Candidate Contracts: Weaponizing Populist Electoral Campaigns

Here we go again.  If you can handle my mid-Western whine, the above video offers a detailed explanation on how candidate contracts can be used to weaponize the electoral campaigns of populist candidates.  The entire text of the presentation follows here:

In my last article, I talked about the ethical and political basis for introducing candidate contracts into our electoral process.

Now I want to address their practical application, specifically how the candidate contract becomes a powerful and decisive weapon on the raging battleground that our campaigns for public office have become.

Let me be absolutely clear at the outset.  The candidate contract strategy can only be used to boost the effectiveness and accelerate the momentum of populist campaigns -- those which reflect the priorities and values of a majority of American citizens -- because the strategy is predicated on expressing the democratic will of that majority.  Therefore, using the candidate contract for narrow, niche activism, or unpopular causes is a non-starter.  In theory, candidate contracts can be drawn up for any reason, around any issue big or small.  But they are only effective in attracting voter support if they reflect enormous popular support.

Having said that, making the candidate contract the centerpiece of a populist campaign can be decisive -- it can win elections.

Here's how.

It's crucial to recognize, the candidate contract by embracing a number of pivotal populist policies, then requiring focused and unwavering dedication by whoever signs the contract to inaugurate those policies, is not intended to constrain or control the 'good guy' populist candidate.  These items are the things he or she would do anyway if elected.  In fact, within each district the 'good guy' populist candidates themselves each tailor the contract for their particular constituents, literally designing the contract he or she can and will deliver on. 

While my template lists eleven issues where vast majorities of Americans want decisive action, I recommend, that based on a familiarity and understanding of each local voting jurisdiction, only those "wedge" issues unique to a particular district and the campaign taking place there, be included in the contract for that district.  It's hardly necessary or even productive to put an entire campaign platform in the contract.  Less is more.  Three to eight decisive issues is sufficient.  Just enough to defeat the establishment opponents and assure victory.

For example, if the demographic is relatively older, Social Security and Medicare likely would be incorporated, whereas free college education may not be consequential enough to include.  If the demographic is young and working class, most likely the $15 per hour minimum wage clause should be adopted.  And so on. 

The 'good guy' populist candidate must know where the voters stand, and fashion his or her candidate contract accordingly.  Specifically, he or she is looking for those pivotal, high-visibility issues which have major voter support, but are not championed by the opposition candidates!  If an incumbent has, for example, voted in Congress against an increase in the minimum wage, and there's enormous support among low wage voters locally, that divergence is exactly what the populist candidate is targeting.

I can't stress this enough . . .

The contract should identify those issues with popular local support which differentiate him or her from their opponents.  The progressive candidate is on the side of the people, whereas the opponents -- establishment/centrist/neoliberal candidates from either major party -- are on the wrong side of these issues.

This now points us to how the candidate contract weaponizes the populist's campaign.

The contract draws a massive, unmistakable line in the sand.  The populist is on one side -- the side of the people -- and his or her opponents are on the other side.  The populist candidate offers the voters something substantial, powerful, unprecedented, a guarantee in writing in the form of a legally-binding contract, declaring in no uncertain terms, what he or she will be doing from day one when arriving in Washington DC, for those same voters who voted them into office.

What can the establishment candidates put on the table?  More vague promises, more empty rhetoric, more nice campaign slogans and pleasant sound bites?

Recognize this . . .

Establishment candidates cannot and will not sign the contract.  Why?  Because if they do, they will lose the fat checks from their deep-pocketed campaign donors -- corporations, Wall Street, big banks, the ruling elite -- and the corrupt pay-for-play major parties will withdraw their support as well.  The major party campaign machine will be put to what they judge as better use supporting someone who knows how their bread gets buttered.

Thus, the establishment candidates effectively surrender to the populist candidate exactly what's needed to put up a great fight and turn the tables.  The candidate contract becomes a weapon of mass destruction which can be aimed at the opposition, to gain the advantage and turn the whole campaign on its head.
 

The candidate contract, used properly and relentlessly, destroys the message, credibility, viability of anyone who won't sign on the dotted line.

Without any hesitation, it should be displayed proudly and prominently at every public event.

