I have been working with many others on Electoral Reform for close to 20 years, but it was not until Occupy emerged--and the Occupy NYC working group on Politics and Electoral Reform, that I actually saw possibilities emerge.  The video someone else made of me speaking in NYC went viral, you can see it at http://tinyurl.com/ER-6Minutes.

RIGHT NOW--in the next 30-90 days--we can pressure all 435 Representatives and all 100 Senators into passing a law that forces all states to put all federal candidates from all qualified national parties (i.e. including Green, Libertarian, and Reform) on all ballots.

Here is what Richard Winger of Ballot Access News has written:

Congress only has authority to regulate ballot access for federal elections (Congress and President).  In 9 different sessions of Congress, bills to require easy ballot access for minor party and independent candidates have been introduced, but they only pertain to president and Congress.

First John Conyers (D-Michigan) introduced it.  Then Tim Penny (D-Minnesota) introduced it.  Then Ron Paul introduced it, four times.  In 1998 it got to the House floor as an amendment, but only 67 members of the US House voted for it.

The authority is in Article I, Sec. 4: 

The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Place of Chusing Senators.

Here is what I think has changed:

01 Occupy Congress is now rising. Congress will not be able to stand up to 80% of the population demanding it be responsible.

02 The Internet now makes organized people more effective in shorter time than organized money.

03 The mystique of Congress is gone — everyone now recognizes the two-party tyranny for what it is — one bird, two wings, no difference.

04 The tangible financial crimes of Wall Street enabled by Congress, coming on top of the two elective wars that cost trillions to no good end, has exhausted public tolerance of Congressional corruption.

Documents for the Group's Consideration at http://tinyurl.com/OWS-ER-HO

Electoral Reform Pledge 2.1
Statement of Demand 3.4
Electoral Reform Act of 2012 4.3
International Election Integrity Principles
Pledge Table for Tracking All 435 Representatives

If anyone is interested in this possibility, there is a group of about 40 people who have been involved in electoral reform for a very long time, what we are lacking is the ability to nail down 435 individuals, one for each district, who will take on the responsibility of downloading the documents, educating a group of constitutents, and then arranging a call on their Representative to demand signing of the pledge and then report red, yellow, or green on the pledge table, with copies of signed pledges being posted as well.

It's trivial in relation to this larger issue, but just for the record I am one of three Reform Party candidates for the nomination, I want to do what I can to put Electoral Reform front and center.

I see huge theater / circus coming up -- Hillary challenging Obama being the most obvious way the two party tyranny stays in power--the Clintons, like the Bushes, are up to their necks in gold certificates and other forms of appreciation from the 1%--it is going to take a pretty compelling reform coalition, rooted firmly in facts and sound policies including a balanced budget and true cost economics, to avoid the train wreck that I see coming at us in November 2012, with a massive economic collapse in 2013 as all the cover-ups from Obamaville fray.

My email is robert.david.steele.vivas@gmail.com.

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"I see huge theater / circus coming up"

Not that I believed there wasn't a lot of theater before NDAA, but to watch it pass the Senate, indefinite detention "without charge" clauses intact, on an 86-13 showing of bipartisan support with the further footnote that not only is Obama not planning to veto this bill after all, but that the wording for indefinite detention originated from the White House, theater may be too generous a term.  What other measures, critical to the health and safety of our citizens at home, received such near unanimous support? 

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, of NDAA FY2012, was overwhelmingly approved by the House and Senate earlier this month. While the legislation indeed had its critics, the act was inexplicably missed by the mainstream media, who neglected to inform Americans of the dangerous blows to constitutional rights that will become a reality under the law.   The bill, which is annually updated to outline spending for the Department of Defense, contains several provisions for 2012 that will turn America, as Senator Lindsey Graham puts it, “into a battlefield.” As the US continues an open-ended war on terror, now American citizens suspected to be linked to terrorist enemies can be detained in prison indefinitely and subjected to torture tactics previously outlawed.

“What this legislation does,” lectured Senator Karl Levin earlier this month, “says from the Congress’ point-of-view, that we expressly authorize the indefinite detention” of someone deemed a threat. “We recognize the authority of this president and every other president to hold an enemy combatant indefinitely, whether they are captured home or abroad, because that only makes sense.” 

“How long can you hold them? As long as it takes to make us safe,” said Graham.

We, both, need to remain positive with regard to where we want to go and be very clear about the forces we face and the the role of all players on the stage.  This is live theater that requires audience participation.  Intelligent, conscious, organized active participation.  Electoral reform is certainly a logical imperative.

LOVE the image you provided.  My favorite is the saintly girl in coveralls looking up and the figure of a cop (not head visible) with lots of plastic handcuffs on their belt, the girl calm and fearless.

I never thought it would come to this.  Perhaps for the best, the crisis has been needed to wake up America.  Now if we can just get decent middle-class moderates to stop thinking of Occupy as "mis-fits."

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