So, I'm watching these Occupy protests from afar, and what's becoming of them, and I'm of two minds. I appreciate the sentiments of those participating, to the extent that I understand them. They are protesting the way corporate influence has corrupted the lawmaking and law-enforcing process. I have to side with the authorities, though, that setting up permanent encampments in public spaces is unsanitary, potentially dangerous, and not protected by the First Amendment or any other statute.
The Occupy movement seems to have taken as its template the Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, and other locations. The problem with using the Arab Spring as a template is that those uprisings had a very clear and tangible purpose: to depose the tyrannical regimes in those countries. Say what you will about the United States and its broken political system, but neither the Congress nor Barack Obama are tyrants. They serve at the pleasure of the people. The average off-year congressional election draws about 37% turnout. That is disgraceful. No system of government can possibly reflect the will of the people if only about a third of the eligible voters show up. This seems to me where the Occupiers should concentrate their efforts. Corporations dominate the political discourse because nearly two-thirds of America lets them.
What the Occupiers should do is set up a radical Congress Accountability organization. I'm not talking about one of these namby-pamby think tanks that pop up on NPR now and then. I'm talking about a truly radical organization that gets down and dirty. They should have 535 full-time Accountability Cops who shadow each member around Washington or wherever they go. When they aren't with the member, they should be doing research on whatever the member stands for, the legislation he/she sponsors, public pronouncements from the member, voting records, and any lobbyists the member meets with. There could be a team of different people who shadow the member in their district or when they are in Washington, and using social media, different people could sign up to shadow different members at various times. The organization would issue constant press releases to social media sites, local and national newspapers, cable news outlets, and wherever else detailng the members' official duties and providing analysis and original reporting about the members' performance. The Congress should not be able to make an official move without the organization knowing about it, logging it, and making it available on an easily searchable web site.
Funds for this organization could be raised through all sorts of channels, and it wouldn't take that much. The employees would generally be college kids or kids just out of college. If you organize it properly, you could divide up the work so that each Congressperson has 4 or 5 kids who take turns watching him, with one lead person per member compiling the information and publishing it. You would need a team of web developers, and several skilled publicists to get the information to the right sources. I think you could fund it with a few million per year, which shouldn't be that big a deal.
If you give people a consistent and easy-to-use tool for evaluating their member of Congress, they will be better informed and will be more likely to show up on election day to vote, and members will be more likely to follow the will of a larger number of voters.
It's amazing that nothing like this exists already. The technology exists, but no one has the will. That needs to change.
The Occupy movement seems to have taken as its template the Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, and other locations. The problem with using the Arab Spring as a template is that those uprisings had a very clear and tangible purpose: to depose the tyrannical regimes in those countries. Say what you will about the United States and its broken political system, but neither the Congress nor Barack Obama are tyrants. They serve at the pleasure of the people. The average off-year congressional election draws about 37% turnout. That is disgraceful. No system of government can possibly reflect the will of the people if only about a third of the eligible voters show up. This seems to me where the Occupiers should concentrate their efforts. Corporations dominate the political discourse because nearly two-thirds of America lets them.
What the Occupiers should do is set up a radical Congress Accountability organization. I'm not talking about one of these namby-pamby think tanks that pop up on NPR now and then. I'm talking about a truly radical organization that gets down and dirty. They should have 535 full-time Accountability Cops who shadow each member around Washington or wherever they go. When they aren't with the member, they should be doing research on whatever the member stands for, the legislation he/she sponsors, public pronouncements from the member, voting records, and any lobbyists the member meets with. There could be a team of different people who shadow the member in their district or when they are in Washington, and using social media, different people could sign up to shadow different members at various times. The organization would issue constant press releases to social media sites, local and national newspapers, cable news outlets, and wherever else detailng the members' official duties and providing analysis and original reporting about the members' performance. The Congress should not be able to make an official move without the organization knowing about it, logging it, and making it available on an easily searchable web site.
Funds for this organization could be raised through all sorts of channels, and it wouldn't take that much. The employees would generally be college kids or kids just out of college. If you organize it properly, you could divide up the work so that each Congressperson has 4 or 5 kids who take turns watching him, with one lead person per member compiling the information and publishing it. You would need a team of web developers, and several skilled publicists to get the information to the right sources. I think you could fund it with a few million per year, which shouldn't be that big a deal.
If you give people a consistent and easy-to-use tool for evaluating their member of Congress, they will be better informed and will be more likely to show up on election day to vote, and members will be more likely to follow the will of a larger number of voters.
It's amazing that nothing like this exists already. The technology exists, but no one has the will. That needs to change.