"Here it is, good people.  My guarantee to you the voters.  Look at this!  This is not some wishy washy campaign promise.  It's a legally-binding contract, spelling out in precise detail what I'll be doing for you, the voters, when I arrive in Washington DC.  That's my signature there at the bottom."

The other side of that is at every public appearance, town hall meeting, press event, photo op, the establishment candidates should be confronted with their lack of courage, honesty, and commitment to voters.  Using the candidate contracts, they should be called out by campaign and citizen activists who want real action, not posturing and prevarication.

I'm dead serious!

Vilify, demonize, discredit the establishment candidates for their disloyalty to the people.  If they were serious about serving the vast majority of citizens, they'd sign on the dotted line.  Not signing the contract means only one thing:  They're blowing smoke.  All their nice-sounding speeches and wonderful TV ads are just more vaporous, hollow blather.

Let me offer three examples.  Use your imagination and you'll come up with many more.

Get the FightFor15 crowd at campaign rallies for the 'bad guy' candidate.  Wave signs that say:  Why won't you sign the contract for the $15 minimum wage so I can afford to live?

Line up old people on the sidewalk in front of his campaign headquarters.  Beautiful old folks in rockers, wheel chairs, leaning on aluminum walkers.  Have them wearing t-shirts saying:  Why won't you sign the contract to protect my Social Security and Medicare?  Make sure the local press and TV stations are there to cover the geriatric insurrection.

Have the Veterans For Peace and Code Pink at his campaign rallies.  Hold up big banners:  Why won't you sign the contract to bring the troops home from Afghanistan?  No more American soldiers in body bags!

Is this negative?  Is this mean?

No, it's not negative.  And it's not mean.  It's a public service.  Voters need to know what they're getting when they vote for someone.  If that person won't come clean, then we need to come clean for them.  Not signing the contract is a BIG DEAL!  It's a BIG RED FLAG!  Voters deserve to know.
Especially with incumbents, it's absolutely our public duty to call them out on their false claims and excuses.  They haven't in the past demonstrated a basic understanding of their duties and responsibilities to their constituents.  And judging from their refusal to sign a simple, straightforward contract -- which reflects the will of majorities of citizens across the nation on issues that have now reached crisis levels -- these establishment candidates will not in the future be working for the everyday people of this country.  Instead they'll be working for the Wall Street banks, the multinational corporations, the rich and powerful. Instead of passing the legislation to address the critical problems we face, they'll be drumming up more campaign contributions for their next run for office.

The candidate contract allows honest, committed 'good guy' candidates who have integrity and are willing to answer directly to the good folks who elected them, to blow off the doors of calculated deception and treachery, and expose the corruption that has become endemic in American politics.  Corruption which silences the voice of the people and locks everyday citizens out -- individuals just like you and I -- preventing us from participating in our democratic form of government.
At the same time, it opens other doors.  And through those doors will walk representatives who represent, public servants who serve the public, determined, hard-working elected officials who will begin reinstating accountability, transparency and integrity, to a good system gone bad -- a unique promise of self-rule by all citizens, corrupted and co-opted by the crushing anti-democratic forces of unlimited money in politics, and unchallenged power by an autocratic ruling elite.

It's time we fight back.  Candidate contracts are the weapon of choice.

[ As a footnote, let me add one highly encouraging recent development.  Revolt Against Plutocracy is building an entire campaign around the candidate contract strategy which will constitute a major thrust in an effort between now and the 2018 election to challenge centrist/neoliberal candidates, and promote genuinely progressive/populist campaigns.  The folks there integrated the candidate contracts, which they call CFARs -- Contract For American Renewal -- with what they call their leverage strategy.  Keep a keen eye out for some significant electoral activism from this excellent organization, of which I'm now a board member and contributor. ] 


[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]



Candidate Contracts: Weaponizing Populist Electoral Campaigns

Candidate Contracts: A Democratic Renewal

If you can handle my tinny, nasally mid-Western voice, the above video offers a detailed explanation on how candidate contracts take the guesswork out of voting and set a whole, new standard for electoral integrity in our country.  Or you can just read the entire text of the presentation, which follows here:

The candidate contract idea is simple and straightforward.

The candidate contract takes the guesswork out of voting.

