Here is the basic tweeting plan for the Tweet Squad: The tweeting plan.
Here is the basic agenda for the Tweet Squad: CFR'ers Agenda 2016.
Pick and choose according to what suits your preference.
If your preference is to promote Bernie Sanders, then combine with CFR and work through your local Sanders group along the lines of this: Proposed messaging re: Congress. To do this, be a member of a local Sanders group and solicit other members in the group whether they have an interest. If you find others in the group who have an interest, then contact the group leaders to ask whether they will allow you to promote the idea to the group.
If you wish to advance the candidacy of Lawrence Lessig, consider promoting #Tweet4Lessig.
A generic form of tweeting is: Will you tweet this to your Representative?.
If you want to target your own Congressional district, please consider what was done re: FL 17th and 18th Cong'l districts picked.
If you are keen on one of the CFR organizations, give yourself a name such as the WolfPAC Tweet Squad, the Rep.Us Tweet Squad, the MTA Tweet Squad, or the Stampede Tweet Squad, and develop your own messaging idea.
The key to this is organization. Organize, organize, organize.
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Friday, August 21, 2015
Hey, Mobile AL
Donald Trump has a huge campaign trip to Mobile, Alabama, today.
The event has been moved to a larger venue due to the large crowd expected. The Alabama Secretary of State’s Office says more than 30,000 people have confirmed they will attend the ‘Donald J. Trump for President Pep Rally.’ It will be held at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, located at 1621 Virginia Street, Mobile, AL 36604. Gates open at 5 p.m. The event is from 7 to 8:30 p.m. WHNT 19 News.
Donald Trump has said our political system is broken. For a video of his Republican debate remarks about our broken system, see Trump: "Our system is broken".
Today, let's call these Trump statements to the attention of Mobile residents, and ask them what they think about our system being broken and what they think should be done about it.
I have sent this general tweet:
I have sent this general tweet:
Hey #mobileAL, Donald Trump says our system is broken. What do you think? What should be done? #alpolitics http://t.co/dagDV22GVf
— Rob Shattuck (@RobShattuckAL06) August 21, 2015
I have used the #mobileAL to send directed tweets to persons who have used that hashtag today and have mentioned Trump. My tweets have been saying along the lines of this: @____________ Hey Mobile, Trump says our political system is broken. What do you think? What should be done? #alpolitics http://t.co/dagDV22GVfPlease join me and send your own tweets to call Trump's statements about our broken system to the attention of Mobile residents, and ask them what they think, and what should be done about it.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Update on tweeting plan
This updates my July 30th blog entry The tweeting plan.
Of the campaign finance reform organizations, StampStampede and Represent.Us have provided me the encouragement of retweeting or favoriting a few of my tweets.
I believe the other organizations MAYDAY.US, MoveToAmend, WolfPAC, NHRebellion and TakeBackOurRepublic are cognizant of my efforts and my interest in getting expressions of support from them for what I am trying to do.
Those organizations have been unresponsive to my entreaties and have said nothing to me.
One possibility is that the organizations believe what I am trying to do to advance campaign finance reform is a waste of time, be it mine or anyone else's. This is not an unreasonable belief, but they have not bothered to communicate that to me and make suggestions about how I might better contribute to the cause of campaign finance reform.
Since July 30th I have sent thousands of tweets. There have been thousands of page views of my blog entries. I have received hundreds of retweets, favorites, follows and other favorable replies.
I have been working several approaches. I have continued my solicitation of Sanders groups to add to their campaigns a messaging component regarding Congress per Proposed messaging re: Congress.
With help from Marlin Woosley, a lot of tweeting was done focused on the Florida 17th and 18th Congressional districts. See FL 17th and 18th Cong'l districts picked.
When Lawrence Lessig announced that he would seek to raise a million dollars by Labor Day in order to run for the Democratic Presidential nomination, I initiated #Tweet4Lessig.
I used Donald Trump's "our system is broken" statement in the Republican debate by posting and tweeting links to Trump: "Our system is broken".
About a score of recipients of my tweets have expressed interest in participating in the tweeting plan. I have passed many of those expressions of interest along to MAYDAY and also other responses I received that I thought should be of interest to MAYDAY. These included recipients tweeting to their Representatives in Congress, which seemed to complement MAYDAY's Congressional calling campaign. MAYDAY expressed no thanks or support for any of this.
On August 12th, in connection with Lawrence Lessig's announcement, MAYDAY said:
I don't think MAYDAY has figured out what to do about Zephyr Teachout's conundrums.
