Posted on 10/27/2001 6:12:11 PM PDT by Avoiding_Sulla
... IMHO, the best advice: WORK HARD. Here's what that work requires:
I'm sure there are others to whom you can turn to add to this list. Nothing worth achieving comes easily. This all requires hard work. The Progressives haven't brought us to what appears to be the brink of annihilation (but that's another story) because they didn't work hard.OFFENSE -- Form a group of like-minded individuals to watch all PRIMARY races.
-- Identify all RINOs and potential RINOs you can.
-- Make sure all RINOs have real opposition.
-- Work like the Dickens to keep like-minded real conservatives from running against each other.
-- Now, more than ever (as you pointed out) Dems are outa favor. So don't let the RINOs even try to sell you that their form of compromise is the only thing will win in the general election. Being laughed off the stage is the kind of humiliation RINOs deserve. It might even scare 'em straight.
DEFENSE Every party committee has its Establishment thugs and RINO disrupters. Be prepared.
-- Your group must attend these things in force and not let "those in charge" dictate the agenda.
-- Make sure one of you is expert in Roberts' Rules of Order. Then you will be heard.
-- The size of your group will grow, and the RINOs' will shrink. Be accessible and receptive.
-- Be on the look out for attempts to derail you. Threats, bribes, flattery and personal attacks. Hard ball.
-- Be on the look out for attempts to stall you. Phony adjournments, committee assignments not of your choosing (being made chair comes under flattery), and other red-herrings.
Either not voting or, worse, voting Democratic because some Republican doesn't do what he ought is the conservative's form of throwing a tantrum. It's not only disruptive and counterproductive, it looks and sounds liberal. For recent examples of this, look at those phony pacifists (nee anarchists) turning violent.
Stop whining and sounding like a spoiled liberal. If you really want to change things, you must work at it. Now that I have given you a formula for how to go about it, what's your excuse?
For those who believe something needs to be done, this is your chance to contribute to rediscovery of civil American tactics. Our grandfathers did it (overcame Establishmentarian obstacles) when they returned from WWII. It was their bravery and honor which gave us 20 years of relative bliss compared with the near utter chaos our fathers morally lapsed us into.
BTW, this will work with any Establishment political party. Even for the Libertarians, who have had every good new idea in the last 25 years except the most important one of all -- how to put together a winning coalition -- yes, it would even work for them.
Now its your turn at bat. Are you just gonna stand there and let the professional politicians bury you? Or are you gonna fight back properly, with honor and thoughtfulness? Are you gonna let the malthusians and malcontents slowly bring about civil war? Or are you gonna dedicate yourselves to the revival of American values like liberty and justice and constitutional limits upon government? You still have a choice. You still have your freedom.
Yours In Liberty,
First in the anti-Sullan alliance.
And on the National level, term limits got rid of just ONE. But not in the way you'd like them to. It got rid of him (Tom Foley) due to backlash over his lawsuit that overturned national term limits. And what did Foley's loss prove? That we can beat long-term and powerful incumbents. And even that took dedication and hard work.
And "term limits" only helps if the entrenched creeps's "brother" isn't being prepped to step into his slot by the same corrupting forces who supported his predecessor. What are you prepared to do about THAT issue?
TERM LIMITS is a buzz word. Real reform requires far more than bowing down and obeisance to a single, questionable, and anti-republican tactic!
IMHO, and those of others, a centrist today is where was an ardent leftist was positioned only a few years ago.
Have you suffered enough from ideological creep yet? I think we all have.
Reform is more than a noun. At some point it becomes an imperative action verb.
It gives us all another option other than having to go with the Republican we hate just because he is Republican or a Democrat just because he's a Democrat. Try it out in Mass. first. Teddy Kennedy is gone. One problem solved.
1.for one party to be in power for awhile, and then for the other party to take over.
power corrupts, and the founders were aware of that.
unfortunately the democrats dominated congress since fdr.
also, the two parties have merged into one party.
2. an independent media that actually investigates both parties and corporations.
1) No Lawyer shall be allowed to serve in any elected office of the Legislative Branch.Hey. I can dream too!
2) All Votes will be fully recorded Ayes and Nays.
3) All Laws will have an automatic Sunset Provision of Ten Years; they may be revoted as required.
4) No Amendments will be appended unless directly relevant to the main bill, and each will be individually voted on after passage of the main bill.
But then there would be about two left.
True reform of the existing two parties would begin with a third party.
Sam, I once thought that approach had great promise. Maybe it still does. What can you suggest to solve the myriad obstacles facing third parties?
For reasons we could discuss for days, the complexities working against third parties seem immense.
I believe we stand a chance if we could find a way to overcome, one at time, the advantages enjoyed by the established order.
For instance: the money machine. It pays for the existing parties in ways that even leaves us fighting against our own money. The media's propaganda is funded mostly by the ads of business interests in the off season, which we pay for with our patronage of the businesses; and by protected monied interests during campaign season, which we pay for in other ways. Boycotts and patronage are tools. FReeping appears to be a growing tactic. But it isn't strategic. How do you plan on shifting the allegiance of old party loyalists to the new?
Other questions: Why have third parties mostly failed? Have any really succeeded? Where and how and under what circumstances?
Historically, it appears to be far harder to succeed with a new party than gradually gain some sway over branches of existing parties. (And even if you do, what happens when the parent org abandons your branch?) Whichever choice, either is a demanding job.
It is indeed troubling at how the two parties seemed to have merged into what could be called "the party of the ruling class."
Oh, I agree completely. The obstacles are formidable.
But think of it. The figure 51% would no longer have any meaning. Nor would phrases like "us or them". The two current parties wouldn't know what to do. Polling numbers would be all askew. A candidate could win office by a majority of only 35%. How important would the Electoral College be then? Can you see why the two current parties don't want to get rid of it? As long as they hear rumblings in the grassroots of a third party springing up, they won't ever get rid of it. Jesse Ventura must've scared the bejeebers out of a lot of the 'behind the scenes' power brokers. They are way too happy to continue with the status quo, which is to divert the sheeples attention from what is really important, by carrying on with all this partisan/bi-partisan crap. They've latched onto this current system like a tick on a hound dog. But even a tick knows enough to let go when it's bloated.
It's these thoughts and many others that make me think that true reform cannot take place until a third party comes along and grows strong. There must be an uncertainty factor thrown into the mix to keep them all honest. And I use the word 'honest' very loosely in this context. I wouldn't want to be accused of attributing a character trait like that, to those that seem genetically incapable of understanding the concept.
So, do what Barry Goldwater advised when he was alive, always split your vote, some Democrat, some Republican, some Reform Party. Make the parties compete for the conservative vote. If there's nothing but liberals on the ballot, then vote Democrat. Next time the ballot won't have only liberals if everybody does that.
Too many Americans have way too much party loyalty, it's killing our politics, this seige mentality.
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