It sets a new standard for deciding where a candidate stands on crucial issues, how serious that candidate is about solving problems which are important to us voters, how serious that candidate is about representing his or her constituents.  In fact, it sets down in writing what exactly that candidate will be doing when they arrive in Washington DC, right from Day One.

Every candidate says the right things.  They always say what they think the voters want to hear, the things that will get them elected.  Everyone understands this.

But talk is cheap.  And after they get elected, when these folks arrive in our nation’s capital and get inside that DC bubble, amnesia sets in.

How do I know?

That’s simple.  It’s so obvious anyone can see it.  You just have to look.

Just consider a few of these items.

63% of Americans want a federal minimum wage of $15.00 per hour.
That means more than 6 out of every 10 citizens want the minimum wage hiked to $15 per hour.  Mind you the minimum livable wage in urban areas like New York, San Francisco, Boston is over $22 per hour.  But $15 per hour would be a good start in the right direction. What is it now?  It’s equivalent in today’s dollars to what it was in 1950!  It’s a paltry $7.25 an hour.  It hasn’t increased since July of 2009.  That’s eight years ago!

75% of voters want fair trade agreements protecting jobs, workers, the environment.  75%! That’s a huge majority opposed to the trade bills which now give corporations enormous advantages, are responsible for exporting our jobs, destroying our unions, replacing good permanent employment with low wage temporary jobs.  Is Congress listening?  It doesn’t matter which party is in the Oval Office or even on Capitol Hill.  We still get NAFTA, CAFTA, TTIP, WTO.  Last year our pay-for-play legislators in the deep pockets of the multinational corporations fast-tracked TPP, the worst trade bill in history.  These neoliberal lapdogs won’t quit until we’re all back to being hunter-gatherers!
76% of voters want a cut back on military spending.  So what do we get next year?  Trump proposes an increase of $56 billion in the official defense budget with members of Congress from both parties cheering him on like a bunch of snarling pit bulls.

76% of voters want the U.S. completely out of Afghanistan.  We’ve been fighting that miserable pointless war for 16 years, folks!  They promised to get U.S. troops out of the country by 2014.  Now it’s 2017 and they’re putting more troops back in.  We’re going to be there forever!  For what?  To waste another $600 billion dollars and have more of our best and brightest come back in body bags?
79% of voters want no reductions in Social Security.  70% support expanding it.  79% of voters want no reductions in Medicare.  Here we have two of the most successful programs in our history, loved and supported by the people.  Yet every new session of Congress, there’s talk about cutting benefits, raising eligibility age -- slash slash slash.  Or they talk about “privatizing” it, which is doublespeak for turning it over to Wall Street so they can gamble with the money we’ve put away all our lives.  

It’s truly a crime!

There are many more.  So far I’ve just scratched the surface.

But there’s one last one I’ll mention that truly tells the story, that shows what a sad state of affairs our faltering democracy is in.  Get this: 93% of Americans want GMO labeling.  Mind you, they’re not saying GMOs must be banned.  They’re just saying that the labels for our processed food should say whether the product contains GMO ingredients or not, so that a shopper can make an informed judgment about whether they want to buy it — a mother who wants to be prudent in planning the diet for her kids, a person who may have severe food allergies which requires them to pay attention to the ingredients on a label.  93%!  That crosses all party lines, ideologies, religions, liberal, conservative, all ethnicities, visitors from outer space.  93%!  And Congress won’t pass a bill requiring GMO labeling.  That really says it all, doesn’t it?

Okay, we’ve got a range of different issues on the candidate contract we’ve prepared.  They are the things millions and millions of Americans want done — huge majorities of U.S. citizens.  As different as these items individually are, what do they all have in common?  You've got it!  NONE OF THIS GETS THROUGH OUR DEADBEAT CONGRESS!  Well, I shouldn’t say they’re deadbeat, because they’re not.  They are actually working hard to make sure none of these things gets passed, working hard not for you and I, but for their rich patrons, their deep-pocketed Wall Street donors, their Koch brothers and defense contractors, investment bankers and hedge fund buddies.

Like I said, candidates always say the right things.  Take minimum wage:  “I believe everyone deserves the right to make a decent living. This is the richest nation on earth. Every person deserves a good life.”  Sound familiar?  What’s he going to say? I think some folks should starve to death on slave wages?  Of course not.  But he used a lot of words to say nothing.  The candidate contract makes it a simple but powerful yes or no question: Will you commit in writing to raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour or not?  Yes or no.

