The People Still Have Power Part II

In short, the power goes where ever your money flows. You can not send your money to any political party without sending your power there with it. So stop sending your power to political parties of, by and for themselves and begin to use your money to affect real change. I'll attempt to discuss why one individual was supposed to have the power to make a difference and how they still can.

Part II is all about what to do after you have successfully retrieved your power from the parties and prepare to get more directly involved in the process of deciding the future of your country. Before I lay out the specifics, I want to give you a bit of history on the subject.

at the formation of our country, through the constitutional convention and ratification of our union, and for a short period thereafter, there were no political parties in america. There were only individual candidates. But there were two fundamental competing ideas for how america as a nation should develop within the framework set up by the founders. Those two competing ideas still exist today, though all political parties have worked to blur the lines between them.

These two competing interests were defined back then as between Federalists, those who sought one centralized power vested in a federal government ruling over subservient states, and anti-Federalists, those who sought individual, local and states rights, limiting the size, scope and power of any central government, which would be subservient to the states and local communities. The anti-Federalists first adopted the political party name Democratic-Republicans, later shortened to just Republicans. The anti-Federalist view is represented by the conservative base in america today, though many modern Republicans are in fact Federalists, and many Democrats who believe in anti-Federalist principles, still vote Democratic.

The 1796 election which brought to power Federalist President John adams and Democratic-Republican Vice President Thomas Jefferson changed everything. The absurdity of a competing two headed administrative monster resulted in the Twelfth amendment ratified in 1803, which led to the creation of two competing caucuses that would later become the two primary political parties we have today.

The Federalist caucus was identified by original members John adams, Charles Pinckney, DeWitt Clinton and Rufus King. The Democrat-Republican caucus was identified by original members Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe.

after a string of Federalist Party defeats, the Federalist caucus ceased to exist nationally in 1820. The country was very pro-individual liberty and heavily anti-Federalist then. It wouldn't be until 1832 that the Federalist Party would form again. This time, it would operate under the name Democratic Party as the anti-Federalist party now operated under the name Republican Party.

This history is important because of how the lines have since been blurred. Though both parties enjoyed vigorous debate over varying views among their own party members, the fundamental line between the two visions for america (federalists/Democrats vs. anti-federalists/Republicans) remained largely intact through the 1800's into the early 1900's. It was the advent of the Great Depression that would begin the blurring of this fundamental line between the two parties.

Today, both parties have a long Federalist history of growing the size, scope and power of the federal government, which in turn has diminished the power, freedom and liberty of the individual, the local community and the state.

Less than a hundred years ago, our federal government was seen by most americans as only a necessary evil that must be limited in size, scope and power, not to interfere with the individual freedoms and liberties of the people, and to operate at the will of those people in limited fashion.

The Great Depression brought about a different view among many americans. For the first time in our nation's history, the federal government would be viewed as the central power through which all issues could be remedied. Since then, our federal government has grown under every administration and both political parties to become the 10 trillion pound ape that it is today.

Neither party has shrunk the size, scope or power of the federal government since. Today, we gasp for air beneath the suffocating weight of a runaway federal government and its debt spending habits that have taken us to the brink of the poor house. The federal budget has only been balanced twice in the last 60 years, both times by a Republican congress. Yet even then, the federal government continued to grow, consuming more and more private resources, gaining more and more political power, independence and distance from its constituents along the way.

The golden rule never fails to apply--he who controls the gold, makes the rules. Today, the federal government controls most of the gold (resources) in this nation and via the two primary political powers - they make the rules by which the rest of us must live.

Before we can fix a problem, we must properly identify that problem as well as the source of that problem. Federalism is the problem and we the american people, are the source of that problem. Political pandering only works when it panders to the desires of an adoring audience. Free stuff is always a crowd pleaser. But it comes at the expense of freedom and there's the problem.

That's the bad news… The good news is, as the source of that problem, we are also the solution.

at this point, our money (power) is funding the independent operations of both parties, functioning only in their own self interests. They choose the political nominees we will elect. They control the issues and the policy platforms. They control the flow of information to the general public and thereby, public opinion, sentiment and public reaction. Opinion polls are taken only after the public sentiment has been conditioned through information, to give the desired response.

Through these means, the parties have successfully focused the nation upon their agenda for continued party power, via their propensity for slicing and dicing the nation up into nice neat little issue driven voting blocs, much easier to pander to. Of course, all of this is at the expense of individual power, freedom and liberty.

