By J.B. Williams
Saturday, March 10, 2007
For several years now, I have been researching the American political landscape and writing columns about the current condition of our nation and the election process that pretends to guide our national agenda. And for years, I have been paying close attention to reader mail from across the country and around the globe, from the far left to far right and everywhere in between.
There has been one common sentiment across the board and one lingering question rising out of that sentiment and the time has come to provide a specific coherent detailed answer to that question.
The one common sentiment --Nobody on earth trusts Washington DC or any of the people who work there today. While the two primary political parties pretend to divide the trust of the American people and our friends around the world, the truth is, neither party currently enjoys the trust or support of the American people or the world. The reasons for this should be obvious.
Washington DC has been working for its own agenda at odds with pretty much every American and every nation for decades now and both parties have proven themselves completely untrustworthy. Neither party is worse than the other, but together, all of Washington DC is indeed a culture of personal greed and corruption today.
Before I waste time repeating myself, there are four previous columns that will give you vital insight as to what I am about to tell my fellow conservatives, my fellow Americans for that matter, in this column. You would be well advised to review each of them in connection to this column.
I realize that this exercise requires a lot of reading, but we are talking about the future of our nation here. If you can't find a few minutes to do a little reading, stop asking what's wrong with our nation and how to fix it. Sit back and watch it all go up in flames and start looking for a new country to raise your children in because this one won't be fit to raise them in soon.
One lingering question --How did America (Washington DC) get so far off track and what can I (we) do to fix it?
Before I provide you with the very simple solution to this seemingly insurmountable problem, allow me to point out why it seems insurmountable to begin with and then explain what won't work as a solution.
Why does this problem seem so complex and insurmountable?
In short, it's because you and I have been lied to. We have been systematically taught that we have no power, no say in the workings of our government and we have been provided plenty of examples that this is true, that our federal government operates completely independent of the people it is supposed to represent.
The proof that our government is operating independent of those it must represent is overwhelming. The lie is that it must remain this way.
Democrats are being told that they must elect Hillary Clinton not because she is qualified or even a decent person, but because she is a female and it's time America elect a female. If not Hillary, then they must elect Barack Obama, again not because he is qualified, he's a rookie. But because he's half black and it's time America elect a real black man President.
Likewise, Republicans are being told that they must elect Rudy Giuliani, not because he is qualified, but because he is a national hero from 9/11 and as such, he is electable. If not Giuliani, then McCain. Again, not based on qualifications or even conservative values, which neither of these candidates share, but because he's a war veteran who paid his dues and waited his turn.
In all cases, it's complete utter nonsense. None of these people are imminently qualified to be the leader of the free world and it's high time we stop pretending that they are.
What won't work and why you are being told that it will...
You are being told that these things will work because keeping you focused on these suicide missions will keep you from figuring out the real solution. The list of solutions that won't work is long, but I only need to address the top three most popular suicide solutions in order to be effective in providing a workable solution to this very simple problem.
1) The national party committees will NOT solve the problem. They ARE the problem.
When average American voters became too busy with their own lives to directly engage in the process of self-governance and began sending their money (read as power) to national committees under the false pretense that those committees would use that power in their best interests, they forfeited their individual political power and were from that moment forward at the mercy of party leadership. The committees would now use that power to dictate candidates and platforms in its own political self interests, often at odds with those who were funding them. You can no longer send your money (read as power) to those committees, period!
2)PAC's and 527 groups will NOT solve the problem, they too ARE the problem.
Soft money is an enormous problem in our system of self-governance today, more than ever in history despite alleged attempts like McCain-Feingold to end the practice. Soft money is campaign funding from sources other than individual campaign donors. There are no limits to how much money a PAC or 527 organization can invest in a political candidate or party and no limit as to where that money is coming from or what favors are expected in return. Foreign money, often even from Americas enemies, is funneled into US campaigns through these front groups and foreign interests are being served as a result. All soft money, including PAC's and 527 groups MUST be shut down and put out of business. We MUST limit who can contribute to political campaigns and know at all times where that money is coming from and where it is going. (We must also stop the practice of interstate funding of state office campaigns. If the people of a state won't support a candidate for state office with their money, why should that candidate win the election because of their ability to raise money outside of that state? We must also stop the practice of wealthy candidates purchasing their own seat in congress.)
I challenge anyone to tell me what political party is willing to cut themselves off from all of this money? Yet before it can happen, we will have to elect people who are willing to pass and adhere to such laws.
3)Third Party alternatives will NOT solve the problem, they too ARE the problem.
Out of justifiable voter frustration, it has become increasingly popular to consider third party alternatives as a means of circumventing the notable corruption and arrogance of the two primary parties. However, there is no avoiding the suicidal consequences of a multi-party system which insures minority control of our nation and its agenda. Simple math should convince any true American patriot that third party options which hope to rule by a 34% minority or less is NOT a healthy option for a nation supposed to be governed of, by and for the majority. Third party options must be ruled out. This forces us to focus on fixing what is wrong with the two parties instead of hoping to avoid confronting the problems. And people need to get real in this regard. If we lack the power to reform our own party, we are kidding only ourselves to think we have the power to form, grow and control a replacement party. Politics itself breeds corruption and greed. No party will be exempt.
