a year for doing so little? They have found their lifetime career and work, and they have no intention of leaving.
But the architects of our country designed these offices to be temporary, an opportunity for altruistic service, far from the multi-term, often multi-decade, affair it has become today. Legislative seats were literally just a seasonal, part-time job as recently as the mid-point of the twentieth century. The chief benefit of a transient government being that representatives make decisions based on the public good rather than on how it will affect the next election cycle.
Government by Anesthesia
Today, of course, we have just the opposite. Politicians live constantly in election mode, always smiling for the cameras, always ready with another sound bite, while they furiously dial for dollars. When reelection becomes the goal, the third rails of politics - anything that calls for discipline and sacrifice from the public - are truly lethal to the career politician. Reform is not in their vocabulary. They like the status quo, and when their negligence leads to crisis, they resort to finger-pointing. Anticipation refers only to their next golf junket or meal; the fate of the country is the last thing on their minds.
Tell me this, what has anyone in Washington done about the out of control government spending which has more than doubled the national debt in the last eight years? What about Social Security and Medicare reform? What about alternative forms of energy? You can bet your congressional representative is squawking his head off, but not doing much.
To avoid these third rails, they try to distract us with hot button issues: flag-burning, lethal injection, abortion, gays in the military, while conveniently ignoring the gut level social, economic and political problems that are bringing this country to its knees.
I guess I’ve seen one too many elections and heard the same old bologna repeated over and over again, but know that when all is said and done, we don’t have the best and brightest that we deserve.
Trench Warfare in Your Own Hometown
Let’s face it, and I’ll say it again, real change won’t come from Washington. “Think globally, act locally” is how the old saying goes. To break free of the smothering two party rule, we should amend the saying to “think nationally, run locally.”
What we need is the kind of change Thomas Jefferson was talking about when he said “Every generation needs a new revolution.” But how do we go about it? How can we live up to Jefferson’s ideal and take back our country from the corrupt two-headed monster of the major parties? On a national, or even a statewide basis, the Donkeys and the Elephants are simply too dominant. But I have identified the ideal battleground to take back our country: trench warfare in a district-by-district fight for the House of Representatives.
The Founders of our country intended the lower branch of congress to be the people’s house, the institution closest and most answerable to its local constituents. That’s why representatives only have to run for office in their districts, instead of statewide like senators. And that’s why the House is the perfect location to merge local and national interests and to launch a new kind of politics beyond the dead old Democrats and Republicans.
Third Party Lockout
There have been plenty of third party attempts in our nation’s history. Ross Perot made a strong run for the presidency in 1992, before he bowed out under pressure from the heavyweights. In the early 20th century, Teddy Roosevelt almost broke through with his famed Bull Moose Party, but even the former president’s popularity and name recognition wasn’t enough to crack the two-party lock on power. Other third parties were led by splinter groups with narrow agendas. These efforts were doomed to fail because they aimed too high, reaching for the top post in the country, rather than out to their communities where they could make a real difference.
Barnstorming the Neighborhood
The local-level constituency of a House seat, on the other hand, provides independent candidates a legitimate chance at victory. They won’t have to buy huge amounts of television airtime. The districts are small enough to allow someone to campaign as it used to be done: showing up at the local diner, a town hall meeting, or the Friday night high school football game. Ringing doorbells. Posting signs on front lawns. We’re talking old-fashioned shoe leather here.
Independent Americans for Change
Independent candidates, however, can’t go it alone. They need an organization to support them. I’m not referring to yet another obscure third party that lives on the margins of the national scene. I’m talking about a loosely-organized but cohesive group willing to give its time and money to remake our Congress and our country - the Independent Americans for Change, or I.A.C.
Political “Experience” Not Required
In district-level caucuses across the country, local branches of the coalition can select qualified candidates to run for the House of Representatives. These candidates should be chosen based on their accomplishments anywhere but in government. Prior political experience, if anything, should be considered a stain on a resume. When I hear politicians brag about their “thirty years of experience,” I doubt they’re talking about three decades of accomplishments, but rather, one year of glad-handing repeated thirty times over. They gain power, but don’t get any smarter. Groundhog’s Day for hacks.