So . . . all we’re saying to a candidate is this:  "We love your TV ads, you’ve got a lovely family, your t-shirts and bumper stickers look great!  But running this country is serious business.  So from now on, we want it in writing, in black-and-white, in a legally-binding contract what you will be doing to serve us, the folks who are sending you to your cushy job in Washington DC.  No ambiguity.  No compromise.  No equivocation.  We want it spelled out as an 'employment contract' and we are asking you to sign it.  We’re not forcing you.  It’s your choice.  It’s a straightforward deal here.  You sign the contract, you’ve got our vote.  You don’t sign the contract, we’re looking for a candidate who has the integrity, courage, and responsibility to sign it.  We’ll be voting for that person.  Understand this:  There’s no room for negotiation.  This is final!  That’s the way it works now."

You see, professional politicians have gotten spoiled.  They get so much attention, so much money, so many favors lavished on them once they get in office, they forget the most important single aspect of their job description:  THEY WORK FOR US!  We’re not casting votes for them to talk to lobbyists and rich campaign donors.  We’re casting our votes to have them go to DC and work on behalf of us, the people, the everyday Americans that make up 99% of the population.

Please. Just read the contract.  Everything in it is what at minimum 62% of us regular folks want done.  On many items, it’s even greater.  75%.  78%.  80% and above.  Right now those things aren’t getting done.  Year after year, our elected officials ignore the will of the people, the very citizens who vote them into office.  The candidate contract will make sure they start paying attention.

Here’s the simple truth.  Here’s what’s happening on the ground in real time right now in America.
Voters are tired of slick campaign rhetoric and empty campaign promises.  They’re fed up with a system that’s rigged.

They’re fed up with being left behind, forgotten by their elected officials.

They’re tired of everything getting done for Wall Street, the big banks, the corporations, the wealthy.

They’re fed up with nothing getting done for the PEOPLE — honest, hard-working everyday citizens.
Folks!  We need to DRAW A LINE IN THE SAND!

No negotiation.  No excuses.  No mercy.  No fear.

That’s exactly what the candidate contract does.  It lets us know exactly who’s on our side and who isn’t.

Okay, one last point:  People sometimes ask me, “What kind of candidate would sign such a contract?”

The answer to that is very simple:  A candidate who wants to win the coming election.  The contract spells out what the voters want by huge majorities.  Voters are sick and tired of compromises. They want the job done and want it done right.  Therefore, voters need to stand united and stand strong.  Vote only for candidates who are on their side, who will work for them!  And that being the case, the reason why a candidate should be running full speed with pen in hand to sign the contract is because they want to get elected and be sent to Washington DC to serve those who elected them honestly, faithfully, transparently.

Let me add some beautifully twisted logic to illustrate further why a candidate would want to sign this contract.

We all know there are some good people in politics, decent human beings who truly want to do the right thing.  But politics is often more about power, money, twisting arms, bullying, than about doing what’s good for the people.  So let’s say our candidate — who has signed the contract — arrives in Washington and right off the bat, there’s some lobbyist at his door.  The lobbyist gives his pitch, the typical let’s-see-what-we-can-do-here, the usual I’ll-scratch-your-back-if-you’ll-scratch-my-back blah blah blah.  He’s got some mega transnational corporation paying him big bucks to wax the slide with Congress and get some favorable legislation passed.  Well, here’s the beauty of the contract: Our guy, the one who got elected because he signed on the dotted line with you the voters, can say:  “Hey, I sure appreciate your coming in and talking to me about this.  But here’s the deal.  I’m under contract to my constituents.  I have no room to negotiate, no room to trade or bargain on any of this.  If I go against my constituents on this, I’ll be on the streets without this job, I’ll have to refund all my campaign contributions — and hey, the money is spent, how will I begin to do that? — and I’ll probably get my ass sued for more money than I’ll make in a lifetime.  So even if I wanted to go along with what you’re proposing, I have no choice.  I am legally-bound by contract to answer only to those who voted me into office.  Thanks for stopping by.  Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

See how this works?  See why this introduces an unprecedented level of honesty, transparency, integrity, back into voting?  Do you see why at least in terms of good, decent, honest politicians, we’re actually doing THEM a favor with this contract.