Enough said about what won't work. What will work is much simpler and easier than most people can imagine at this point in time. As was intended by our founders, the cure is simple and in the hands of the people, not the politicians.
ONLY the people have the power to fix what's wrong in this nation. Here's the simple three step answer to the trillion dollar question...
Step 1 --Accept personal responsibility for how we got here and welcome personal responsibility for how we must get out of here.
We the people allowed Washington DC to become what it is today, a cesspool of personal greed and corruption run by power-hungry egomaniacs. Freedom is untidy, inconvenient and wholly unacceptable to egomaniacs that would simply rather dictate to adoring subjects. Politicians are corrupt by nature and there isn't an American alive who doesn't inherently know this. Yet day after day, we pretend that the right politician will one day appear and solve all of our problems for us. The founders knew better and the American people must be reminded that only they have the power and the desire to right what's wrong with this nation. NO politician will do it unless forced to by the people. The people have the power. They need to accept the responsibility of that power and learn to use it again.
Step 2 --If money is power (and in politics it is), then no money is no power!
At present, the two primary parties via their national committees control all the political power in this nation and they use that power to operate independent of the people they are supposed to represent, often at odds with the desires of those people. But there power is limited to the money they control. If they have no money, they have no power. To remove them from their position of power over the people, we must remove the money that provides them that power. We must stop donating to ANY of the national committees. We must also stop allowing individual candidates who we donate to directly, to turn around and give that money to the committees and we must remove the money from the PAC's and 527 groups who also turn around and fund those committees. To cut off their power over the people, we must simply cut off all of their funding. The power rests not only in our individual votes, but in the money we invest.
Sending money to the national committees is like investing in a blind mutual fund where someone else gets to decide what stocks to purchase on your behalf. Over the years, both parties have proven themselves incapable of making good decisions with our money. So it's time to withdraw from those funds and invest directly.
Step 3 --Now that you have taken your power back, use it wisely!
Up to this point, everything I've said applies to Americans of all political persuasions. From here on, as a conservative, I am talking to fellow conservatives although the principles would still apply to those across the political divide.
Now that you have your power back, you must not sit idle and you must not waste that power. Invest in the future of your country and invest wisely!
If you want to keep getting the same results, simply keep doing the same things you've been doing. But if you are on board with me up to here, pay close attention to what I'm about to tell you.
It does not matter what method you use to divide your collective power, whether between Republican candidates or third party alternatives. If you divide your collective conservative power now, which is easily done if people are choosing who to invest in directly, then you will defeat yourselves.
This means that conservatives must unite. True conservatives are married to the fundamental principles that make American worth defending and protecting. Life, liberty and the individual pursuit of happiness, a capitalist economy free from federal tyranny, smaller more efficient government and unalienable individual rights, not base on race, creed or color, but on the simple fact that we are all Americans.
If we are not uniting behind these principles, we are uniting around the wrong things for the wrong reasons. If you disagree, you can't be a true conservative. Not because I say so, but because the facts say so.
I'm going to give you a specific example of just how easy it is to forever change this nation and the way politicians are elected from here on. Do not read this example as an endorsement of any particular candidate. It is too early in the primary process for me or anyone else to be telling you who to support. Keep watching, it will become clear if you are paying attention.
EXAMPLE:
Imagine for a moment that the national committee (RNC) does not have the $892 million dollars that they raised during the 2004 Presidential election. That instead, this money remained in the grasp and control of individual conservatives to be used to promote a specific candidate instead of a national committee operating at odds with those constituents.
Imagine that these conservatives did their own homework and based upon the historical track records of the candidates available, chose a truly conservative Republican candidate that would otherwise be sidelined and ignored by the national committee.
Imagine that those same conservatives took just half of the money raised in 2004, some $450 million dollars and placed it all behind one truly conservative Republican leader who had a proven track record of standing firmly on the principles at the core of the once conservative Republican Party. A billion dollars for a single political campaign season is obscene to begin with... There's the first clue of just how screwed up we have allowed it all to become.
Impossible? How hard is it? It takes only 4.5 million conservatives willing to invest $100 a piece, or 2.25 million willing to invest $200 a piece, or 1 million willing to invest $450 a piece. Doable? You bet! How much is saving your nation worth?
Would the national committee, congress, the press or anyone else be able to stop the forward momentum of such a people's candidate? The inescapable answer is NO!
This is exactly how simple it is to reform our own party. We do not need to form any new party. We have the power to fix our party and if we don't use it, then we won't have the power to replace that party with another only temporarily more attractive.
It doesn't get any simpler than this and it is completely doable... However, there is one challenge to making it a reality.
Even though I reach a decent number of readers each week, I do not reach anywhere near enough to make such a grassroots effort a reality. That's where you and the Internet come in...
If this makes sense to you, take two forms of action. Follow the principles and steps presented here individually first. But then make sure that everyone you know gets a copy of this column.
It can happen and if it does happen, not only will conservatives not be forced to support a candidate in '08 who stands against their core beliefs; it will forever change the complexion of American politics going forward.
This is the people's power. Use it before you lose it for good!
Previous column links:
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