Tumbling Upwards
Not am I interested in small potato candidates who have served on local school boards and city councils, the traditional training schools for higher office. This doorway into the system has become all too common among career politicians. But this is a big part of the problem. Nobody learns anything from these positions except how to win friends, influence people, and game the system.
For too long we’ve allowed these local yokels, with their small-town minds and predilections for petty bickering, to leapfrog up to the national level almost by default. Nobody knows these people. Nobody really cares about these people. So by the force of their own sheer tenacity they stick around, until the next thing you know, they’re on the House Appropriations Committee approving another billion dollar package of pork. We don’t want small-town minds electing themselves; we want small town communities electing big minds for our country. This is a local dog fight with national consequences.
Walking the Walk
What we need are real doers. You might recall George Washington never volunteered to become president. His colleagues nominated him based on his accomplishments and ability to lead. We would return to that approach, pulling leaders from the private sector who have actually done something with their lives. People who have started a business, led a university. Individuals who have created an enterprise, made a payroll, and made a profit. Not the ones who have watched others do it. Independent thinkers willing to flip-flop on their ideas as they evolve. Fighters willing to lead the bureaucracy, rather than cozy up to it.
When we elect a local person to represent us in Washington, we’re asking that person to make national and international decisions. Each district has enough local politicians and bureaucrats making local decisions and passing local ordinances and pandering to local needs. We don’t’ need this kind of representation in Washington.
The Big Picture
You can have somebody aware of local issues, but that person must be first and foremost aware of the big picture. Catering to the locals has led to the creation of every form of pork sausage imaginable, and believe me, you don’t want to see what goes into the making of this stuff. The local representative is there to make national law.
Limited Service
These candidates will have accomplished enough in their careers to have the luxury of serving their country for a limited tenure, then returning to their jobs. They are not looking for a lifetime career because they already have a position that they are good at. They don’t mind being turned out of office because they came from a good place. They are not dependent on the public dole. And, they don’t mind going back to private life. If someone has a burning desire to nominate themselves for public service, believing he can effect real change in politics, I wholeheartedly support him, but I’m leery of people choosing themselves, and I’d like to try something new.
Discriminatory Election Laws
Running these fresh faces won’t be easy. The Constitution gives the states power to make the rules even on national elective offices, and the two major parties have taken extensive steps to protect their advantage. The states make it difficult to run an independent, and in many cases, even harder to list a new party, like the Independent Americans for Change, next to a candidate’s name on the ballot, which is crucial for election, as it provides a sense of purpose and cohesion.
Yet in half the states of the union, election laws force new political parties to qualify statewide in order to appear on the ballot, essentially knee-capping independent candidates from the outset. In California, for example, this means the Independent Americans for Change would have to sign up almost 100,000 members right away, or get nearly one million people to sign a petition. This an obvious measure to clip any chance of a grassroots uprising.
Offering more hope, 25 other states have much more sensible ballot rules, allowing candidates to list whatever party name they choose on the ballot as long as they obtain the minimum number of signatures to qualify for the election. States like Georgia and Illinois, requiring more than 10,000 signatures, make it harder, and we should complain vocally in these states and wherever the major parties have locked out the little guy.
Bringing Down the House
Until now, the best and the brightest have opted out of the elective process. Successful people feel they are too busy to get into the political morass. It’s time we twist some high-powered arms to serve. It’s going to take effort to get candidates with strong credentials. But as the IAC gains momentum, they will realize that our one chance for change is from the bottom up. Like the empty slogan du jour of this presidential election, “change,” the term “grassroots” has become a cliché in American politics. But all good revolutions come from the grassroots. And there’s nothing more American than that ideal. Don’t forget, our very first act as a people was beating the mighty British Empire. Now it’s time for another revolution. Luckily, thanks to our Constitution, it won’t require guns or cannons. It can happen at the ballot box.
Please keep in mind that your congressperson is not some distant “they,” but really a neighbor, the best you region has to offer to represent the nation. Check out your current congressional representative. He probably has done very little for his country, but plenty for his wallet. This is your fight. Log on to our web site, www.captiveamerican.com. We will help you with ideas and material, but it is up to you to organize your own Independent Americans for Change in your district.
A Strategy for the Independent Americans for Change
- The I.A.C. will not constitute a traditional political party. It will not function on a national or statewide level other than to support candidates for the House of Representatives on a district by district basis.
