Human will after the four physical forces, is the most powerful force in the universe. Money is only powerful to the degree that it can inspire human will into action. Money has no power over those who cannot be bought.
The common refrain of cynicism about electoral politics convinces large numbers of people to abdicate the force of their franchise in modern politics. They say, “money controls everything, so I am going to change the system from without.”, but this is precisely what moneyed politics WANTS you to do. This is their refrain, by speaking in these terms, you are spreading THEIR evangel. They want you to feel powerless next to them, they want you to believe that they cannot be stopped at the voting booth. Because if you didn’t, then you might try to stop them. And if you did, you might just win.
Elections are won by number of votes, not by number of dollars. There are certainly aspects of an election that require money, and it is very difficult to win an election without money. But money is not the ultimate arbiter of electoral outcomes. Will, is the ultimate arbiter of electoral outcomes. Money is so important to modern campaigns because the electorate is largely distant and views the electoral process with a high degree of superstition. People don’t want to pay attention to elections, they want to ignore it, they want to think about other things, they do not wish to devote their energies to the political process for various reasons. Money is used to get people who do not want to pay attention to pay attention. Money buys posters to plaster all over a neighborhood in people’s faces, it buys airtime on television. In otherwords, it purchases people’s attention. If you are already paying attention, then your attention cannot be bought.
If all you do is vote, then you aren’t really exercising your franchise. Citizen government is about participation. If you participate in your Democracy, then you are exercising your franchise. Protesting is the lowest form of political action, voting is the second lowest form of political action. Participation on a daily basis is the highest form.
Most people do not understand how a ballot process works. If you asked a random passerby on the street how to get a candidate onto the ballot, they wouldn’t know. It is much easier than most people think. The number of signatures required is not that great, and can be collected with a small number of volunteers. The problem faced is a ballot challenge, which initiates a legal process. Any registered voter may initiate a ballot challenge. Fighting against this is expensive and is one of the primary methods by which incumbents take out their political opponents. For a moneyed campaign, this is the single cheapest way to win an election. The answer to this is to create PACs that will challenge the ballots of incumbents who challenge the ballots of upstarts. Many incumbents are so complacent that they do not spend much effort on proper balloting. If this tactic causes the incumbents to ballot more diligently, we should consider that a victory against corruption.
An election comes down to a dedicated ground game. A small group of dedicated individuals can build a momentum that brings other people into the campaign. The first step is balloting, which comes down to simple math. You should aim for more than three times as many signatures as are required by law, because some of those signatures may be invalid. If you are subjected to a ballot challenge, this can knock you off the ballot if they can dismiss your signatures even down to just one below the legal requirement. From here, you can do the arithmetic based upon the total number of ballots required. A single volunteer can work for about two hours on a given day. And in that time you can expect between 3-10 legitimate signatures from that volunteer. During the balloting process, you should be networking with the community that will be served by the candidate. If you can get on the ballot and build relationships, then it opens doors to fundraising. Using social media, many small donors can beef up a campaign.
Social media is a game changer in politics. It puts media production into the hands of the general populace. Networking is not just a matter of meeting people. It is more a matter of creating multi-layered relationships. A simple way of looking at this is by rules of threes. If you can get three people with overlapping social networks, it is easier for those three people to bring in several more people from their social networks. If they are all from the same social network you have a great amount of strength within that network, but not much strength outside of it. The strongest method is by tapping into different social networks that have a high amount of crossover.
What is a constituency? Is it Latinos? Is it African-Americans? Is it Jews, Whites, Gays, Soccer Players, Ravers, Hip Hoppers, Rockers, Hipsters, Activists, Trainspotters? How do you identify a constituency? A constituency is any group that can wield electoral power within a unified electoral district by organizing as a bloc. You can organize politically with your community. That is the entire point of a citizen government. Break the political machines by organizing around constituencies that they don’t even recognize. I have heard it straight from the mouth of Democratic Party organizers who happen to be my friends that they do not care about these constituencies because they are seeking the people who already vote. They are not trying to create new voters. Certainly registering people to vote is a part of the process, but they do not reach out to communities that have placed themselves outside of the electoral process. I see on a regular basis communities bring hundreds and thousands of people to parties in lofts and warehouses all across the city. The skillset required to organize a loft or warehouse party is the same skillset that is required for political organizing. Particularly in New York City, particularly in Brooklyn, there are places where counter-culture demographics can swing a Congressional district as well as every lower seat contained within.
