Critical "moments" are brief intervals of time in any event, when the outcome is either decided, or to a lesser extent, transfers the momentum and advantage from one side to another, whether that event is sports, politics, war, or as simple as a game of poker.
Competing athletes, in order to succeed, must be able to identify and exploit the critical moment, because in that instant, is opportunity. Let that moment go and chances are good that desired change will not occur.
That "moment" is here and we cannot afford to let it go. Electing Barack Obama is only the beginning. We cannot assume that soon-to-be President Obama will be able to read our minds. We the taxpayers need a bullhorn to make sure our voice is heard loud and clear in order to restore our influence over our legislature. Who is our opponent? The answer: the corporate lobbyists. How do we defeat them? Do whatever it is they are doing and do it better.
We already know how successful the lobbyist is in achieving its goals. There is no reason taxpayers cannot do the exact same thing. Some may say we don't have the money, the power, the will, etc. that corporations have. No, that's because we have more...much more!
We pay taxes to support the infrastructure that is supposed to provide for the needs of the people. Not the needs of corporations, not the needs of a few elitists, not the needs of an insatiable the war machine... but the needs of every single one of us. That money is our money. As long as we stay within the constitutional framework that our founding fathers created, we can use that money and the power that it produces to take back our government.
Why can't we fund full-time taxpayer lobbyists? Their main function is to keep our legislators accountable to all of us, making sure full disclosure and transparency takes place in order to combat media bias. They must answer to the people and only the people. As naive and simplistic as this may sound, an idea like this could work if enough people get behind it.
Our goal should be a responsible and efficient government that lives within its means and serves us and only us.
Links:
Campus Activism
Citizens Against Government Waste
Credo Action - e-campaigns.
e-the people is a public forum for a new democracy conversation.
Email Congress
Modest Needs - "works to stop the cycle of poverty BEFORE it starts for the low-income workers whom conventional philanthropy has forgotten".
The Progress Report
Progressive Portal - easy online activism.
Read more...