Okay, I’ve talked your ear off.  Let me wrap this up.

Yes, the candidate contract is a new innovation.  But it’s a necessary innovation.  Before there were cars, we didn’t need traffic lights.  Before big money and unprecedented concentration of wealth and power into the hands of a ruling elite, we didn’t need an enforceable contract with our elected officials.  Times change and we need to change with it.  Candidate contracts are the answer to the dismal state of our democracy. 

Granted, we have a lot of work to do to repair the mess we’re in.  But good work depends on good dependable workers.  Let’s put some real public servants in office who will serve the public, not just the rich and powerful. Let’s put some representatives in Congress who will represent everyday Americans, not Wall Street banks, corporate CEOs, not the incomprehensibly rich.  Let’s put some integrity back into our elections by electing only those with the integrity to sign on the dotted line, guaranteeing they will work for you in creating an America that works again for everyone.

---

Here is the link to look at the version of the candidate contract for a progressive running for the House of Representatives:  Candidate Contract - An American Renewal.

If you're interested in getting into the real details of an independent campaign using the candidate contract strategy -- and it is an entire electoral strategy, not just a slip of paper with some legalese -- I recommend reading the two books which got me noticed by the progressive activist groups now adopting the candidate contract for future campaigns.

 

"Candidate Contracts: Taking Back Our Democracy" was published in June of 2015 and is available worldwide from all the usual suspects:

Amazon (Kindle)  . . . amzn.to/1QJRiNZ
Amazon (Print) . . . amzn.to/1Cuq0du
Apple (iTunes) . . . apple.co/1BXnPcy
Barnes & Noble . . . bit.ly/1GpTTLq
Kobo (Indigo) . . . bit.ly/1OEI2xj
Smashwords . . . bit.ly/1B4DQCp
Direct from printer . . . bit.ly/1MGjDnN

 

"Fighting for the Democracy We Deserve" was published September 2015 and also is available both in every popular ebook format and as a deluxe paperback:

Amazon (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1VMf2Ft
Amazon (Print) . . . amzn.to/1L9SdIC
Apple (iTunes) . . . apple.co/1JD1YAg
Barnes & Noble . . . bit.ly/1ZUJUpn
Kobo (Indigo) . . . bit.ly/1IX6rO4
Smashwords . . . bit.ly/22PXWLf
Direct from printer . . . bit.ly/1i7ISFM

[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]



Candidate Contracts: A Democratic Renewal

An Open Letter to Dennis Kucinich on Peace in a Military State

I have talked to Dennis on the phone but it's been a while.  He personally sent me a copy of this speech.  Here's what I have to say about it -- an open letter.  I hope he gets it.

Dennis:

As is true to form, your speech is breathtaking in its scope and packed with everything we need to know about what is wrong with America's embrace of aggression and militarism.

Since I have nothing to lose, and you have everything to gain from my unsolicited critique, I'll just give it to you straight with both barrels.

Like EVERYTHING I see coming out of brilliant, recognized, widely-admired peace proponents like yourself, your message lacks TWO VITAL, GAME-CHANGING COMPONENTS . . .

1.  It doesn't speak to the masses, the 200 million Americans we need to reach to turn things around.
2. It offers no decisive solution to the gravest threat in the history of the world -- America's out-of-control military and addiction to war.

It's easy from the "inside" of the peace movement to think our message is valid and powerful.  It is valid in every respect, but unfortunately fails to persuade.  It fails to even get noticed by the vast majority of Americans.  The people we need to reach may not even know who Dennis Kucinich is, they're so dumbed-down and brainwashed.  They certainly don't know who Gareth Porter or David Swanson are.  So everything you well-meaning, articulate folks say is preaching to the choir.

Why do we need these people?  You said it yourself.  While you were in Congress, you made proposals, you argued, you reasoned, you made deals.  What happened?  You were brushed aside like dandruff.  Then you were railroaded out of Congress.

I don't know how you read this, but I know what the correct reading is.  THESE ASSHOLES WILL NEVER LISTEN!  THEY WILL NEVER EMBRACE PEACE!

Therefore . . .