The point is--how do we undo the damage we have done by trading our individual rights and responsibilities for the bogus collective bargaining chip of party power, which now operates independently of those who fund it?

Easy, two simple steps, with lots of possibilities.

Step one, take away their collective power--take away their funding. Step two--redirect those funds and more if necessary, to more productive uses.

I can't help but use Hillary Clinton's New York Senate campaign, because it offers the best modern example. Hillary Clinton was not, is not and will never be a New Yorker. So how did she get to be the junior Senator from New York?

In a word--Hollywood. Most New Yorkers did not and still don't support Hillary Clinton. a recent poll shows that roughly 60% of all New Yorkers would never support Hillary for President under any circumstances. Slightly better than the nation wide number that indicates almost 70% would never support her for President.

However, the power goes where the money flows. Nobody in US history has ever raised more money for a senate campaign than Hillary Clinton did. The vast majority of that money did not come from New Yorkers however. It came mostly from Hollywood, California. In short, Hollywood liberals bought Hillary her seat in New York.

Now for the record, I believe that state office candidates seeking to represent state constituents' interests in Washington should be limited to funding from real live resident constituents of the state they seek to represent. The fact that this is not the case shows just how perverted our system of self-governance has become.

But when in Rome… What's good for the ole nasty goose is good for conservatives too.

Don't misunderstand. I am talking about a legal constitutional means of solving our own problem here. There are not two sets of rules, but one set which applies to both parties. Within those rules, California bought Hillary a New York Senate seat and they will attempt to buy her the White House in 2008.

The second best example of this power is new Governor John Corzine of New Jersey, who recently bought his own Senate seat with some $60 million from his own checkbook, with less than 1% of his campaign budget coming from anyone other than himself. See what I'm getting at?

Now imagine conservatives all over this nation taking the money they once sent to the Republican Party, picking a handful of Washington senate or house seats that need to be liberated from either socialist democrat or RINO control, and focusing all of our independent energies nationwide on just those few seats. Not only could we affect immediate change in the complexion of those houses and the policies they establish, but we could affect change in how politicians do business with the american people.

Somewhere out there are good, honest, decent, real conservatives who love this country as much as you and I. These people don't run for office right now because they can't win office without selling out their principles to gain funding from the Party. The same is true for the Democratic Party. There are some good "Truman" Democrats around out there who would love nothing better than to run off the anti-america socialist snobs currently running their party.

In both cases, focusing individual energies outside of the two powerhouse parties, even defeating party chosen candidates in some cases with our own candidate for the seat, will bypass the party filter system responsible for keeping our options few and unattractive.

It will also cause real conservatives seeking to help return the Republican Party to its anti-Federalist roots, to step forward and toss their hat in the ring, people who would never otherwise step forward in the current sewer system the parties have evolved into.

Best of all, it would only take a few such victories against the party establishments before they will get the message that they have been acting on their own against our will for far too long.

Individually backing real conservative candidates seeking to make change, regardless of district or state, will serve as notice that american conservatives are willing to get their hands dirty to make change and that the power really does still rest with the people, not with the politicians or the two runaway party powers.

It sounds too simple, I know. That's because our founders made it simple and they instructed us what to do when inevitably, the government would forget to represent the will of the people it is obligated to represent. They even established the mechanisms through which to do it.

Some of those mechanisms have since been perverted. But still, the rules apply to both sides and if California can seat a New York Senator, or a New Jersey businessman can buy his own seat in the US Senate, then we can use the same tools to remove both socialist Democrats and liberal Republicans from office by getting behind real conservative challengers where ever the opportunities exist.

But there is one thing the founders could not do for us. Having the power and the means to affect change is one thing, but having the courage, the guts and the willingness to accept the responsibility of real self-governance is quite another.

The People Still Have the Power, and the means. Do they still have the guts and the foresight?

I feel compelled to serve specific notice to my friends considering third party alternatives. Replacing a liberal Republican with a socialist's democrat is not progress. It's disastrous. Third party candidates assure the victory of opposition candidates. Rats jump ship… americans save their ship and their mates.

www.RealConservatives.com will spotlight specific individual opportunities ripe for such a change in the 2006 mid-term races. Don't be silent just because your local seats are secure. Find conservative candidates somewhere else to directly support. Individual americans making independent choices and using their personal power to affect change is what freedom is all about.

Use it or lose it… Check in at (www.RealConservatives.com) for updated information on all national races. Send info of interest from your neck of the woods. Together we can restore america.