The foregoing circumstances may explain MAYDAY's silence about what I have been doing.
Alternatively, as indicated above, it would not be unreasonable to believe what I am trying to do to advance campaign finance reform is a waste of time, my time or anyone else's, and MAYDAY thinks my efforts are all so worthless that the best reaction is silence.
I will continue to tweet to push forward my tweeting plan. Those who think it might be of interest to them to participate are deserving of being informed about the above.
Thank you.
Of the campaign finance reform organizations, StampStampede and Represent.Us have provided me the encouragement of retweeting or favoriting a few of my tweets.
I believe the other organizations MAYDAY.US, MoveToAmend, WolfPAC, NHRebellion and TakeBackOurRepublic are cognizant of my efforts and my interest in getting expressions of support from them for what I am trying to do.
Those organizations have been unresponsive to my entreaties and have said nothing to me.
One possibility is that the organizations believe what I am trying to do to advance campaign finance reform is a waste of time, be it mine or anyone else's. This is not an unreasonable belief, but they have not bothered to communicate that to me and make suggestions about how I might better contribute to the cause of campaign finance reform.
Since July 30th I have sent thousands of tweets. There have been thousands of page views of my blog entries. I have received hundreds of retweets, favorites, follows and other favorable replies.
I have been working several approaches. I have continued my solicitation of Sanders groups to add to their campaigns a messaging component regarding Congress per Proposed messaging re: Congress.
With help from Marlin Woosley, a lot of tweeting was done focused on the Florida 17th and 18th Congressional districts. See FL 17th and 18th Cong'l districts picked.
When Lawrence Lessig announced that he would seek to raise a million dollars by Labor Day in order to run for the Democratic Presidential nomination, I initiated #Tweet4Lessig.
I used Donald Trump's "our system is broken" statement in the Republican debate by posting and tweeting links to Trump: "Our system is broken".
About a score of recipients of my tweets have expressed interest in participating in the tweeting plan. I have passed many of those expressions of interest along to MAYDAY and also other responses I received that I thought should be of interest to MAYDAY. These included recipients tweeting to their Representatives in Congress, which seemed to complement MAYDAY's Congressional calling campaign. MAYDAY expressed no thanks or support for any of this.
On August 12th, in connection with Lawrence Lessig's announcement, MAYDAY said:
We have not yet decided what action MAYDAY will be taking in 2016 races. But there’s a way you can help right now. Take one minute to record a message that we’ll deliver for you to Congress and pass on this email to friends so they can sign up to receive updates on this exciting moment.http://blog.mayday.us/post/126510302980/mayday-is-a-super-pac-lessig-is-a-candidate
I don't think MAYDAY has figured out what to do about Zephyr Teachout's conundrums.
The foregoing circumstances may explain MAYDAY's silence about what I have been doing.
Alternatively, as indicated above, it would not be unreasonable to believe what I am trying to do to advance campaign finance reform is a waste of time, my time or anyone else's, and MAYDAY thinks my efforts are all so worthless that the best reaction is silence.
I will continue to tweet to push forward my tweeting plan. Those who think it might be of interest to them to participate are deserving of being informed about the above.
Thank you.
Friday, August 14, 2015
CFR'ers Agenda 2016
DRAFT
CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORMERS AGENDA 2016
We believe Congress is broken. We believe this is due to the corrupting influence of money in politics. We believe that fixing this needs to be of first priority for the country in the 2016 elections.
Our goal is to get Congress to own up to this and propose a change to the American people.
We acknowledge that not everyone, and not every member of Congress, shares our above beliefs. We further acknowledge that, among those who believe Congress is broken, there are differing views about what to do.
We therefore want a Congressional debate and a national public debate about whether Congress is broken and, if so, what should be done about it.
For the 2016 elections, we wish to mass all our resources for campaign finance reform in order to publicize this to the American people and to force our Congress to take up and lead a national public debate.
While campaign finance reform has some money to wage the battle, this money is minuscule to the money that does not want change.
What we lack in money power, we must make up with the people power on our side.
We need to have effective strategy and tactics in deploying our people power.
We know the needed change will come about only by being forced from the bottom up.
While it is bottom up, and not top down, we recognize how the most public attention is at the Presidential election level.
At the Presidential level, the candidacies of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump are being fueled by widespread disgust and anger with the political establishment in Washington DC. Both Sanders and Trump are making very publicized charges that "the system is broken." Campaign finance reform needs to utilize what is happening at the Presidential election level.