THEY MUST BE REPLACED!  There has to be almost a clean sweep of Congress or the march to war and annihilation will continue.

THAT'S why we need 200 million people on our side.  It's that simple.

Are you offended yet?  Are you still reading this?

SO . . . any speech, any strategy, any campaign on behalf of peace, which does not include, 1) a message for the masses, and 2) a decisive strategy for removing the warmongers from power, will fail.  As long as the peace movement continues to delude itself about this, it will continue to go backwards.

I'm exhausted trying to get you to look at my Peace Dividend idea.  Thank goodness, a brilliant, passionate activist just made the case for me.  Here's John R. Hall's very recent article at The Greanville Post:  http://www.greanvillepost.com/2017/04/28/the-peace-dividend-a-time-to-take-dead-aim-and-attack/

Please read it.  Think about it.  I sincerely hope you want to talk more about this.  I'm still available.

You have my number.

John Rachel

---

 

The Peace Dividend: The Most Controversial Proposal in the History of the World is now available both as an ebook and deluxe paperback at many of the usual outlets . . .

Amazon (Kindle) / US . . . amzn.to/2cpIRfQ
Amazon (Print) / US . . . amzn.to/2cEhnCb
Amazon (Kindle) / Canada . . . amzn.to/2ciZKdl
Amazon (Kindle) / Japan . . . amzn.to/2cbf3TO
Barnes & Noble . . . bit.ly/2cWxvzd
Kobo (Indigo) . . . bit.ly/2cI8cB6
Apple iTunes . . . apple.co/2cqw7an
Smashwords . . . bit.ly/2cb6Cse
Direct from printer . . . bit.ly/2c3mJsl



[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]


An Open Letter to Dennis Kucinich on Peace in a Military State

Paying For The Peace Dividend

Understandably, the first reaction I get when I tell people we're going to get the U.S. government to refund to its citizens $4,826,000,000,000 is:  "What?  We can't afford that.  Our government is already in hock over $19 trillion and every year since 2000, we've been running a deficit."

Aside from the fact that the deficit spending -- which has been the focus of overwrought debates, ultimatums, government shutdowns, and a celebrated hand grenade tossed back and forth in the political blame game -- is both unnecessary and entirely intentional, the ultimate impact of the Peace Dividend is actually to remedy such fiscal irresponsibility.  The Peace Dividend refund drives a whole host of fundamental reforms which will over time help to put our financial house in order.  However, that's a topic for another blog.

The Peace Dividend is paid out over three years.  Thus, each year we have to come up with a little over $1.6 trillion each fiscal year.

Here's how we do it.  Here's how we raise a minimum of $1.6 trillion dollars each year . . .

$200 billion . . . cut from the official DOD budget.
$83 billion . . . cut from future Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria war budgets.
$45 billion . . . cut from homeland security agency budgets.
$32 billion . . . cut from the black budgets of the NSA and CIA.
$102 billion . . . raised from closing tax loopholes and taxing offshored money.
$469 billion . . . ending unnecessary and counter-productive corporate welfare.
$103 billion . . . raised by making corporations pay their fair share of taxes.
$400 billion . . . raising income taxes on the wealthiest to what they were in 1975.
$177 billion. . . raised from financial transaction tax on public trading.
$250 billion . . . raised by issuing domestic-use-only Peace Dollars.
$250 billion . . . raised issuing Peace Bonds for investing in a peaceful future.

I better slow down!  I'm already way over $2 trillion!

Now, as you all know, I'm not an economic analyst, a statistician, a financial wizard of any ilk.  Yet, I was able in broad strokes to demonstrate how simple it is to make the necessary adjustments.  Granted, my plan will have to be fine-tuned by acclaimed and self-anointed experts.  But before the proselytizers and pretenders armed with skepticism and hatchets subject us to their pompous, pedantic and patronizing pruning, just bear this in mind . . . 

 

The Peace Dividend is a refund due to American citizens.  That is a given.  Read my book.  It's all there.  I didn't make this stuff up.  The facts are clear.  American citizens have been the victims of the greatest rip-off of tax money in the history of the world.  They deserve -- and should demand, no excuses, no negotiation, no compromise -- a full refund.  No analysis can alter this reality.

