Taking Politics out of Political Issues

The crooks in Congress can be replaced only if a majority of the voters vote to replace them. That goes without saying, but I’m saying it anyway because too many people seem to have lost sight of that obvious fact.
The Tea Parties, GOOOH (Get out of Our House), and other such groups don’t seem to have that majority—not yet, anyway. From time to time, Tea Party members will point out that there are smatterings of liberals in their movement. Just as many Tea Party members, however, hysterically “warn” anyone who will listen that liberals are “trying to infiltrate” the Tea Parties. It’s almost as if they’re determined to keep the Tea Party movement so small that victory is impossible.
GOOOH, with hundreds of GOOOH groups in over 90 cities, seem unconcerned about the political affiliation of their supporters as long as they help rid the U.S. Congress of all 417 incumbents (That’s 435 minus the 18 who have decided not to return to the scene of their crimes.) GOOOH would probably tell us something like, “It doesn’t matter if the cat is tabby or calico. As long as it catches mice, it’s a good cat.”
Tea Party members, though, are trying to come to grips with the presence of demonstrators who don’t possess the requisite conservative or libertarian credentials.
What will it take to get a majority of voters to sweep the rats out of Congress? What if every conservative, libertarian, moderate, and liberal voter wanted to sweep the rats out of Congress? Would that be enough? No, I don’t think so.
If you’re wondering why not, go to a web site called Google Trends. Google Trends measures Internet interest, especially interest over time. Millions of people do web searches every day. People’s interest can be measured by what key words or names they use when conducting Internet searches.

Let’s key in Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, and Sarah Palin to see which one generates the most searches in the U.S. over the last 12 months. (Be sure to separate the names with commas.) It’s Sarah Palin by far. Maybe it’s the $150,000 wardrobe; I’m sure it wasn’t the wink. Hillary is practically flat lining. So the cleavage bit isn’t working out very well for her.

Since Sarah Palin has generated the most interest, let’s compare her with Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Most of the time, Paris Hilton is about even with Sarah Palin; but Britney Spears is the clear winner most of the time. (In the photo above, I think Sarah is telling her chances of becoming President.)

According to Google Trends, Tea Party Movement gets about three fourths as many hits as Vincent Price, the camp horror actor who died 17 years ago, a seventh as many hits as Nancy Pelosi, and a twelfth as many hits as Elvis Presley.
Do you see where this is leading? Somehow, the Tea Parties, GOOOH, and others will have to gain the votes of people who are more interested in Vincent Price and Britney Spears than in Tea Parties and Congress.
The good news is that everybody is interested in politics; they just don’t know it. To most people, politics is something other people choose to discuss for no apparent reason. It’s something that happens to other people. If it happens to them, it’s not politics; it’s life and death.
People are still more interested in the price of venison than they are in Vincent Price. Britney Spears is someone they watch or hear, but asparagus spears are more important to their health.
According to one survey, 30% of all homeowners are unable to sell their homes because the mortgage is worth more than the home. That may be politics to 70% of the voters, but it’s life and death to the other 30%.
People need long-term solutions to immediate problems. Even if they’re angry enough to remove their congressmen from office, they’re not angry enough to stop looking to Washington for help no matter how angry or distrustful they are. Why? Because Washington is still just about the only game in town. Until people are able to see local solutions to local problems, they’re going to look elsewhere. Like teenagers with hand-held video games, they’ll turn on to them without giving it a thought.
Non-political people—that’s most people—are more influenced by caring people than they are by carefully written speeches; but if they don’t see the deeds they’re likely to fall for words or stay home on election day.
A friend of mine has a people-to-people, grassroots diplomatic initiative to promote peace among nations by by-passing the diplomats. Within the borders of the United States, we need similar initiatives bypass the politicians and bring people together. That’s what non-political people understand; that’s what people of all types understand.
From time to time over the next few months, I’ll make suggestions that are likely to surprise you. I ask y’all to make some suggestions that’ll surprise me. While it’s important to capitalize on voter resentment of congressional malfeasance, it’s even more important to get to the root of the problems. As the four-character proverb goes, “Cut grass; remove root.” On the positive side, there’s another four-character proverb: “Drink water; think source.” Remember that every political issue is a human need.

What's All this about the GOOOH Movement?

By now you’ve heard a thing or two about the GOOOH Movement. GOOOH, pronounced, “Go,” stands for Get out of Our House. GOOOH is a non-partisan, grassroots movement to replace all 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and elect citizens who, presumably, will serve for only one term of office. It’s the brainchild of Jim Cox, a computer specialist who quit his day job to devote all his time to GOOOH.
I won’t go into the details of how the GOOOH process of candidate selection and election is designed to take place; nor will I try to get you fired up for or against the movement. I’ll refer you to the GOOOH web site for the details and the rah-rah stuff. As I write these words, I’m listening to one of the You Tube videos (of seven) answering that question.
This article is a discussion of the pros and cons of a movement to remove every member of the House of Representatives in a single election. I’ve often heard that the Chinese word for crisis is a composite of two words, one meaning danger, and the other meaning opportunity. In the present crisis, the GOOOH movement represents both.
The greatest danger is that we have an unelected, extra-constitutional (some would say unconstitutional) branch of government in the regulatory agencies and other areas of the federal bureaucracy. In the face of an entrenched bureaucracy, newly elected congressmen are babes in the woods. Rather than getting true representatives in Washington, we may be exchanging poor representation for no representation.
The greatest misconception of the GOOOH movement is that we can solve the problems of Washington by electing “the right people” to Congress and leaving them alone to do good. The late Milton Friedman said that congressmen are, in effect, businessmen who will do the right thing or the wrong thing depending on which is more politically profitable. (Perhaps a more apt word, given his rationale, might be mercenaries rather than businessmen.) While his view may have been overly simplistic, he makes a vital point: If the voters don’t monitor their congressmen’s behavior, somebody else will, and probably not for the better.
Another shortcoming of the idea is that it’s not sustainable. Let’s say you throw half the bums out. The other half will probably figure that GOOOH will never be able to give a repeat performance. Not only will they feel less vulnerable, they’ll also know that, with their experience, they can run roughshod over these newcomers.
On the plus side, the voters themselves will feel a sense of empowerment that they’d never felt before. They’ll have seen that they can make a difference. We probably would see a higher degree of citizen participation in government. With that higher degree of citizen participation, we may see a higher determination to throw crooks out of office.
For reasons I described in the series “How Washington Really Works,” the problem in Washington isn’t a case of a few rotten apples spoiling the barrel. It’s a case of a rotten barrel that spoils the apples. Very few academic papers have been written on the Rotten Barrel Theory; but, in certain areas, fundamentally decent people are corrupted by the systems in which they function. I believe that Washington is one such system.
The movement to get the crooks out of office is laudable. That, in fact, is the main reason I started the American Action Report. The GOOOH movement provides some of the direction for the excitement generated by the Tea Parties. The GOOOH movement also should provide some of the incentive and sense of empowerment necessary to watch congressmen once they’re elected.
I know of no movement—and certainly not the American Action Report—that can promise to deliver everything needed to clean up the mess in Washington. I believe, though, that the GOOOH movement is worthwhile for at least two reasons: the immediate gratification we expect to see in removing a significant number of corrupt congressmen, and the sense of responsibility I expect it to generate among its participants.
Let’s not kid ourselves. It’s not an end; it’s a beginning. The more difficult part will come after the election.