Forum Post: Do you want what you want ? Words are not enough ! ARE YOU READY TO ACT ?
Posted 12 years ago on Dec. 20, 2011, 6:52 p.m. EST by bensdad
(8977)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
“Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it”
The “new” Russian revolution – got them the freedom of Putin and the rise of a capitalist oligarchy
The American Civil War – lost by the attackers who wanted to keep slavery legal – cost 620,000 lives and failed.
The original Russian Revolution in 1917 gave them a military dictatorship
The French revolution took 11 years and gave them the guillotine, Napoleon and kings.
The (mostly ) non-violent anti-Vietnam war movement, operating in the streets took 11 years.
The civil rights movement, operating mostly with the people, took decades and still is not “completed”.
The Arab Spring has given the Egyptians a change of generals .
The Iraq war, at a cost of 4,500 Americans and 100,000 Iraqis got them a new dictator in training
“Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it”
We have exactly ONE really solid , timely success story.
In less than four years, without any violence,
it stopped Medicare for all,
it stopped taxing the rich,
it stopped taxing the corporations,
it stopped prosecuting the bankers,
it stopped prosecuting the war criminals,
it stopped prosecuting the corporate criminals,
it stopped a modern CCC and WPA,
it stopped the closing of Gitmo,
it suppressed union rights,
it shut down abortion clinics ,
it shut down Acorn,
it instituted dozens of voter suppression laws.
Which revolutionary model do you think we should use to attain our goals?
Where is our path to victory?
With proven failure?
OR
With proven success?
“Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it”
What follows is NOT my original work –
IT IS DIRECTLY FROM THE TEA PARY BLUEPRINT
that hijacked the Republican Party:
WE HAVE THE PROOF – THIS IS WHAT WORKED !
Great stuff, thank you for posting this..
The Most Powerful Office In The World - Is NOT The President of the United States! Now wait a minute. Isn't the President of the United States the leader of the Western World, the man with his hand on the nuclear trigger, the head of a ten-trillion dollar nation? The President is, indeed, the most powerful man in the world - but the presidency is not the most powerful office in the world. Another office is more powerful - because it chooses whose names will appear on the ballot for elective office and what will be the policies of the political parties that provide the major support for those candidates. To understand why this office is so powerful, you must understand the Seven Steps of government.
1. To change things, you have to change the law.
Are there things about our country you want to change? Taxes? Schools? Regulations? Are you satisfied with the way the present Congress is spending our money, and reducing our liberties? Our Constitution makes Congress the most powerful branch of government. It can pass laws, impose taxes, and spend our money. State Legislatures are powerful, too, especially over public schools. So, if you don't like the present policies, what are you going to do about it? Our Constitution gives us a way to remedy laws, policies, and taxes — members of the House of Representatives in Congress and the lower house of each State Legislature must run for office every two years.
2. To change the laws, you have to change the people who make them.
Congress and the State Legislatures pass thousands of laws every year. No citizen or group can possibly read them all, research them to find out their effect in advance, or alert their friends to go into action with letter-writing and phone-calling. If you want to change the laws or taxes, you must elect representatives you can reliably count on to vote for Americans!
3. To be elected, your candidate must be on the ballot.
How often have you voted for "the lesser of two evils" when you didn't like either of the two candidates running for an important office? Have you ever wondered why, despite the rhetoric, both candidates seem to back the same pro-business pro-1% pro military?
4. To get on the ballot in a general election, you have to be nominated for an office in a Party Primary Election or Convention.
The winners in the Party Primary or Convention will be the candidates who appear on the ballot in November. Except in very rare cases, all candidates must first win a Party Primary or Convention. Write-in campaigns are theoretically possible, but they rarely succeed. Third-party candidates are theoretically possible, but unless a candidate has as much money as Ross Perot, running as a third-party candidate probably won't be successful and the votes may not even be counted or reported.
