MoveOn Says America is Not Broke, Rally In Lynchburg

America is rich, still the wealthiest nation ever.

Liberal organizations and unions are frustrated that President Obama has not aggressively pushed a new jobs stimulus agenda, and they are offering up a consolidated fall agenda for Democrats to embrace as an alternative to austerity.   If the government won't take action to help America recover then the people must apply motivation to the powers that be to act in Americas long term best interest.

Representatives of MoveOn.org, Rebuild the Dream and the Center for Economic Policy and Research joined Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) on Tuesday to launch a progressive   “Contract for the American Dream”   to urge the administration and Congress to turn away from budget cutting and focus on job creation.    The American people have been interested in creating jobs and putting America back to work for over 3 years now.    It is the political leadership in both parties that is slow to get the message.

I've Got Mine, Who Are You?

Locally Move On held a noon time rally in front of Congressman Bob Goodlatte's  office at 916 Main Street in downtown Lynchburg.    In any tally of the worst Congressman in America Goodlatte finishes in the top five spots.    Goodlatte stands in opposition to anything that can help seniors, women, education or workers in need of employeement.    Someday the voters in Virginia's 6th district will awaken from their long slumber and elect a Congressman who represents the workers and middle class interests.    MoveOn passed out copies of their   "Contract For The American Dream"  and delivered their message to the TV and News Media that attended.    As a get out the information and create public buzz event it was a total success.

The contract is a mix of proposals that could make their way into a fall jobs compromise with Republicans, as well as more far-reaching goals such as universal government-run healthcare for all that are less likely to be enacted.    Republicans are united behind anything that cuts taxes for big business and puts the load on the back of the working man.

Schakowsky said Obama adviser David Plouffe has asked to see the contract, but the White House has yet to comment on it.   The White House will have to be motivated by the people to take a stance and hold a position.    The White House is so used to folding that it now comes second nature for them to back down.

President Obama is Interested

The president “has said he is very interested … in pivoting now to job creation,”  she told reporters.   It must be remembered that the president has talked about his interest in pivoting to job creation many times before and never turned that interest into action.   Obama's feet must be held to the fire or he comprimises into a bowl of jello.

In 10 bullet points, the contract calls for massive new spending and taxes.     At the top of the list are items Obama has been calling for: investing in infrastructure, clean energy, strengthening public education.     These  “winning the future”  items were included in Obama’s 2012 budget, which was rejected unanimously in the Senate after it become focused on budget cutting.

The contract also calls for a crackdown on corporations to enforce equal pay for equal work, reforming Social Security by lifting the cap on payroll taxes, accelerating the pullout of troops from Afghanistan and overhauling the campaign finance system.

On taxes, the groups are calling for an end to Bush-era tax rates, a new higher tax bracket for millionaires and a surcharge on Wall Street trades of 1/20th of 1 percent. Schakowsky has proposed a 45 percent tax rate for millionaires and a 49 percent tax rate for billionaires.

“We have a jobs crisis, not a deficit crisis,”    the contract reads.

“The federal government must act now to put Americans back to work, and that will require reversing the premature focus on deficit reduction,”       Robert Borosage of the Campaign for America’s Future said.     In a separate release he called for expanding AmeriCorps and creating new direct work programs he calls Urban Corps, Green Corps and Service Corps.      He calls for direct intervention to prevent layoffs on the local level of teachers and police.

The contract is also being promoted by the Change to Win union coalition and a host of smaller groups.     Some of the outside groups on the Tuesday conference call expressed frustration with Democratic leaders.

“I think this contract will not be taken seriously by the serious people in Washington at first,”   said Justin Ruben, executive director of MoveOn.org.

“I think there is a huge leadership vacuum right now,”    Ruben said.     He also said that the rapidly worsening economy could provide the impetus needed to get major parts of the agenda
enacted this fall, including universal publicly run healthcare.

“Crises have a way of changing what’s possible,”    he said.
Van Jones of Rebuild the Dream said the movement behind the contract is three times as big as the Tea Party was when it launched. It will be taking the document to August town-hall meetings.

