'What If Lobbyists Didn’t Exist?'

pass this story around.........from the big picture........

"I was curious as to what the world would look like if we didn’t have lobbyists. We are one week away from announcing here the formation of a third party that has just one platform issue, the refusal of our candidates to take money or meet with lobbyists, banks or corporations while campaigning or in office. We understand that we will most likely be outspent in every election we enter, but we also feel America is ready to clean up the cesspool of special interests we call Washington. Having said that, if we can get 5 million Americans to each give us $50, that would be $250 million, enough to run a major campaign successfully. We will make up for our shortage of money with a surplus of American hard work and ingenuity. If Tunisia and Egypt can organize a revolution on the net, we ought to be able to also.

One of Huffington Post’s readers asked a very intuitive question after reading an article we posted that described the new party’s intentions. He asked, if you only have one platform issue, how is one supposed to know where the party stands on all the other important issues facing the country, the debt, the environment, jobs, healthcare, etc.

First of all, the national party will not be taking any positions on these issues. We will leave it to our candidates to take positions and we will leave it to voters, free of special interest influence, to decide if the positions our candidates espouse meet with favor with the electorate. I know this sounds like Democracy 101, but we have gotten so far away from democracy in this country that it needs to be said. If our candidates get off track and don’t represent your interests, you vote them out of office. The new national political party, unlike the Democrats and the Republicans, will not be rewarding our candidates with donations who regurgitate the party’s positions on issues. Then we will have a true democracy reflecting all the people and all the rich diversity of ideas that this country represents"..............READ MORE