At the same time, we must not lose track that the forcing of change must come from the grassroots. Much is going on to push at the state and local governmental levels that are closer to the grassroots. Also Representatives in Congress are closer to the grassroots. Presidential election politics should not undermine pressurizing at the Congressional level and lower governmental levels, and political efforts at the higher and lower levels can be structured to complement one other.
So, our agenda for the 2016 elections is to utilize effective strategy and tactics for deploying people power, first, to force Congressional debate and a national public debate about whether Congress is broken or not, and, if so, what should be done about it, and, second, utilizing such debate, as it progresses, to be a basis for further steps regarding the 2016 elections.
[I have done the above draft because I have not come across a satisfactory (in my view) statement of agenda for campaign finance reform for the 2016 elections. I choose "debate" because I think campaign finance reform will have the best chance if it is thrown open for debate, everyone is given an opportunity to weigh in, and failure to weigh in (silence) will be interpreted as approval of Congress being broken and a desire for the American people not to know that. I have done the above in draft form because I want to hear what others think.]
CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORMERS AGENDA 2016
We believe Congress is broken. We believe this is due to the corrupting influence of money in politics. We believe that fixing this needs to be of first priority for the country in the 2016 elections.
Our goal is to get Congress to own up to this and propose a change to the American people.
We acknowledge that not everyone, and not every member of Congress, shares our above beliefs. We further acknowledge that, among those who believe Congress is broken, there are differing views about what to do.
We therefore want a Congressional debate and a national public debate about whether Congress is broken and, if so, what should be done about it.
For the 2016 elections, we wish to mass all our resources for campaign finance reform in order to publicize this to the American people and to force our Congress to take up and lead a national public debate.
While campaign finance reform has some money to wage the battle, this money is minuscule to the money that does not want change.
What we lack in money power, we must make up with the people power on our side.
We need to have effective strategy and tactics in deploying our people power.
We know the needed change will come about only by being forced from the bottom up.
While it is bottom up, and not top down, we recognize how the most public attention is at the Presidential election level.
At the Presidential level, the candidacies of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump are being fueled by widespread disgust and anger with the political establishment in Washington DC. Both Sanders and Trump are making very publicized charges that "the system is broken." Campaign finance reform needs to utilize what is happening at the Presidential election level.
At the same time, we must not lose track that the forcing of change must come from the grassroots. Much is going on to push at the state and local governmental levels that are closer to the grassroots. Also Representatives in Congress are closer to the grassroots. Presidential election politics should not undermine pressurizing at the Congressional level and lower governmental levels, and political efforts at the higher and lower levels can be structured to complement one other.
So, our agenda for the 2016 elections is to utilize effective strategy and tactics for deploying people power, first, to force Congressional debate and a national public debate about whether Congress is broken or not, and, if so, what should be done about it, and, second, utilizing such debate, as it progresses, to be a basis for further steps regarding the 2016 elections.
[I have done the above draft because I have not come across a satisfactory (in my view) statement of agenda for campaign finance reform for the 2016 elections. I choose "debate" because I think campaign finance reform will have the best chance if it is thrown open for debate, everyone is given an opportunity to weigh in, and failure to weigh in (silence) will be interpreted as approval of Congress being broken and a desire for the American people not to know that. I have done the above in draft form because I want to hear what others think.]
Thursday, August 13, 2015
#Tweet4Lessig
I have been assiduously promoting tweeting campaigns in order to advance the cause of campaign finance reform. See, e.g., Proposed messaging plan re: Congress; The tweeting plan; FL 17th and 18th Cong'l districts picked.
Lawrence Lessig (@lessig) has announced that he is seeking to raise $1,000,000 by Labor Day, to be used to mount a credible campaign in the Democratic Presidential Primary. (For more info, see Lessig for President.) This announcement leads me to add to my tweeting plan a component of #Tweet4Lessig.
There is currently in use the hashtag #lessig2016. That hashtag can be used in the tweeting campaign, and also #Tweet4Lessig might be used for tweets specifically soliciting participation in the tweeting campaign.
Let's see how #Tweet4Lessig develops.
EDIT: One thing I have been doing is tweeting to Sanders supporters, asking them what they think about the Lessig candidacy. In my tweets, I have been giving a link to http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/bernie-sanders-larry-lessig-2016-campaign-121280.html. What are your thoughts about this?
EDIT 9/6/15
Proposal for Lessig2016 now that the $1,000,000 has been raised. The proposal is to be implemented, and it is explicated, by means of a new webpage on the Lessig2016 website. A suggestion for the new webpage is set forth below. The key to initiating the proposal is there being volunteers who are willing to do tweeting. As few as three or four could suffice to begin with.
