This, as gale winds blow every which way in Presidential election politics, which a year ago no one in their right mind would have thought possible.
What sayeth our local pundits?
What questions can be asked of the candidates at Thursday night's Alabama U.S. Senate debate at Hoover Tactical Firearms?
What about you? Are you hunkered down in your encampment? Are you lost in a wilderness, oblivious? Do you see a flag waving off to your left, or off to your right, which you are trying to run to?
Yesterday, I tried to make inquiry of our Alabama legislative delegation in Washington whether the country should write off Congress and that the only avenue for the country's salvation is the Convention of States project. See To RDP re your AL US Senate debate.
A. WolfPAC and Convention of States
Have you heard of WolfPAC?
On its front page, WolfPAC enunciates:
We must reverse Citizens United, Restore our Democracy, and Save the Republic. Join the Fight for Free and Fair Elections in America!On The Plan page, WolfPAC says:
To restore true, representative democracy in the United States by pressuring our State Legislators to pass a much needed Free and Fair Elections Amendment to our Constitution. There are only 2 ways to amend the Constitution: (1) Go through our Federal Government (2) Go through our State Legislators via a national convention.The Convention of States organization speaks in both similar and different ways compared to WolfPAC.
Wolf PAC believes that we can no longer count on our Federal Government to do what is in the best interest of the American people due to the unfettered amount of money they receive from outside organizations to fund their campaigns. We point to the failure of the Disclose Act as rock solid evidence that this would be a total waste of our time, effort, and money. We also point to the recent decision by the US Supreme Court to not even hear a case filed by Montana claiming it did not have to abide by Citizens United, as proof that state legislation is not a sufficient measure to solve this problem. We believe that we have no choice but to put an amendment in the hands of our State Legislators, who are not, at this moment in time, completely blinded by the influence of money, and might actually do what 96% of the country wants - take away the massive influence that money has over our political process.
On its front page, Convention of States says the problem is:
The Federal government has overreached its constitutionally established boundaries and has its hands in almost every area of our lives. Our children and grandchildren will inherit a bankrupt nation run by an unaccountable bureaucracy.The Convention of States, in elaborating the problem, similarly to WolfPAC, says the country cannot look to Congress and an Article V convention of states is required. to wit:
This is not a partisan issue. Washington, D.C., will never voluntarily relinquish meaningful power—no matter who is elected. The only rational conclusion is this: unless some political force outside of Washington, D.C., intervenes, the federal government will continue to bankrupt this nation, embezzle the legitimate authority of the states, and destroy the liberty of the people. Rather than securing the blessings of liberty for future generations, Washington, D.C., is on a path that will enslave our children and grandchildren to the debts of the past.Please study the similarities and differences, and ask yourself whether you think that WolfPAC and Convention of States could have a beneficial conversation. I think they could.
The problem is big, but we have a solution. Article V gives us a tool to fix the mess in D.C. [link]
B. No Labels
No Labels is a national citizens organization working inside the Beltway and around the nation to usher in a new era of focused problem solving in American politics. No Labels is for all those who have had it up to their eyebrows with all the petty infighting, party-first agendas and hyper-partisan wheel-spinning that are keeping the government from doing the people’s work.The website explains the philosophy of No Labels thusly:
Breaking gridlock is a preoccupation and priority of many reform organizations in D.C. and around the country. Often, these organizations are focused on bold systemic reforms to reduce the influence of hyper-partisanship, get money out of politics or put an end to congressional gerrymandering.
These are certainly worthy and important endeavors — but they are tough, multi-year, state-by-state slogs that may never come to fruition – or only come in time.
It is our view that we need solutions to our most pressing problems now, and we need buy-in from both Democrats and Republicans to find them.
For No Labels, the prevailing hurdle preventing our nation’s progress isn’t disagreement over particular policies. It’s an attitude – specifically, the hyper-partisan viewpoint that leads far too many of our leaders (and citizens) to completely dismiss, ignore or question the motives of people from the other party.
