Our current political leaders would have us believe otherwise. They prefer to keep us divided and confused.
But the truth is, there is huge agreement in this country on a host of key issues.
The constant feuding between the Democrats and Republicans has very effectively obscured this fact.
Yet, if you look carefully behind all of the obfuscation, bickering and blather we get 24/7 from politicians and pundits alike, poll after poll shows a broad consensus among American voters. This cuts across party lines and the “labels” — conservative, liberal, socialist, right wing, left wing — which are constantly used to keep citizens at one another’s throats and prevent voters from organizing themselves into a unified voting bloc, one that could challenge the “wisdom” of our elected officials in Washington DC. Their “wisdom” coincidentally happens to be what their deep-pocketed campaign donors and wealthy sponsors want to get done, not what the majority of citizens want.
While we here at NEAR could just look at the stats and come up with a reasonable guess what most of you want, we are committed to the democratic process. We believe you should be directly involved in setting the priorities of this country, and thus shaping the agenda this organization will pursue.
That in a nutshell is the point of our national poll on the issues, what we sometimes call our national referendum.
It’s you telling us what’s important, what you want our elected officials to do to serve your needs.
Based on what we’ve seen in the data collected over the past ten years, we’ve come up with a formidable list of what Americans in poll after poll typically identify as their “hotbutton” issues. These are items we often see in the news, hear being debated, and even bandied about in campaign speeches. Things like Social Security, Medicare, the minimum wage, the wars, taxing the rich.
We already know that Americans have strong opinions on these challenges. We also know that in most cases, the American public want one thing, but our elected officials vote for another.
The whole idea of the national poll is to get from you, the citizens who are directly affected, a solid message.
“Yes, this is important to me. Yes, this is what I want done!”
In fact, we want at least 50 million of you to give us that message!
You read that correctly . . . 50 million!
Why 50 million?
Because if 50 million or more citizens want something done, we will confront every candidate running for federal office and demand that the job gets done and it gets done right.
They can’t refuse.
They won’t refuse.
If they do, they don’t get our votes and they’re out of a job.
And don’t worry. We’ll find the candidates who will choose to serve you, the citizens who elect them to their cushy jobs, instead of the rich and powerful.
We’ll let you know who they are. We’ll set the record straight on who’s on your side, who will go to Washington DC and work for you.
It all starts with the national referendum.
You take the poll, then tell two others who are just as frustrated with our current dysfunctional political system.
They each tell two others who tell two others . . .
Yes, we’ll get 50 million. We’ll get more than 50 million!
Americans are fed up. The approval rate of Congress is below 10%.
People are tired of broken promises, gridlock, shutdowns, back-door deals.
They’re tired of their paychecks getting smaller and buying less.
They’re tired of being in debt up to their eyebrows, with more debt just piling on.
They’re tired of politicians always saying things are just fine, when we can all see the mess this country is in.
Voters have absolutely had it with not getting either the respect or the service they deserve!
Remember . . . our elected officials are supposed to be working for us, not some Wall Street banker who buys them a $300 lunch. Not some $200,000 a year lobbyist with buckets full of campaign donations.
Let’s work together. Let’s stand strong. Let’s stand united. Let’s take our democracy back from the plutocrats and make government work again for us.
Government of the people . . . by the people . . . for the people.