5. Candidates endorsed by the Party usually win the Primary Election.
Most voters don't investigate the Primary candidates, or even find out who they are. Sometimes, many candidates run in the Primary for nomination to the same office and the voters are confused. Only a small minority of Americans vote in Primary elections. One of the reasons for the small turnout in Primary elections (in addition to voter apathy) is that you usually must declare yourself a member of one Party or another in order to vote in the Primary. Most Americans don't want to do that. The result is that persons nominated to be the candidate on the ballot in the general election are chosen by those who are willing to declare themselves in the Primary or Convention that selects the nominees. Sometimes the Party organization actually "endorses" candidates in the Primary Election. Many voters who don't know much about the candidates vote for the "endorsed" candidate just because they are disposed to support that Party's candidate.
6. Primary endorsements are often made by the Party's "County Committee"
which is elected by the Precinct Committeemen of the Party. Each political party has national state, county, township, and (in the big cities) ward organizations (usually called committees or central committees). The county and township committees frequently endorse candidates in the Primary, and that endorsement is often the key to a Primary victory. The county chairman and the county central committee (or executive committee) are elected every two years (usually) by the Precinct Committeemen (sometimes called Precinct Chairmen) who, in turn, are elected in their individual precincts. Thus, the Chairman of the County Central Committee is elected at a county convention of the more than County Precinct Committeemen who were themselves elected on the ballot in the previous Primary Election. It's not necessary to have a majority of Precinct Committeemen to influence the endorsement process. In a typical county, some will be liberals and some conservatives, but the majority will be Party Regulars who are interested in patronage and power, not issues. They can be influenced to support your candidate if you can persuasively show that he has a good chance to win. For Party Regulars, winning is the name of the game.
7. It's easy to be elected a Precinct Committeeman.
The way you get elected a Precinct Committeeman is usually very simple. In a typical state, you can call your county clerk and get the necessary forms, get ten of your friends to sign a Petition requesting that you be on the ballot in the Primary as a candidate for Precinct Committeeman, and file the Petition by the required date. Then you walk around your precinct, knock on one door after another, and say, "I would appreciate it if you would vote for me for Precinct Committeeman. You will find me on the ballot in the Primary election on Tuesday, _." If you win you are the elected Precinct Committeeman for your precinct. Of course, if your precinct already has a good Precinct Committeeman who is doing his job, he may not take kindly to you as an upstart and he may defeat you. You should find out the situation before making your decision. However, a typical county may have dozens of precincts without any Precinct Committeeman because no one has bothered to run. It is sometimes easy to be appointed to one of these positions by calling your Party Chairman. Many precincts have do-nothing Committeemen who can easily be defeated because they don't do their job.
To change things, we must change the laws.
To change the laws, we must change the people who make them.
To get elected, your candidate must be on the ballot.
To get on the November ballot you must win the Primary.
To win the Primary, you must get the support of people who make endorsements in the Primary, who reliably vote in the Primary, and who get out the vote of others in the Primary. Those people are the Precinct Committeemen.
Therefore, Precinct Committeeman is the most powerful office in the world because Precinct Committeemen determine who gets the chance to be elected to office at every level of government. Remember, if your candidate is not on the ballot, he will not be elected. Party rules and titles vary widely from state to state, but usually the two parties in a given state use the same system.
Duties of the Precinct Committeeman :
The Precinct Committeeman is the person who is legally charged with getting out the vote on election day. If he does his job well, he will ring the doorbell of every household in the precinct and ask polite questions to find out the Party and other political views of every voter. (That's called canvassing.) Then, before each election, the Precinct Committeeman will personally deliver campaign literature (such as a marked sample ballot) to every voter who is expected to vote for your Party or candidate. Then the Precinct Committeeman makes sure that all his voters get to the polls on election day. This is the way elections are won.
Powers of the Precinct Committeeman
Friendly access to neighbors. Most people are eager to know more about their government and the people who run it. When you introduce yourself as their "Precinct Committeeman," they assume you have something to say. You can provide them with information on candidates and issues. Of course, you don't waste your time on those who would rather get their information from the Precinct Committeeman of the other Party.
Respect from elected officials. Since a Precinct Committeeman represents, on average, 500 voters, and has the power to vote for other Party officials and to make endorsements of candidates, any call or letter from a Precinct Committeeman gets the attention of elected officials.
Launching pad for other offices. You would be amazed at how many of our Presidents, Senators, Congressmen, and state and local officials started as Precinct Committeemen, and still serve as Precinct Committeemen even though they hold a higher elected office. That's because they know the power of a Precinct Committeeman.