Yes, it may be unprecedented.  It most certainly is controversial.  Traditionalists and those who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo -- because it keeps them wealthy and in the centers of power -- will declare it outrageous!  Insane!  Irresponsible!  Impossible!

But the the truth is, what is outrageous, insane, irresponsible, and impossible is to promote and pursue never-ending war, keep needlessly killing innocent people -- including our own fine young men and women in uniform -- continue to turn America into a pariah in the world community with the incessant bombing and support of terrorist proxies.  What's truly outrageous, insane, irresponsible, and impossible is spreading chaos, destruction and death, fomenting terrorist attacks and an unparalleled refugee crisis across the globe.  What's outrageous, insane, irresponsible, and impossible is the pursuit of a psychopathic agenda of imperial conquest, which has destroyed our democracy and imposed a vulgar, savage regime of fear here at home, in the form of the insidious and fraudulent War on Terror.  This madness must be stopped or America will crumble under the weight of its own hubris and delusions of grandeur.

The point here is a simple one.  What's not lacking here are the mechanics of finding and refunding the money.  What's lacking is the political will.  What's lacking is any sense of responsibility among our corrupt pay-for-play political leaders.  What's tragically lacking is the public awareness of how far out-of-control the situation is.  Were people to wake up to what's really going on with our military madness, imperial delusions of world empire, and ruthless oppression of everyday citizens under a systematic, propaganda-fueled, carefully crafted and entirely orchestrated regime of totalitarian control by a veritable handful of rich and powerful elites, heads would role! 

Maybe I'm naive, but I'm hoping it won't come to that.  With 300 million guns at hand, when things start getting violent, we can only expect a bloodbath to unfold.  My sincere hope is that the urgently required regime change is still possible non-violently.  We do this by replacing any uncooperative legislators with ones who understand that their obligations are first and foremost to their constituents, that being elected to represent us, implies that they actually will represent us, putting our welfare and the health of our families and communities ahead of all else.

I propose the Peace Dividend as a decisive test.  It's a line in the sand.

Either "they" are for it or against it.

It's how we decide who to vote for.  If a candidate won't support it -- by signing a legally binding contract to guarantee his or her support -- we find one who will.

The games are over.  The rich and powerful plutocrats have had a good run.  They've bled the country and its citizens dry.  Now it's payback time.

If the politicos who've created and perpetuated the mess we're in can't own up to the error of their way and fix the problem, beginning with proper redress in the form of a full refund of the money taken fraudulently from good, decent, hard-working Americans, then they are not serious about making the necessary changes, regardless of what they say.

Either they give us our money back, or they get their walking papers.

They do not deserve our support and will be removed -- unelected -- from office.

These soon-to-be ex-congressman and presidential hopefuls are very talented people.

I'm sure they'll do well on the comedy club circuit or selling time-shares in the Caribbean.


[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]


Paying For The Peace Dividend

“We want our money back!”

 

We have been ripped off!

We have been lied to, manipulated, and frightened into supporting the largest theft of our hard-earned taxpayer dollars ever __ easily the biggest heist in the history of the entire world.

If you buy a hair drier or a fruit blender at a store, then when you get home and find out it doesn't work, what do you do?  You go back and get a refund.

It's broken.

You deserve your money back.

Well . . . it's the same deal with wasteful government spending.

We paid our taxes in good faith. We trusted our political leaders to do the right things, to put it to good and proper use.

But they lied to us.

And we didn't just get a defective fruit blender or broken hair drier. We got defective wars, defective military equipment, defective leadership. We got a defective economy where only the rich do well and for the rest of us, it's broken.  The con artists we elected to office took our money, sometimes under false pretenses, and wasted it. We now have broken bridges, broken roads, broken schools, broken communities, broken homes!

In my previous two blogs, here and here, I railed against the enormous waste of taxpayer money on defense-industry profiteering, boondoggles, and the pursuit of unnecessary and fraudulent wars.

By my calculations, since 1992, over 24 years of bloated defense budgets resulting from bad foreign policy decisions, psychopathic delusions of world domination, two major wars, paranoid obsession with security which has trashed the Constitution and is well on its way to making America a police state, and pork barrel squandering of hard-earned taxpayer dollars, I came up with a total of $4.52 trillion entirely wasted.

$4.52 trillion, folks!

Look at this and try not to faint or have your head explode . . .
 
