New Non-Partisan Political Party: Liberty Hill (TX) man wants to shake up politics

The Austin American Statesman ^ | October 18, 2007 | JJ Wells

[Zechariah_8_13]

A Liberty Hill man wants to evict all 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and revolutionize the way elections are held.

To accomplish this improbable goal, Tim Cox has devised the Get Out of Our House party, which is built around using the Internet. He said he developed the party because he's sick of corrupt politicians that perpetuate a broken system.

Mr.Cox has created a political party, Get Out of Our House, in an effort to revolutionize how people are elected to the U.S. House. He says sales of his new book will help fund the party. In his new book, Cox makes his case for changing how Congress is selected. He hopes book sales and donations will fill the coffers for his Get Out of Our House effort.

"They're caught in a political Catch-22," Cox said. "They need money to run for office, and they get it from special interest groups. Once they're in office, they vote to benefit the people that paid for their campaign instead of their constituents."

To get into Cox's party, prospective candidates must fill out a Web questionnaire about key issues and make a donation of at least $100. Responders from each voting district will be organized into groups of 10, and they'll deliberate and choose two people to advance to the next round. After several rounds, a single representative will be selected from each district, to be on the ballot in November. ... Cox walked away from a job as a systems strategist at computer company Dell Inc. to dedicate himself to getting his idea off the ground.

"It's a party without a platform because every potential candidate has their own beliefs," he said. "Each candidate will be chosen by their peers, so they'll accurately represent their district."

[Zechariah_8_13]

I know the GOOOH founder, Tim Cox, and he's a very determined, well-spoken, and innovative guy who just launched his website about 2 weeks ago and has already rallied hundreds of people around this idea, myself included. It's not a perfect system, but it's the best I know of, and I think it truly could work.

By the way, please take the negative tone of this article with a large grain of salt -- it's from the from the Austin "Anti-American" Statesman. The guy who interviewed Tim was really enthusiastic and supportive of the idea, but it appears to have been spun differently (this is the MSM, after all).

Here's the basic premise:

GOOOH is a non-partisan system to put true representatives of the people back in the U.S. House of Representatives. GOOOH's "nomination by your peers" approach allows us to put candidates of our choice on the ballot to compete against compromised career politicans.

GOOOH candidates have to sign commitments to step down from office in 24 hours if they don't vote consistent with their answers on the Candidate Questionnaire. Once in office, the Rep can solicit input from his/her constituents on bills that aren't totally clear-cut.

Congressional approval ratings are tanking (11% by today's polls) and a lot of people, myself included, are tired of choosing between the lesser of two evils -- which is still evil. I'm sick of voting for RINOs who look just like a Dem.

Overall, I think our nation is much more conservative than the MSM would have us believe, and using the GOOOH system would enable us to put real Conservatives back in office.

[Brilliant]

A “nonpartisan” party? I don’t think so.

[Zechariah_8_13]

It’s a method for selecting representatives. It has no platform of its own.

[mnehring]

Sounds like the chaos party.

[ansel12]

“nonpartisan” ?

That will sure stir the people’s passions.

[mnehring]

I always thought being partiisan was a good thing. I wonder what the GOO party would do about things like the House Intelligence Committee where votes and decisions are made around top secret intelligence, often high priority to national security?

[Deb]

Their rallying cry is: WE LIKE PUDDING!!!

[Zechariah_8_13]

Here’s a link to the FAQs

http://www.goooh.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=21

There’s also a “cynics corner” on the discussion board:

http://www.goooh.com/Discuss.aspx

[stephenjohnbanker]

Meet John Doe redux.

[Zechariah_8_13]

It’s not that the individuals will not have strong political beliefs, it’s that the PARTY will not have a specific platform.

The party enables people to elect true representatives of their district without those candidates having to kowtow to special interest groups and the RNC RINOs.

[stephenjohnbanker]

Interesting concept. He is right about the corruption factor.

[mnehring]

it’s that the PARTY will not have a specific platform.

..and there is the rub... This idea may be great if we had a citizenry who was willing to really educate themselves and get involved, but let's be frank, 90% of voters follow a pop-culture mentality and something like GOO would end up becoming small American Idol competitions. At least with party platforms, you can have some sort of compass as to the type of politician you are voting for. While it isn't perfect, it seems GOO would end up turning the US into something like this:

[Zechariah_8_13]

At least with party platforms, you can have some sort of compass as to the type of politician you are voting for.

But you WOULD know exactly who you would be voting for, because that individual would have filled out an extensive questionnaire.

Additionally, if you didn't like the GOOOH candidate, there's nothing stopping you from voting for the Republican candidate.

Personally, I like the idea of having a choice. In my district, the GOOOH candidate would likely be very conservative - much more conservative than what the RNC has to offer.

[Zechariah_8_13]

Here’s a link to a radio interview with the founder:

http://www.goooh.com/KLBJRadioInterview.aspx

[DocH]

Motto of the Non-Partisan party:

"There's NOTHING worth fighting for!"

[weegee]

So when the party has MAJORITY control of congress, which members of the Party will have the say over what appointments get made for leadership? If the breakdown of MOO is 35% Greens, 28% Blues, 22% Reds, and 15% Pinkos, have we made the Greens “majority” of Congress with 35% control?

[Zechariah_8_13]

It’s clear from a lot of these comments that there is either some misunderstanding here or people just aren’t bothering to read the article —

Get Out of Our House is a METHOD for electing representatives; hence the METHOD does not favor any particular political party.

GOOOH intends to return the House of Representatives to the hands of the people — as our forefathers intended.

[Zechariah_8_13]

35% Greens, 28% Blues, 22% Reds, and 15% Pinkos, have we made the Greens “majority” of Congress with 35% control?

That won't happen. If the GOOOH candidate who emerges in a district does not reflect the views of that particular district, then he/she will not win the election. I can't imagine that 35% of the 435 districts in this country would actually elect a Greenie. Can you?

I do, however think that we'll see a majority of conservatives.

[Deb]

It's clear you have no understanding of the role political parties play in electing candidates.

Stripping ideology from your METHOD gives no platform for the public to identify with. What are the founding principles and relevant issues of GOOOH? Moderation? Ooooooh, thrilling!

Right now the American people couldn't have a more defined difference to choose from in the Democrats and Republicans. We don't need a new METHOD. We need smarter voters.

[af_vet_rr]

"They're caught in a political Catch-22," Cox said. "They need money to run for office, and they get it from special interest groups. Once they're in office, they vote to benefit the people that paid for their campaign instead of their constituents."

If those companies feel threatened by Cox, they'll just throw more money at the Congress critters so they can spend more money to help get elected.

The only thing Cox has is votes and too many people in this country don't care enough to vote, or when they do vote, they march to the beat of the party drummer, even if the party leads them off a cliff..