Forum Post: Occupy Washington and Regain Congress for the People

I wholly support the Occupy Wall Street movement, and wish I could be there with the protesters. Wall Street has taken advantage of our government, our legislation, our elected leaders, and the people of the United States. That said, I feel that the only way to truly solve this and regain control of the government from the wealthy is to utilize our power at the voting booth. We still have that, and with the accessibility of communication and media today, I think we can elect a candidate that isn't bought and paid for. I'm talking about every level of government, from local office to the presidency. All forms of bribery by corporations, from campaign contributions to lobbying, have to be eliminated from the picture before we can have elected officials that are truly looking out for the people again. So I propose a new movement; one where we all pledge to only vote for candidates that do not accept money. Period. From anyone. Let's all vow to only support candidates that run a campaign on Facebook, on YouTube, and other forms of free social media. No TV advertisements, no jetting across the country to debates; let's make these people sell themselves to us for who they really are. The obvious answer is that it's impossible to run a campaign on no money, but I say that we, the people, have the power to change that. Let's start a movement pledging to only vote for candidates that received no money form any individual or entity to run. Let's do the research on them ourselves, let them reach out to us through free methods. If we're open to a campaign that's run on honesty, not money, then true candidates will present themselves. Let's tell Congress right now that we will not elect anyone who is lobbyed or takes campaign contributions. Let's all pledge to take the time to get to know potential candidates without them having to spend millions of dollars to start smear campaigns and throw tv ads in our faces. Let's take back the Congress of the Unites States of America and make sure our representatives in DC are actually working for us, not for themselves. Then, and only then, will we be able to re-implement regulatory legislation that will keep Wall Street in check. Anyone with me?