Direct influence over Party Platform, policies, and selection of candidates. At state, district, county, and township caucuses and conventions, the Precinct Committeeman is an active player. He can have a tremendous influence on the adoption of the Party Platform and policies, support of or opposition to issues, and selection of candidates.
“Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it”
In less than four years, without any violence, THEY DID IT -
I agree that grassroots political power can and does win elections. Astroturf is even better since there's money to be made. The focusing on elections that are toss ups, and outside funds/activists pays off. I'd like to know how to look into the local political scene, if only to know the power structure. I'm in a state that gets loads of out of state funding for campaigns, but my district almost none. Perhaps that might be an advantage, but more likely a sign that it's a no contest situation.
tea party is a bunch of old white fellas, with a smattering of nancies who dress themselves up in stockings and stuff. underneath the powdered wigs and the makeup, tho, you can tell they're just transsexual old white fellas
This was good thread, especially for the comment on the top. Its worth reading again.
Which revolutionary model do you think we should use to attain our goals? we should be using a unique revolutionary model. like half liberal, half social model. make like "flat" rate tax for different kind rich people. In my vision it may take 10 -30 years to switch up. no, no violent
I think we should use the model that worked in four years.
The right-wings beliefs may be completely repulsive but their political strategists are the best money can buy. I think we should use their tactics against them, as proposed here, and also keep up the demonstrating and whatever other techniques we have to apply pressure. I simply don't understand the either/or way of thinking about these things. I think it is really self-defeating.
THANK YOU for affirming my sanity
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This is why I changed my mind about OWS needing a politically expierenced leader. If we don't find one, I think we will be beaten by the more practical hired guns of the Republican Party. There is too much divissiveness and entrenchment where the needs to to expansion and inclusiveness. I particularly find the constant villifying of the Democrats as counter-productive. Have the Democrats become corrupt? Certainly a lot of them have, but we have a TWO party system in this country, which means anyone who has wanted to be involved in progressive politics has had no alternative to the Democratic Party. Therefore, it should be clear that a great number of Democrats aren't corrupt, and that all this anti-Democratic talk is cutting us off from our primary base of support. If we are politically unsophisticated enough to not see this than we need a politically sophisticated leader to keep this movement from fragmenting and becoming marginalized. This seems to be a rather straightforward observation. A lot of this Democrat bashing is coming from trolls, and for obvious reasons.
The Tea Party is full of nothing but hot air. Their message is "I want to keep more" and has nothing to do with justice. That's why OWS was so easily able to push them off the stage. If OWS is going to stay relevant, we can't bend to the authorities. We have to organize more marches. Let's have a worldwide day of massive people's marches!
You cant be serious
OWS is not about stages - it is about results
The tea party may be full of hot air and s
but their political takeover worked
Well the Tea Party movement is dying out because it embraced capitalism w/o limits, thus when OWS got big with the corporate media, the Tea Party lost their spotlight. If OWS is not going to go down the same path then we need to organize with new tactics- marches, demonstrations, sit-ins.
I dont give a S about the tp and their delusions
I care about their SUCCESSFUL method
We know w hat works - we should use it to attain power
and then achieve OWS goals
What you should do is opt out of the entire system and let it go to hell on its own. Start your own egalitarian self-sufficient community and set about improving your own life, the life of the people you live with and those who live in your community by improving the lives of the living organisms of the land and waters and air. By improving the IMMEDIATE greater environment you live is, that environment will improve you.
By concentrating only upon what you can do positively in your own area: you effectively nullify any need or desire to 'change the world' and you will lose all interest in such an absurd ambition, and your will be doing fine while everywhere else, the negative systems are falling down and failing.
Stop worrying about everyone else's problems: worry about yourself and your own problems and deal with them intelligently.
Wow, Turak, that is actually a thoughtful post. No need for meds tonight. :-)
I've been saying the same thing for over 1 month. You t just woke up and realized this? Small self-sufficient egalitarian communities are the only alternative to a centralized system of global corruption, oppression and evil.
You try to pretend that I who am the most sane and rational person on this forum need to take medication. For that: you are excommunicated. You will follow me around like the little fucking sheep you are, and you will be spat upon and ignored.
That's more like it. There's the Turak we know and love.
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