Forum Post: Help keep this post at the top of the list.
Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 9, 2011, 6:47 p.m. EST by LobbyDemocracy
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This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Thank you for your attention.
I appreciate Occupy Wall Street and think they have done an invaluable service by bringing the issues of the 99% back to the forefront. I hope that they will continue to stand up for the rights of the majority. I do have some concerns, however, in bringing the majority into the movement. Our country is full of busy lives. People spend their days working to help provide the necessities and luxuries of life. At night, they tend to the needs of their friends and families. This schedule does not leave a lot of time for civil disobedience. We need to find a way to incorporate the thoughts, desires, and perspectives of everyday working Americans into this movement to be able to claim that it really supports the 99%.
I am working on a project that I hope will do just that. I have founded a lobbying organization to represent the interests of the majority. I believe that it will help give the majority the voice that they need to truly foment change. Not only will it provide the leverage that we need, it will do so in a manner that is not labor intensive for our members. All our members will have to do is stop by our organization, read whatever information interests them on the issues, and fill out a couple of polls on where they stand on the issues. We will process this data and tackle any issue that reaches 65% support or opposition among our members.
When we take up an issue, we will look district by district and write every representative whose members also supported the issue at 65%. Our elected leaders will have the opportunity to write back to their constituents. We will help connect the constituency and their elected leaders.
We will also be securely maintaining everyone's polling data. This means that come election time, you can check in with the site and it will tell you the percentage of time that your elected leader backed your agenda. This tracking will not only help our members come election time, but also give us leverage between elections. If we can make it clear to our elected leaders that they will not be reelected if they ignore the interests of their constituents, they will begin to listen.
If you are interested, please visit www.lobbydemocracy.com and see for yourself. If you have questions or concerns please feel free to leave them here.
My landlord charges me too much. Is he considered a 1%er? I don't like him. One day late on rent and he gets nasty.
I think that might be a little bit out of the bounds of the discussion. Sorry you are having troubles though.
Okay. I just am very unhappy that I pay him all that money and can't even have a cat or paint it how I want it.
Are you intentionally keeping my post at the top of the list with this conversation, or did you actually come to OWS to talk about your living situation?
rent is lots of peoples living situation
Rent is my living situation as well. I am not saying that there are not people concerned with renters problems. I just think that the thread was a little off topic.
Sorry. I'm new to this.
No need to apologize. It helps me out. Everytime you comment it pushes my thread back to the top of the list.
Thanks for answering my question. Can the giving of money be stop? How can you lobby the guys in DC without money?
We are approximately 38 million shy of that but we did just open up on Sunday.
Votes are the actual end goal of most of the money in politics. The money is there to buy the votes. If you can put together a big enough voting block, you have a ton of power on Capitol Hill. Just ask the AARP. No campaign contributions but still an absolute monster on the hill because they represent 38 million members.
I think we should end all lobbying. Would LobbyDemocracy lobby for this, effectively putting an end to itself?
The short answer is yes. Lobby democracy will represent the interests of its members whatever issues they stand behind. I think the ban of all lobbying would be a difficult process to achieve, and personally I do not think it is a desirable goal. Writing a letter to your congressperson is lobbying.
I do think that the money side of lobbying needs to be restructured. I would happily embrace restrictions on the flow of money in politics. As previously stated though, I would fight for whatever the members of the organization wanted no matter how happy or unhappy it made me.
I just asked this question else where, but I'll ask it here since your talking about lobbying. I would like to see lobbying outlowed. But we know that no one in DC would bring it up for a vote, never mind it even getting a chance of passing. My question.....can we (the people) write a biil & we vote on it. If passed could it be made a law?? ...
Seriously changing lobbying regulations would need to be done through constitutional amendment. Even small limitations in the process have been struck down by the Supreme Court. This means that legislation alone would not be enough. Constitutional amendments have always come from the federal legislature, but they are also allowed to come from the states and work their way up. It has never been done successfully but the process is in the constitution. You can read more about it at http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/constitution/
why should the lobby democracy vote be trusted?
I don't exactly understand the question. Are you worried about the security of your vote, or the influence of that vote on the political process?
I'm concerned about the validity of the count
I understand that concern. We are going to have to get the system audited as we move forward to reassure people. We are trying to get enough membership so we can get off the ground and expand on the infrastructure. Part of that expansion will be a full custom web design. As we go through that process we will be working on finding an outside auditing agency to vouch for the polling process.
it needs a publicly auditable system
I don't think that you can open up the system for a public audit. That would be like letting everyone look through peoples voting data on election day. I agree that it needs to be audited, but I think it is better to have it done by some outside source. I think that we could get one of the voter rights organizations to do it.
rather see the results myself
But then you would be snooping into people's personal responses. The responses have to be held in confidence. You could see the responses without the names attached, but I don't think you would consider that a proper audit.
true
SPAM
I would clearly disagree. I am arguing for a particular type of democratic participation. I think that it is a completely valid conversational piece.
You are pushing a partisan political agenda focused on Republicans and debt reduction. Your site is trolling for email addresses.