We don’t operate like that. Any member of Congress – conservative, liberal or in between – can win our approval, so long as she or he is willing to work with any other member to find solutions.
The primary goal of No Labels is to start a national movement that will culminate in a Federal government that sees the presidential administration and both houses of Congress working together to achieve mutually agreed-upon goals that will solve the nation’s problems.No Labels has a specific National Strategic Agenda to
- Create 25 million jobs over the next 10 years
- Secure Social Security and Medicare for the next 75 years;
- Balance the federal budget by 2030; and
- Make America energy secure by 2024.
Further, No Labels is trying to shape the 2016 Presidential elections by getting Presidential candidates to commit to the National Strategic Agenda, which is to be commenced immediately after the Presidential inauguration by a sustained bipartisan process to achieve one or more of the above four national goals.
Although the Presidential election has been a main feature of the daily news for more than six months, my guess is that most readers of this have not heard of No Labels.
C. Who in Alabama wants a conversation?
If all you want to do is hunker down in your camp as the war for the Supreme Court proceeds, you should have plenty of fireworks to watch.
The gale winds in the Presidential election are near a hurricane, and those give you all the opportunity you could want to roar at the top of your lungs.
The main roaring is by the Presidential candidates themselves. Things at the Congressional level are heating up as well. Senators Shelby and Sessions have drawn their lines in the sand about the Supreme Court, and you can do a ton of rooting with them, or jeering at them, according to the camp you are in.
Scant attention is going to be paid to WolfPAC, or Convention of States, or NoLabels.
When the 2016 elections have played out, there will probably be millions of Sanders supporters who are profoundly disappointed by his revolution falling short, and Secretary Clinton being the Democratic nominee.
You can't project very well on the Republican side right now.
If Trump is not the nominee, God knows what his supporters are going to do.
It is certain that the two sides will wage their perpetual war as fiercely as ever in the general Presidential election in the fall regardless of who the Democratic and Republican candidates are.
Then, the cycle will begin again. As soon as the results of the 2016 elections are in, the two warring camps will turn their attention to 2018, with their eyes ultimately on 2020. The 2016 Presidential election started in earnest promptly after the 2014 results were in, and it is likely the same two year Presidential race will happen regarding 2020 as soon as the 2018 results are in.
And on, and on, and on, it will go, with no sign of any change in the offing.
For 25 years, Republicans have loathed Democratic Presidents, and Democrats have loathed Republican Presidents. Contemplate, or relish, if you will, how much Republicans will hate a President Hillary Clinton if she is the next President. There may be less certainty about how much Democrats will hate the next President if he is a Republican, but there is not going to be a a paucity of hate there.
Now, I did get a tweet yesterday saying "don't worry, a few more years of this and you'll have 40+ states more than ready to convene [a convention of states] & help Congress."
OK, are the candidates at Thursday night's Alabama U.S. Senate debate at Hoover Tactical Firearms going to be asked about this?
Can you point to any Congressional candidates in Alabama who are going to attempt a conversation with Alabamians about this? Please give me their names if you think there are such candidates.
I would like to carry out such a conversation in the Alabama 6th Congressional district (Gary Palmer's district) about what is wrong with Congress and how it might be fixed. I attempted to do this in 2014, but was blocked in my efforts.
Maybe Congress is kaput and useless.
Maybe a President Trump would dictate to Congress to the effect of, "The country has elected me President to make America great again, and you Congress just need to do what I tell you."
On the other hand, maybe Congress can be important. The Presidential stuff is a lot more exciting and entertaining, Congress and what Congress does is a bit boring, and the conversation I would like to see take place is not going to grab you. Unfortunately, there is work citizens need to do to have a decently working Congress.
Please see Independent protest candidate in AL 6th Cong'l district? if you would like a conversation to happen in the 6th Congressional district in 2016 as I am urging. There is a March 1st deadline for this.
Thank you.
@RobShattuckAL06 No in my play book,,,,,, just one way!— Jackson Co AL Dems (@Jackson_Co_Dems) February 16, 2016
— Rob Shattuck (@RobShattuckAL06) February 16, 2016
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