- As it gains momentum and begins to send independent representatives to Congress, the I.A.C. will spread across the country, eventually fielding candidates in all 435 congressional districts.
Qualifications for Candidacy
- Accomplishments and successes in the private sector, not in politics;
- An absolute belief in the need to take our country back from the two corrupt dominant parties.
- Demonstrated independence, integrity, and the willingness to place the good of the country before all other considerations;
Candidates will not be required to pledge allegiance to an ideological orthodoxy of any kind. But they will be required to:
- Pledge, in writing, to serve a limited amount of terms in office;
- Pledge, in writing, not to take contributions from outside of their district;
- Pledge, in writing, that if elected they will support and push for the public financing of elections
To get involved with Independent Americans for Change:
- Join the IAC Network at www.IndependentAmericans.com »
- Sign up for the IAC Newsletter »
- Connect with other Independent Americans on Facebook »
Or you can contact the Captive American editorial staff about this article and issues pertaining to the IAC by using the form below:
cforms contact form by delicious:days
You have some good ideas… but we already have a group that fights to send liberty-minded individuals to Congress… it’s called the Campaign for Liberty. Visit http://www.campaignforliberty.com
The C4L seems to only be interested in one individual, Ron Paul.
For a group which is serious about pushing a liberty agenda without the conspiracy theories and lunatic fringe radicalism, try the Republican Liberty Caucus at http://www.rlc.org
Dave
http://www.republicofdave.com
Excuse me, Dave Nalle. But the website that you posted (RLC) endorsed Ron Paul. Although I do not agree with some of his policy, but I think he was the only presidential candidate that respect our Constitution.
Comments 1, 2, & 3 illustrate the fact — there is no hope for America. Violence has become inevitable. Consider this:
Our political system, the process by which we make our laws and our regulations all depend upon compromise. Compromise is when I have an idea and you have an idea and we split the difference: We adapt a little of my idea and a little of your idea. Then we enact “the third way,” and shake hands on the bargain.
Thing about compromise is that, where one of us is entirely right and the other is entirely wrong, any “third way” we choose, any compromise between will be wrong, even if it is half right. It simply will not work. Compromise in this case thus contributes to the problem.
Over a couple of hundred years, we’ve made many more than a couple of hundred bad compromises. We’ve chosen to adopt many solutions that, because they are compromised, simply do not work. And we hold to those compromises at all hazard because to repeal them threatens civil disorder.
So it is that, from time to time, civil disorder on a grand scale becomes necessary. We are there now, and the one thing certain about the next few years is that we are in for a mighty wild ride. In the fact of what’s howling down upon us, a great many Americans will find reason to change their thinking mighty quick.
Best
Jimmy
http://thecyanidehole.blogspot.com
It would be great if all of these comments or the folks that wrote these comments and their groups - organizations etc.. would join in unison and form one group based upon the founding fathers principles. Oh, yeah we did that over 225 years ago. It’s first the Declaration of Independence, then the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution and it’s ammendments. Though maybe some of those need to go.
So Hey, all of ya’ll get it together and ask for some damn help and let’s get it started. Dump the DumbAssO’Crats and rein in the Republitards!
“Texas Fight”
I beleive that some things CANNOT be compromised, such as the Decleration, Bill of Rights.
This is the problem with all the comments up front and what is going on in America today, everyone has their own agenda, the blacks, hispanics, arab-americans, jewish-americans, gays, lesbians, transexuals, pro lifers, pro abortionists, pro military, peacenicks, etc. Why can all of these groups not drop their differences/agendas and come together for a common cause, change the way the Washington thinks and throw our the parties in power, Dems and Republicans? I am tried of all of this infighting and and arguing and everyone with their own agenda. It only allows the powers that be to continue the status quo and makes it more difficult for any real change.
Unfortunately, Obama as much as he came into office with them of change to date has not put his money where his mouth is. He is recycling old Washington insiders from the Clinton Admin. That is not real change, that is bringing back the dead as was said here.
Obama needs to put on his balls and stand up to the lobbyists and should pick real outsiders for his cabinet. How about Paul Krugman for Treasury Secretary? That would be a good start. And like it was suggested in the Houston Chronicle today, Bill Cosby for Education Secretary, he is well qualified with his PhD and he might put some fun back into the government.
