Republican Chicanery Refutable by Voting Advice Network

A friend just sent me a pointer to this great post about Frank Lutz--the person behind much of the Republican's linguistic mischief, such as calling a pollution de-regulation bill the "Clean Air Act". 

I knew about the devious practices, but didn't know that Frank Luntz was behind most of it. I was particularly struck by this:

"independents … are Frank’s real aim. These are the people who don’t have the time or inclination to double-check some bit of pleasant-sounding Clean Air Act deceit or demonizing stretch of free-word-association, such as using ‘Iraq,’ 9/11′, and ‘Saddam Hussein’ all in the same breath…"

Yup. That's why a voting advice network is a necessity. All it takes is one analyst who can see through it, connected to a few popularizers who are connected to thousands, each of whom is connected to hundreds more. In short order, the insight goes out to millions.

The result is a game-changing speed-of-travel and reach of information. Right now, the effect of an analyst's insight tapers off rapidly. It might reach a few thousand, but then it tends to dissipate in the wind. So by the time something like the "Clean Air Act" comes up for a vote, only a percentage of the populace remembers (or ever knew) what it really is.

But with the voting advice network, such insights propagate rapidly, and are retained—an independent won't miss hearing it, and won't have to worry about remembering it.


Come election time, the analysts insight is recorded as a "yea or nay" recommendation. There are links to the reasons, should the independent care to follow them. (In case their are opposing recommendations.) But when all of an independent's trusted advisors make the same recommendation, there's really no need to check. It's a simple matter of voting. (And if 4 out of 5 advisors make the same recommendation, then the 5th is somewhat suspect....)


Put simply: A voting advice network is the remedy for Frank Luntz.

Government Collapse, Aristocracy of Wealth, Voting Advice Network

This is a letter I sent to a friend of mine, who is having trouble with a mobile home park, and who is finding that other small park owners have been beset with suddenly-imposed, draconian regulations. She wondered if government were "falling apart". I explained how things have come to that point...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the government side of things, the meltdown is by Republican design. Their plan has been executed masterfully, so that an aristocracy of wealth is forming, unimpeded by government.

That plan began in the 80's:

• Pour massive funding into state elections (Why? Because state governments set district boundaries.)
  
  
• At the end of the decade, gerrymander every possible district. (Something that has been going on for ages, but for the first time, a coordinated national effort was made to do it by one party.)
   
• Starve the government of cash. (With the seats gained, roll back every possible tax.)

At the point that happens (or happened), the Republican cause is effectively won. Either every possible service is cut back to the point of extinction, or government simply fails for lack of cash.

As for the government, since we couldn't possible de-staff and de-fund the programs people need, the ones that oversee corporate businesses were de-staffed and de-funded, instead:

• The FDA became a rubber stamp for the food industry, depending on data supplied by the industry rather than doing their own studies.
  
  
• The SEC became missing in action, being able to hire only from the bottom 10% of each graduating class, and not many of those.
  
  
• The IRS, finding out that it was too costly to audit the rich (because they fought back with highly-paid tax lawyers and accountants who outgunned the IRS, the same way corporations outgunned the SEC), began doing 90% of their audits on people making less than $50k/year --and finding that in 50% of those cases, they owed the taxpayer a refund. (Result: Even less cash for government, but a higher "close" rate that let government workers keep their jobs.)

I suspect that the same kind of thing has happened in Sacramento and other state governments. Finding it impossible to govern large corporate developments effectively, they've turned their attention to smaller developments that don't have the resources to fight back.

As it happens, I know how to solve the problem. I have simply been too selfishly focused on my own survival to implement the solution.

If I can find development talent who will donate their time or find funding to get the time myself or hire that talent, then I will be able to implement the only possible remedy for the problems that beset our country and our economy:

      A voting advice network that will make lobbyists
      IRRELEVANT to the political process, by making
      money irrelevant to elections.

(Contact me for more info, or see preliminary writeups at http://CitizensAdvisory.org)

BTW: The system would enable true CORPORATE governance, as well--something we haven't had for 50 years.

And with money no longer dominating the equation, we would have a chance to reverse the trend towards a rapidly growing "aristocracy of wealth" that is turning into a repeat of Rome.


Note:
No one minds an "aristocracy" with a flexible membrane--one where people join and leave based on their own performance (also called a "meritocracy"). But with the repeal of the estate tax, we are set to create a hereditary aristocracy that will present a very rigid membrane to future generations.