Forum Post: Occupy Reality Through Practical Action

[-] 1 points by bensdad (8977) 12 years ago

Do you want what you want ?
Words are not enough !
ARE YOU READY TO ACT ?

“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 pro-slavery attackers – 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 – T.H.I.S I.S W.H.A.T W.O.R.K.E.D !

The Most Powerful Office In The World - Is NOT The President of the United States! 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. 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.

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 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.

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. 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 are elected every two years by the Precinct Committeemen 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. 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.

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. 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 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”