Blogging is NOT enough! What lists can I get on (that I am not on already)??>
You use the phrase “feasting at the public trough” and that just doesn’t work for me. Perhaps “Gorging at the trough”? “Feeding at the trough”, sure they are, but the term “feasting” just doesn’t go with the term “trough”; the term “feast” has connotations of good food and good company, enjoyed in an atmosphere of companionship and goodwill.
I would love to participate, however, I have to fill that initial criteria of success in private life! I own a business providing website promotion via search engines, Rather than promote my brand, if you want to work with me you can find me via my political website as listed. In about 5-6 years, this is exactly something I would be willing to stand up and spend my valuable time fighting for. It has been my own message since 2000.
If everyone cared and nobody was in this life just for themselves and their own greed then perhaps this world would be very different. The simple fact is all this seems doomed to failure because it is all driven by greed. The politicians running for office and keeping their seats warm for dozens of years to hold on to their precious income, the bribery, their back-door deals, and their own damn fat wallets.
I refuse to be ruled and consumed by greed. All I want in this world is to goi to my job, come home, have my next meal, and go about my life without worrying that I will not e able to provide for myself or my family. I just want to get by now. I have lived in debt and I still am. Debt should not exist for a decent man who works hard every day. Debt should not exist for a man who is educated about his world and knows not only how to fix it but WHY to fix it. Debt should not exist in ANY country with people wise enough, intelligent enough (And yes there is a difference), and ingenuitive enough to not only find ways to fix our main national issues but also ways to make them efficient and even profitable.My debt should not exist in a nation that has the potential for so much more than the garbage I have to watch day in and day out.
Something is wrong here. Does anyone else see it?
We need a constitutional government with trade protections for industry. That’s it. Thats the end of it. I don’t buy the Rebpulican and Democratic BS.
If we were able to bring even 25 percent of the industrial base we have lost over the last 30 years, we would be able to cut the budget deficit and even afford a national healthcare system that so many seem to covet. (I don’t, but that’s a different story). We would also be operating at close to full employment.
I am pessimistic on the political system as too many people get up in the morning and figure out how to screw everyone out of their money and freedoms.
Our government is way too large and the regulations way too burdensome. Congress should have been repealing laws that make it impossible for us to produce. I don’t think that we should fire federal bureaucrats. I don’t want them on the streets. We should just pay them NOT to show up for work. That would be a great start.
I’m a senior citizen of Canada. I have been interested in American politics since the ’60’s when I took a political science course on the American political system at the University of British Columbia. Someone in the small town where I live suggested this Blog site just today, so I haven’t read everything on it.
I was, however, astounded at how closely Lee’s philosophy parallels that of mine–at least what I have read in his “conclusion” and by watching one of his videos. We will see after I have read it all if I still agree with him.
I’ve copied in a couple of lines (out of context ,of course) from another site of his—
“Millions of Americans can barely afford to fill up their gas tanks.” I would like ask Lee for his opinion as to why he doesn’t think that, as a business person whose primary pursuit that I am aware of, is to promote the kind of leisure time (constructing golf course resorts), great distances from where people live hasn’t been partly responsible for the growing use of fuel over the years. Nothing that I have read so far makes me think that anything he has done over the years has been environmentally friendly.
“Washington’s corrupt way of doing business is responsible for every other crisis we face as a nation.” Totally in agreement. I have been keeping tabs on the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, filled to the rafters with ex-presidents and insiders from Washington’s politicians–this is just one goup out of many who have profitted immensely from the wars initiated by the same expoliticians that run the firm.
“Greedy financial firms are responsible for one financial crisis after another.” YES!. I totally agree with this comment. I really would like to see some of those people in jail. Most Americans are unaware that what started out in the States as a combination of crooked financial houses and improperly regulated mortgages has caused considerable economic misfortune in nearly every other country in the world. I personally lost over a third of my life savings as a result–and I had no American investments at that.
I would like to make some other comments but I just want to end with one heartfelt suggestion for Lee Brandenburg personally:
STAY THE HELL OUT OF CANADA. WE DON’T NEED YOU HERE. WE DON’T WANT YOU HERE.
The King is dead. Long live the King.