Bottom line, this is SPAM.
My site is politically neutral and will focus on whatever its members want it to focus on. We are not trolling for email addresses and have promised never to sell our members information. We are not accepting advertising or any other source of outside revenue to prevent even the appearance of corruption. So, not spam.
All your information is hidden, for "members" only. So people have to sign up to see the issues / positions.
On your "politically neutral" site "Republican" is mentioned 6 times on the home page. "Democrat" does not appear once, nor does "Independent".
Do you really think you are fooling anyone?
SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM
Democrat is not, but the OWS is mentioned and linked. I lean pretty far to the left and might have overcompensated by putting up too much material on the right to start with. I apologize for the confusion. Please stay in touch with the site so you can see how we grow and develop.
Not interested in your bullshit. Please stop trying to capitalize on OWS and go away. You are the problem, not the solution.
This is an open forum. You do not need to be interested in my solution. I have a legitimate approach to the problems that the OWS is trying to solve. If you do not want to participate in it, that is fine and I understand. I wish you luck in your journey.
You understand that this is how the public's energy/attention is diverted/distracted into meaningless electoral politics, right?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYIC0eZYEtI&feature=related
This is an essential part of keeping this system going. We don't live in a Democracy. Stop feeding this illusion.
The people need a mass general strike. We need to take back the streets, the rails and the workplaces.
What are you waiting for? Revolt Already!
I think that you and I may have a slightly different approach here. I would truly like to see meaningful change in my lifetime. I am actually open to dedicating the rest of my working life to make it happen though. I for one am not going to storm the streets anytime soon. I am a more moderate voice in the movement and I hope that there is room for that as well.
We have been in slow retreat for thirty years because of some people's insistence on lobbying democrats. Now we are finally holding the line and pushing back against the ever rightward march of these fascists.
Please don't fall into this trap again. The system is not here to represent you. Its here to marginalize you. To make you safe and harmless to the status quo.
Right now we are forming alternative organizations, that aren't pre-designed for co-optation.
We are using non-violence, direct action, strikes--- among other tactics.
No one is saying you need to join a riot.
The only thing you need to do is withdraw your obedience.
I would not say that I am giving my obedience. I think that I am trying to express the desires of the people through a different venue. I am glad that society is waking up and working on changing the direction of our society. I am glad that there are encampments all around the country. I just think that for this movement to truly represent the interests of the majority we need to continue to reach out to the majority.
"I just think that for this movement to truly represent the interests of the majority we need to continue to reach out to the majority."
This is a goal that is diametrically opposed to telling them to lobby congress.
If our goal is to empower the majority and represent them, then we shouldn't be trying to lull them back to sleep.
The majority of people do not vote or participate in (or even care about) the electoral political system. And rightly so---its meaningless. We aren't trying to placate people with the illusion of making a difference; we actually aim to make a difference.
That's why we are on Wall Street. This is the real seat of power, not DC.
Except that DC is where the tax code is written, the bailouts come from, the bankruptcy law is written, contracts are awarded, rules for financial regulation are established......
You really believe that's who's making these decisions, brother? The political class in Washington?
I believe that the decisions made in Washington help make it possible for the 1% to have accrued all the wealth and power that they have over the last several decades. I also believe that we can change that process. Our country has been through a great deal of change over its history. It is time it saw another shift. I think that OWS is the beginning of that process, but that it will take the efforts of many of us to actually reform the system.
"I believe that the decisions made in Washington help make it possible for the 1% to have accrued all the wealth and power that they have over the last several decades."
I guess that's the fundamental misunderstanding the ruling class depends upon people to have.
"I also believe that we can change that process."
Sometimes its interesting to watch the audience in the stadium of a pro wrestling match. They're incredibly enthusiastic. They cheer on their favorite character, and even display genuine suspense when its their wrestler's turn to take a fall or back into the ropes. The story develops into a kinda of mass ritual drama. There is posturing and shouting back and forth, and everyone pretends that its a real conflict, that the two men really are fighting---as though the whole process hasn't already been choreographed in advance behind the scenes.
Its rather like watching the corporate media's coverage of the "debt ceiling debate." They really entertained the idea that the outcome wasn't a forgone conclusion---as though the conflict between democrats and republicans was something other than political theater.
Most people just don't get into the fantasy mind-set needed to care about pro-wrestling or party politics. But Its fascinating how some people can disconnect themselves from reality and invest so much of themselves into something so meaningless.
I guess we will have to agree to disagree on that one. I wish you all the best.
In the two hours since you posted this the first time, you have not received 1 new member. All 15 of you can have a party. Good luck with that.
I am not saying it is going to be an easy process. We are a ground up organization. We are not funded by some big business or a massive endowment. We are trying to grow nothing into a major lobbying force. We have understood all along that the hardest part of this process to pull off would be the beginning. I hope that you do not write off the possibility of the organization simply because others have not joined yet. If you do not think the organization has potential I understand that, and I respect it. If you do agree with what we are trying to do, sign up. If you don't want to sign up now and lead the charge, then bookmark us and check back later to see how we have grown.