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It's Your Country, It's Your Move, Why Don't You Vote

Message from the Chair

AUGUST 9TH GENERAL MEETING CANCELED

 PLEASE FORWARD TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY

Despite the apparent lull in activity this summer, your executive committee is hard at work planning some interesting and exciting events, guest speakers, outreach and news/media visibility.     We'll be meeting again next week to continue this work, and to get on board with social networking (facebook, twitter, etc.).
  

If you would like to attend the next executive committee meeting, you're more than welcome.      Just reply with a note to this email  
dave_burford@verizon.net       and we'll be sure to notify you in advance.

The next GENERAL MEETING will be held Tuesday, September 13th, 7:30PM, at the Madison Heights Branch Library.

Watch for a "NEWS and DATES TO REMEMBER" in the next few days.

Amherst Dems

PO Box 1411
Amherst, VA 24521

www.AmherstDems.org

WHY?   DON'T YOU VOTE???

In Presidential Elections slightly more than 50% of the voters show at the polls, for off year elections even less vote.

The government of the United States is based on a written constitution, the shortest in the world in fact.   This constitution consists of a Preamble, seven Articles, and 27 Amendments.    From this document, the entire federal government was created.    It is a living document whose interpretation has changed over time.    The amendment process is such that while not easily amended, US citizens are able to make necessary changes over time.   It takes a long time to get the country back after you let it slip away.   You may never get it back.

Three Branches of Government

The Constitution created three separate branches of government. Each branch has its own powers and areas of influence.     At the same time, the Constitution created a system of checks and balances that ensured no one branch would reign supreme.    The three branches are:

•Legislative Branch - This branch consists of the Congress which is responsible for making the federal laws.    Congress consists of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives.

•Executive Branch - The Executive power lies with the President of the United States who is given the job of executing, enforcing, and administering the laws and government.     The Bureaucracy is part of the Executive Branch.

•Judicial Branch - The judicial power of the United States is vested in the Supreme Court and the federal courts.     Their job is to interpret and apply US laws through cases brought before them. Another important power of the Supreme Court is that of Judicial Review whereby they can rule laws unconstitutional.   

Six Foundational Principles

The Constitution is built on six basic principles.     These are deeply ingrained in the mindset and landscape of US Government.

•Popular Sovereignty - This principle states that the source of governmental power lies with the people.    This belief stems from the concept of the social contract and the idea that government should be for the benefit of its citizens.     If the government is not protecting the people, it should be dissolved.

•Limited Government - Since the people give government its power, government itself is limited to the power given to it by them. In other words, the US government does not derive its power from itself.      It must follow its own laws and it can only act using powers given to it by the people.

•Separation of Powers - As stated previously, the US Government is divided into three branches so that no one branch has all the power.     Each branch has its own purpose: to make the laws, execute the laws, and interpret the laws.

•Checks and Balances - In order to further protect the citizens, the constitution set up a system of checks and balances.     Basically, each branch of government has a certain number of checks it can use to ensure the other branches do not become too powerful.    For example, the president can veto legislation, the Supreme Court can
declare acts of Congress unconstitutional, and the Senate must approve treaties and presidential appointments. 

•Judicial Review - This is a power that allows the Supreme Court to decide whether acts and laws are unconstitutional.     This was established with Marbury v. Madison in 1803.

•Federalism - One of the most complicated foundations of the US is the principle of federalism.      This is the idea that the central government does not control all the power in the nation.     States also have powers reserved to them.     This division of powers does overlap and sometimes leads to problems such as what happened with the response to Hurricane Katrina between the state and federal governments.

Political Process

While the Constitution sets up the system of government, the actual way in which the offices of Congress and the Presidency are filled are based upon the American political system.     Many countries have numerous political parties (groups of people who join together to try and win political office and thereby control the government)
but the US exists under a two-party system.      The two major parties in America are the Democratic and Republican parties.      They act as coalitions and attempt to win elections.      We currently have a two-party system because of not only historical precedent and tradition but also the electoral system itself.