I am watching the Inagaration of Obama. I want to puke. Seriously watching it makes me more and more ill. Ya, sure I’m glad the Bush Regime is gone and hopefully brought to the World Court for trial. But do not think for a moment that the millions on the Capital Mall that are out of work, have no Healthcare and such. Are going to see an improvement under Obam’s Corporate Technocracy.
Commie Senator Diane Fienstien is head of the Inagruaral Committee. The same woman who supported Attorney General Mukasey. Who in an unprecidented move would not support Congressional Subpeonas. Obama who was going to filibuster the Amnesty Bill for the Telecoms and Wall Street bailout. Did not. I feel too sick to go on. Fools on the Capital Mall. I must puke.It is not from a fur ball. Oh ya as Obama just said we are at war ( illegal). Economy bad. Not for the selected on Wall Street.Later, WILDCAT
While some of our Founders were deeply religious, others not so much. In the end they had the foresight and wisdom to seperate church and state .They built a secular democratic republic.DUH !!
Yet during the primaries the men and women running for the Office of the Presidency had to swear their allegence to Jesus Christ. Who despised war, killing and subterfuge, Christ also asked believers ” to remain humble and pray in a closet. ”
So why on God’s green earth in a nation of Christians, Jews, Buddists, Atheists and what nots, were political canidates, demanded to declare in public, Christ is their Lord and Savior. Christ and other great spirtual leaders commanded man not to prance their beliefs in the open. What the hell were canidates for a secular goverment, declaring their allegence to a spiritual path to Christ. In the open, on national TV.And calling for the victory ( read military killings ) over their challengers.
To be followed by the inaguration of King Obama, who’s swearing in ceremony was rife with Christian prayers, citing the superiority of the American system of World Boss. Due to it’s, not, Christian roots. Rome anyone. Seperation of church and state was no where to be found, during the Inagural today. Fascism anyone?
I highly doubt the Prince of Peace was happy today with so many invocating His name. As America wages war, ( Foriegn Entanglements), abroad and thru its proxies to murder foriegn people for their natural resourses. Under the fully transparent call for shoving ” Demoracy ” down the throats of folks who do not want to bite into a sandwich of our variety. Our military can adjust that attitude.After the ” Christian ” goverment votes to use our military to maim and kill them. Kill if they are lucky.
Join the military and meet and kill exotic people. So Joe Blow can get a relitivly cheap Plasma TV. Oh Lord , Father thank you for the TV. But why is it covered in blood?
Why would God bless a nation that routinely commits geocide itself or through proxies? God damn is more like the blessing from God upon our legislators.
Today was not a day of hope. Obama even spoke of the virtues of a two party system. Why not a three or four party system to keep us honest?
It is good a man of color can become President. To bad is was not Dr Martin Luther King.
As a side note to help explain why all of our countious wars. According to National Geographic, it would take five Earth’s, for all on Earth to enjoy the Western Lifestyle. Using, oil, gas and other primitive technologies. But the elite are invested in oil, gas and other natural materials. Where the land must be raped to make them rich and us fat and happy with our Plasma TV’s.
We will choke and our now on the waste and pollution. Consumer society suck. There are better ways.
Today was a day of hope with the Bush Regime gone. Today was a day of discust as God was called upon to bless our warring fascist nation.
We had better get moving folks. And their is a strong move afoot to do away with the 22nd Amendment. Limiting Presidents to two terms. If that happens and with electronic vote manipulation. We can have a tyrant for life.
As I eat dinner, CBS is with great gushing, is repleting all the Designer clothes Obamas wife wore tastefully today. I could get the heathcare I need with the cost of the dresses she wore. I already do not like her.WILDCAT
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I couldn\’t agree more with most of the opinions and comments made here. I\’ve strongly considered running for the House of Representatives.
As you\’ll see from my participation in the new digital media:
http://www.freedomfromthepress.net/wordpress
I\’ve been around the block a time or two. Yes, everyday I understand more about where we\’ve been and where we\’re headed if we don\’t change our current political course.
Let\’s set sail by showing mutual respect for one another, we must agree to disagree when we find ourselves in disagreement.
I look forward to our future together.
Independently yours,
Steven Thompson, Founder
Freedom From The (biased and corrupt) Press