Do not fear the machine. Co-opt it and leverage it to your advantage. Getting on the ballot generally means you are getting on the ballot for a party. Wherever you live, simply co-opt one of the two mainstream parties or an existing third party. If the weaker party is more likely to be sympathetic to your cause, particularly if you can fill the gap in their numbers, then use that party. If not, and you know that people in that district vote party loyalty, then register with the stronger party. The two-party system doesn’t really represent us. The parties have changed hands ideologically many times. The Republican party was once the Progressive party and the Democratic party was once the Conservative party, now the roles are reversed. The less you participate in the inane culture wars, the better your chances of political success. The culture wars are used to create divisions and mistrust. For the most part, not many people agree with the party line verbatim. We are trained to, but if we get into a quiet and intimate setting, we will find places where we disagree with party policy. An essential realization is understanding how even the rhetoric of revolution can sometimes serve the establishment party line. What is important here is that we create a Citizen Democracy. To this end, the left should learn from the Tea Party’s recent success, just as the Tea Party co-opted organization tactics from the radical left. In Conservative areas, Conservatives should govern, and in Liberal areas, Liberals should govern, to the degree that these categories are even meaningful.
Both political parties are controlled by monied interests, at the top anyway. There is a rank and file of party activists who are likely to be sympathetic to the cause. These are citizens who have devoted themselves to the political process and genuinely believe in it. These can be real allies. There is a lot of ink-spilled on the Democratic party and how it is owned by the bankers. Certainly this is so. But that should be irrelevant to the electoral ambitions of the 99 percent. The party can be a means to an end. The refrain that the system is hopelessly corrupted and that people will abstain from voting as a result is to put it mildly, rank folly. If this system is to be reformed and replaced, by what method will it occur? There are three possible methods for replacing the system as it exists today. 1) Violent Revolution. 2) Economic Collapse. 3) Citizens standing up and taking back their government. The Tea Party has proven that dedicated citizens can take seats in the government and drive the discourse. We should not look at the Republican elite’s co-opting of the Tea Party as evidence that this was not successful. The party is going to continue to have entrenched power within it, that is just the nature of how this works, the old guard will not be replaced overnight. Within the Democratic party the old guard similarly will remain, and similarly will seek to co-opt the message. If the party so co-opts the message that it becomes the message, then this is a substantial victory for the movement. It will mean that the movement co-opted the party. But do not focus on the party, the party is ultimately not relevant, it is a means to an end, we are citizens, not partisans. What is truly important is that we replace the professional political class with a sincere citizen government. Members we elect from within our ranks, will inevitably fall to corruption, but not all of them. The movement must be seen to have legs for the remainder of the century if true and lasting change is to be brought out.
Violent revolution and economic collapse are not desirable. They will lead a civil war amongst the most well-armed and technically advanced population on the entire planet. The skills and resources to cause such collapse do indeed reside within the movement. But it is the wrong road to take. Every such overthrow in history has led to an oppressive revolutionary government, even the American Revolution. We should not seek to follow in the footsteps of Mao, Lenin, and Robespierre. I do not wish to leave behind a world where famine, pestilence and war plague my children’s youth. This leaves electoral politics as the only credible means toward that end. If we abandon electoral politics, then we are nothing, we are just another protest that leads to no meaningful change. We are simply the continuation of the anti-Globalization movement, the anti-War movement. We will continue to organize massive protests, perform a lot of street theater, congratulate one another on frightening the political elite, but in the end accomplish nothing.