Forum Post: Fear Us!

Politicians needs to fear us (...the American voting public) more than they fear each other, their chosen party, and most importantly big corporations and special interests.

This movement should be about mobilizing support around a set of simple ideals and then holding our elected officials accountable for addressing them with the threat of not re-electing them if they fail to deliver. Obama shouldn't get another 4 years because he has failed us...the 33 senators (democrats and republicans) up for re-election should not be re-elected...and all congressmen should not be re-elected.

It will take a few election cycles for them to get the message, but we can't keep rewarding them with long-term jobs while so many of the people in this country are struggling. And they're all guilty...I voted for Obama, but will not vote for him again...I don't care who the alternative is...Debbie Stabenow? not get my vote in '12. John Dingell? I will vote for his republican challenger even though I will probably not like everything he has to say. Why? Because the guy has served 29th term!!! I'm willing to give a new president, senator, and congressman a chance regardless of their ideology. And if stuff is still f'd up in 2014 I'll vote for another congressman and another Senator (Calr Levin up in '14). And if stuff is still f'd up in 2016 I'll vote for another congressman and another president.

We're all kidding ourselves if we think it's going to change...they take our votes for granted based on geography and demographics.

As far as ideals go...we need to lower unemployment, stop spending more than we take in (...just please walk away from Iraq and Afghanistan), get rid of personal and corporate tax loopholes and credits (child tax credit? if you can't afford to raise kids then don't have them)...every dollar I earn should be taxed the same, whether it's my 1st one or my billionth one...whether I earned it making $7/hr at McDonalds or as dividends from my investment portfolio. That last part is an important part...nobody has a legitimate bitch if everyone is being taxed the same for every dollar they earn, regardless of how they earned it.

We need to create a level playing field and remove the class warfare arguments if we're going to move forward...rich people have a gripe when they see folks less fortunate than them paying a smaller percent in taxes, sometimes no tax...and less fortunate folks have a gripe when they see rich folks take advantage of loopholes and favorable tax rates on investments.

And the only way this all gets fixed is if our elected officials FEAR US!