The fact that America has a two-party system does not mean that there is no role for third parties in the American landscape.       It does mean that the two main parties work together to roadblock the formation of any third party.

Elections occur in the United States at all levels including local, state, and federal.     There are numerous differences from locality to locality and state to state.     Even when determining the presidency, there is some variation with how the electoral college is determined from state to state.    Voter turnout is barely over 50% during Presidential election years and much lower than that during midterm elections.   The lower the voter turnout the easier it is for other interests to control the government of the United States.    Most politicians from both of the major parties are are bought, sold and owned like farm animals.

Its your country and its your move.    Why Not Vote?

What is The Social Contract?

The idea of the social contract is one of the foundations of the American political system.    This is the belief that the state only exists to serve the will of the people, and they are the source of all political power enjoyed by the state.    In theory the people can choose to give or withhold this power.   When politicians are
bought sold and owned by powerful special interests the Social Contract is mangeled.

 The origin of the term social contract can be found in the writings of Plato.   However, English philosopher Thomas Hobbes expanded on the idea when he wrote Leviathan in response to the English Civil War.   In this book he wrote that in the earliest days there was no government.    Instead, those who were the strongest could take
control and use their power at any time over others.     Hobbes' theory was that the people mutually agreed to create a state, only giving it enough power to provide protection of their well-being. However, in Hobbes' theory, once the power was given to the state, the people then relinquished any right to that power.     In effect, that would be the price of the protection they sought.

Jean Jacques Rousseau and John Locke each took the social contract theory one step further.     Rousseau wrote The Social Contract, or Principles of Political Right in which he explained that the
government is based on the idea of popular sovereignty.     Thus the will of the people as a whole gives power and direction to the state. John Locke also based his political writings on the idea of the social contract. He stressed the role of the individual.     He also believed that revolution was not just a right but an obligation if the state abused their given power.     Obviously these ideas had a huge impact on the Founding Fathers, especially Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

For the Social Contract to work the politicians you elect must work for you and not be controlled by the special interests.    A politician assures the rich he will forward their interest and protect them from the poor if they will give him money.   That same politician assures the poor he will look out for their interest and protect them from the rich if they will give him their votes.     With money from the rich and votes from the poor this politician spends 5 million dollars to win an office that pays him $174,000 a year and in two terms is a multi-millionaire. 
 
Its Your Country and Its Your Move.     As long as you neglect to vote someone else will pull the strings and run the country.


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Obama Loses Birthday in Debt Ceiling Negotiation

When he negotiated the renewal of the Bush tax cuts in 2010, why didn't he get himself an increase in the debt ceiling at the same time?      The tax cuts expanded the deficit beyond what it otherwise would have been.     Republicans dearly wanted the tax cuts extended and would have paid for them.     But Obama didn't negotiate it because he doesn't know how.   Obama has no respect for the base of the Democratic Party and downright distaste for Union People.     Obama is uninformed, thinking if he does the Republicans a favor it will get returned.     Republicans have told him to his face that they will destroy him yet he continues to live in la-la land.     What do we have to do to wake up this arrogrant flip-flop choke and fold fool.    All Obama does is talk, nothing more and he has proved that he is an empty suit for almost 3 years now.    I have zero faith in Barack Obama's ability to get the job done.

In this round of debt negotiations, the president drew red lines.    He threatened to veto a small increase in the debt ceiling, one that would force him to return to the argument before the election in 2012.   By contrast, he has not threatened to veto debt-ceiling measures that cut too deeply into social programs.    His red lines are drawn for his political advantage -- not to protect his core supporters' or the Democratic Parties values and interests.    His red lines are not ours.    Obama deals purely for himself.   Clearing up matters for his re-election were clearly job one in Obama's mind.

