The John Q. Public Movement
Drastic times call for drastic measures.
Whenever there is a popular uprising with growing voter dissatisfaction, the end result is that we revert back to the other dysfunctional party/candidate that we voted out the last time we had angst. The ultimate end is more career politicians in office and more but different dysfunction.
The House of Representatives was set up as the people’s house. Our elected representatives are supposed to represent our interests but in fact they rarely do. They go with good intentions, but once there, realize that the only way that they are going to get re-elected is to cater to those with money: big corporations, special interests and lobbyists. Political survival is indelibly married to money.
The only way to truly effect change in the present system is work within the confines of the present system. Our political system is set up now to favor incumbents and to favor those with money, name recognition and notoriety within their own parties. And since we really only have 2 parties, 3rd party candidates frequently fail. How do we remove these competitive advantages?
So how do we really execute a reset? How do we vote out incumbents? How do we get people elected that will do the people’s will? Enter John Q. Public.
This is just a brief outline sketch of my idea and I’m posting this to elicit feedback to see if this possible.
- Start a Political Action Committee called “The John Q. Public Movement”.
- Enlist 435 volunteers, one in each Congressional District.
- Each of these volunteers presents the outline of this movement to the heads of both parties in each district.
- The intent is that we find a viable, electable candidate for each party in each district.
- These candidates will pledge the following: (NOT INCLUSIVE, just a start)
- I will go to
- I will do everything possible to introduce/vote for deficit reduction
- I will support compromise including spending cuts as well as tax increases
- I will serve no more than 3 terms
- I will introduce/vote for term limits
- I will introduce/vote for a balanced budget amendment
- I will introduce/vote to eliminate lobbyists and make taking money from lobbyists a crime.
- Each of these 870 candidates legally changes their name to either John Q. Public or Jane Q. Public. Once elected, they change their names back.
- They will receive financial support from the JQPM PAC and will reap the benefits of national advertising and national exposure.
- The issue of name recognition on the ballot is now moot as every person in the country will have heard of the movement and will know that they are voting for REAL change when they vote for John/Jane Q. Public.
- The real intent is that the November election ballot in every district is:
John Q. Public (R) vs. John Q. Public (D)
This has to be a true bipartisan effort. The list of central issues will be paramount for each candidate in each party and will be the same for both Republicans and Democrats. Everything outside of these central issues is open for healthy and educated debate. These have to be viable, electable candidates that are willing to submit to the core issues.
We need to have a person on the ballot for the primary. This is critical.
I believe that there is still time to get necessary signatures and get people on ballots. We should also offer the conditions to incumbents who would change their names, support term limits and would be willing to leave in 6 years or less.
If this idea is viable, we should be able to get support from retired politicians and have them as the face of the organization. One step at a time though.
Obviously, this isn’t everything and not complete, only a first draft.
Please comment, poke holes, discuss and let’s see if this could be a viable movement.