All this time, we regular Americans __ the ones that don't belong to country clubs __ could have used this money. 

If we had had this $4.52 trillion, we wouldn't be so far in debt, we wouldn't be struggling from paycheck to paycheck. We wouldn't have so many foreclosures and bankruptcies. We would have put this money to good use: Improving our homes and communities, properly feeding and clothing our kids, modernizing our schools.

Yes, we've been had. Big time!

And there it is in black-and-white __ with some green and purple thrown in for cheer.

Americans got a defective product. We were cheated and conned.

Now the bill has come due. 

$4,524,000,000,000!

This comes to $14,186 for every man, woman and child in America.

Or it means refunding $25,416 to each and every living person who filed a tax return in the last twenty-four years.

Either way you look at it, this money is due and payable . . . IMMEDIATELY!

And don't tell us the check is in the mail. We want to see some green!

Just load up all those MRAPs and other military trucks roaming around everywhere these days with some cash and start going house-to-house.

For the NSA clowns that are reading this blog and unconstitutionally spying on me, please do me a huge favor and pass along the above invoice to President Obama and Secretary of the Treasury, Jack Lew.  Please mark it 'Urgent'.  We expect to see some prompt action.

Write on the envelope . . .

You've had OUR MONEY long enough.
People are getting real IMPATIENT.
You stole it. Now give it back!

If this refund is not in the hands of every deserving American citizen very soon, I suspect a lot of people are going to get real testy.  I don't know how many pitchforks there are, but I do know there are over 300,000,000 guns floating around.

Just sayin'.

Yes, we want our country back.

Of course, we want our democracy back.

But for starters . . .

We want our money back!



[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]



“We want our money back!”

The Face of Courage

On September 18, 2001, the Authorization for Use of Military Force was signed into law  by President George W. Bush. It had passed 98-0 in the Senate and 420-1 in the House of Representatives. The one dissenting vote against the legislation that has sent this nation plunging into the abyss which we've been brainwashed into believing is a war on terror, was cast by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA).

This was the law that opened the floodgates for the attack on Afghanistan and the war in Iraq __ and torrents of blood spilled by tens of thousands of innocent people, torrents of death for over 6,000 of our own men and women in uniform, torrents of tears for more than 50,000 coalition troops who have been injured or who are fighting for their mental survival against PTSD or perhaps just struggling to walk without legs, a bankrupting torrential drain of $4.4 trillion of our tax money, which could have been put to good use creating jobs for millions of unemployed Americans, rebuilding America's crumbling infrastructure, or addressing poverty, disease, and illiteracy throughout the world.

Think of the courage it took for Barbara Lee to stand there before those other angry and agitated congressman, all of them swept up by war fever, outraged by the attacks 9/11, full of the indignity and hubris which is the real stuff of American exceptionalism, mesmerized by the animal cries for revenge and cheered on by the chest-thumping neocon visions of Imperium Americæ . . .

Think of the bold, raw courage it took to stand there in the midst of that stampeding pack of lemmings who were resolved to launch America into the past 11 years of self-sabotaging, wasteful, inhumane, immoral, destructive, and humiliating war we've endured, and say . . .

"Maybe we should stop and think about what we're doing before we jump off this cliff."

Did Barbara Lee have a crystal ball? Was her one dissenting vote the result of clairvoyance or a personal message from God or the ghost of Nostradamus?

No, it was simply a matter of conviction. Conviction perhaps rooted in the Christian values we so loudly proclaim in our moments of lofty rhetoric. We are a Christian nation, right?

As she warned . . .

"Let us not become the evil that we deplore."

And what about that?

 Have we?


[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

This is what our brave soldiers are dying for in Afghanistan . . .

 

When remembering and honoring our brave men and women in uniform who have given their lives and continue to die in Afghanistan __ American and coalition deaths now exceed 3000 __ it is important to know what they are dying for.

For a full-size, more legible map, please click here.

Do you think the corporations who will be extracting the precious minerals, coal, gas and oil, and banks like JP Morgan Chase who are underwriting this monumental plundering, will share with the families of the deceased the gargantuan profits they will be making?   Or give assistance to the tens of thousands maimed in the war or suffering PTSD?

I doubt it.

They won't even send flowers.


[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]