Whether its health care or the deficit or now the debt ceiling, direct encounters between Obama and his Republican opposite numbers have always ended badly for the president.    Yes, the president faces unusually extreme and intransigent opposition.    But that's a description of the difficulty, not an excuse for failure.    Presidents win negotiations when they can mobilize the public behind them.    That was Ronald Reagan's secret weapon in 1981.     It has never been Barack Obama's.   And the results are as we all see.   Obama can't seem to make proper use of the bully pulpit.    Obama seems transfixed by the sound of his own voice.

Obama has proven himself to be a terrible negotiator, time and again starting from a position way too near what his opponents want.    It started with health care reform, when he himself ruled out nationalization and single payer from the very start so that what he ended up with was close to what the Republicans themselves were
proposing in 1993.  

If Obama refuses to learn how to negotiate then he should stay completely out of it and let a professional on his staff handle it.     Either way quit embarrising the Democratic Party.
  
Naturally the Republicans will do everything possible to get to deal with a patsy like Obama.    If you lose everytime out of the gate you should give up on that particular rodeo.   I don't care how smart you think you are you may lack this skill.   Part of Obama's problem is he does not respect people who have the skill to negotiate.
  
Beyond that he does not even know the simple rules of the game and yes just like politics it is a game and there are rules.   Rule one, go slow.   Rule two, don't give anything away unless you get somehing for it preferably something you want.    Rule three don't talk about the negotiations in public, do your talking at the table.   Rule four, wrap your ego in coming out ahead and remember nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to.   If the other side renegs on any part of the deal jerk the entire deal off the table and start over from the begining.   Be curteous and remain firm.    Prepare ahead of time and know what your objectives are and what your moves mean to the scope of where you are taking the deal.    

If it ends 50-50 you didn't win or lose, you held your own. 
   Holding your own would be a dramatic improvement for
Obama.    If you get the big end of any other number set you have some level of win.   When the Republicans get 98% and you get 2% that is an embarrisment.     Obama needs to realize that he mucked this process up beyond repair and to commit himself to learning how to negotiate.      Learn or quit the game, there is no in between.    If you get in get in all the way.

The negotiations over the Bush tax cuts ended up giving the Republicans nearly everything they wanted, making the debt far worse while still allowing the opponents to blame Obama for it.    His opening move seems to be along the lines of,   "Okay, I'll give you 80% of what you want."     And then he ends up settling for 90% of what they want.    After Obama ceeded the 80% before the negotiations started he held his own splitting the remaining 20%
and that gave the Republicans 90 and Obama 10.  

Obama lost this negotiations before it even started.      Worse, he leaned nothing about negotiating and was just as dumb the next time at bat.

One of the clear differences between Republicans and Democrats is how they wield power once they get it.    The Republicans get into power, as they did in many states this January, and they go for broke.   They push their agenda through swiftly and strongly and they don't care what the polls say.    They know they have a limited
window in which to work before the backlash begins and they slash and burn to get it done.    Republicans don't even have to control the legislature to control the agenda; one chamber of Congress will do just fine.   Obama has let them control the agenda from the start.    It is Obama's fault that he is a pushover.    As Democrats it is our fault that we elected a pushover who can't do the job.   If we lie to ourselves and say everything is OK that will be our fault also.   It is time to let Obama know we are tired of his do nothing, accomplish nothing way of conducting business.

And here's the thing that makes it all make no sense at all:  The public is on his side.   On the policy issues, the public was strongly against the Republican position on the Bush tax cuts and strongly on Obama's side.   On the debt ceiling issue, the public is strongly against the Republican position and strongly on Obama's side.  
And yet he still comes out of it looking like a weak bystander and the GOP still gets nearly everything they want.     Even with the people on his side he could not plot a straight line to a win.

Obama is likeable but he lacks the skills to do the job and that's sad for him and sad for America.       There are so many talented people who could help Obama govern but his eye is fixed on that old Chicago bunch who have failed to adequately protect the President so far.      The President needs to clean house and get a team together who can do the job.     He needs to do it right away.

I was asked today if I will be going to Obama's birthday party tommorow?    The answer is NO.    Obama doesn't have a birthday this year.    The Republicans took it away from him in the debt ceiling negotiations.

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