[ Note: This references and builds on my previous posts . . . Trust No Incumbent, Pledges: Candidate Contracts, and How Pledges Can Work. ]
They say timing is everything.
It may not be everything but it certainly is critical.
I have so far laid out a strategy of confrontation, one which poses a difficult choice for incumbent candidates. Either they sign a pledge to perform as their constituents instruct them to do on very popular issues, or they face a firestorm of negative publicity and risk losing the election.
This is playing hardball in the game of politics, one which has recently become so rigged, so distorted by money and the disproportionate influence of the rich and powerful, that we no longer even have representative democracy in America.
This is playing their game by their rules but us being the winners this time around.
This is talking to them in the only language these politicians understand . . .
Win or lose.
It’s their choice.
So . . . in congressional district X we have collected voter signatures on three issues where the vast majority of voters have indicated in credible polls what they want their elected representative to do. We have a formidable pile of petitions to show exactly where the public in this district stands on these three issues.
On Social Security, people want it left alone.
On the war in Afghanistan, they want America out and our troops home.
This is a working and middle class district and they think the rich are not paying their fair share. They strongly believe taxes on the rich should be increased.
Congressman Martin Moneybags has voted for the Ryan budget plan, and for continuing appropriations to fight the war in Afghanistan with no conditions for ending it.
He has voted in total opposition to what the majority of his constituents want. His reasons for doing so are not relevant. His excuses are not acceptable. His promises to reconsider these matters are not good enough.
He is presented three pledges __ I will be giving specific wording for all such pledges in subsequent posts __ demanding under legally enforceable terms that he represent his constituents, not kowtow to rich campaign donors, to lobbyists, Grover Norquist, his mistress, or whoever else is urging him to defy the express will of his constituents.
When is the best time to present the pledges?
When should this confrontation take place?
I am recommending the first week of October, one month before the election.
This gives him time to “think about it” but not enough time to mount some nonsensical counter-campaign.
It also gives the candidate sufficient time to have a change of heart, if after initially refusing to sign the pledges, he or she decides it’s best to go along with the program.
Is this blackmail?
Whew! That’s a strong word.
It’s not blackmail but it is coercion. It is forcing a candidate to do what they are supposed to be doing in the first place, which is represent the interests of their constituents, not the big money campaign donors who are bent on only promoting their own selfish agenda at our expense.
Should we feel bad about using coercive tactics? About stooping to their level?
We should feel bad that our beautiful system of democracy has been so corrupted it’s barely recognizable at all any more.
We should feel bad that as good citizens our voice is no longer heard.
We should feel bad that the self-serving rich and powerful are destroying our country, that the American Dream is becoming a memory of some distant past wishful thinking for all but a few privileged rich and powerful elite.
We should feel bad that they have started a class war on us and now, yes, we are forced to take up arms and defend ourselves __ to fire back using the same weapons they use on us.
There’s a lot to feel bad about.
But we shouldn’t feel bad about doing what we need to do to restore real democracy to our government, about doing what has to be done to get this current crop of traitorous puppets out of office so that we can get our country back on course.
The October Surprise.
“Hello, Mr. Crooked Politician. You probably forgot about me. Well, I’m back and I want my country back. Here are a couple pledges I think you should sign. This is what we, the folks who voted you into office, your constituents __ remember us? __ want done.”
The October Surprise.
Everybody loves surprises!