[Suggestion for new webpage]
WE NEED PUBLIC MOBILIZATION TO #FixDemocracyFirst
As explained in The Plan, Larry Lessig is running for President to obtain a mandate to get Congress to pass the Citizens Equality Act of 2017.
To achieve this goal will require massive public mobilization, and particularly pressure on Congress needs to start immediately. We need as many supporters as we can get to help make this happen.
This webpage is the initiation of a Twitter campaign to begin to instigate public mobilization, and to pressure Congress.
We cannot start this right away on a nationwide basis, and we will start by concentrating on selected smaller geographic areas first.
In line with our goal to pressure Congress, we are going to proceed by selecting Congressional districts to target.
Our objective is to publicize in the districts as much as we can our broken Congress, and the reason we think it is broken. We want to draw in Republicans and independents to our public mobilization, as well as Democrats.
We believe doing this will help coalesce and grow the public mobilization that is needed for our campaign to succeed.
As we pick Congressional districts to target, our volunteers will proceed to do massive tweeting into the districts. Their tweets will give links to this webpage. Our volunteers will send individual tweets to Twitter follower lists on selected Twitter accounts in the Congressional district and using selected hastags specially in use in the district. Our volunteers will ask voters in the Congressional district to send their own tweets to the Representative for the district and also to the state's Senators in Congress. Our volunteers will seek to recruit other Twitter users in the Congressional districts to send tweets in a similar fashion.
To focus the tweeting, we will demand that the Representatives for the Congressional districts and the state's Senators in Congress state publicly that the country and Congress must #FixDemocracyFirst.
A variety of tweet messages will be employed.
As examples, tweets to the Representatives and Senators in Congress might say:
Dear @_______, you need to state publicly that the country and Congress must #FixDemocracyFirst. [link to this webpage.]Tweets to other persons in the district might say:
Tweet this to your Rep. in Congress: "@___ you need to state publicly that the country and Congress must #FixDemocracyFirst. [link to this webpage.]Please help us instigate the massive public mobilization that is going to be needed to #FixDemocracyFirst.
Asking Sanders supporters about Lessig
I am tweeting to Sanders supporters, asking them what they think about the Lessig candidacy.
In my tweets, I give a link to http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/bernie-sanders-larry-lessig-2016-campaign-121280.html.
What are the thoughts of campaign finance reformers about my doing this?
Thanks.
In my tweets, I give a link to http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/bernie-sanders-larry-lessig-2016-campaign-121280.html.
What are the thoughts of campaign finance reformers about my doing this?
Thanks.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Money power; people power
Money power
Yesterday @lessig announced that he is seeking to raise $1,000,000 by Labor Day, to be used to mount a credible campaign in the Democratic Presidential Primary. See the Plan Step 1.
Also, yesterday I learned about the Honest Elections Seattle initiative of Represent.Us. An email from Represent.Us explained as follows:
Last month MAYDAY's announcement launched with:
That is money power.
Campaign finance reformers have become accustomed to "embracing the irony" of fighting money with money.
I made donations yesterday to Prof. Lessig and Represent.Us.
People power
My interest is with people power (maybe because I don't have any influence over the money).
Let's define people power as large numbers of people taking significant actions seeking to achieve a political objective.
The instigation for people power may be a charismatic leader, or a cause, or a combination of the two. The widespread action in people power ostensibly happens in a spontaneous and infectious way.
Money may be expended in tandem with the people power actions, and such money is frequently derived from donations in small amounts by the people engaging in the the action. The potency of people power comes predominantly from the widespread personal actions and involvement of the people, and the money receives much less note.
Noteworthy examples of people power include the current Sanders candidacy, the Ross Perot candidacy in the 1990's, the Tea Party movement of a few years ago, and maybe the Trump phenomenon.
People power can be potent and can influence political outcomes (sometimes in the not directly intended way, such as the Perot candidacy in 1992 resulting in Bill Clinton winning the Presidential election).
If money power is lacking, people power is imperative for the achievement of a political goal.
Those who have a political objective but lack money power can do little to conjure people power, and people power is largely a happenstance of whether large numbers of people spontaneously and infectiously joining in political actions seeking to achieve a goal.
How much people power will arise on behalf of @lessig will be seen in the course of time.
I don't know enough to comment about people power arising in support of the the Honest Elections Seattle initiative of Represent.Us.
At the moment, not much people power is being manifested on behalf of MAYDAY.
[to be continued]
Yesterday @lessig announced that he is seeking to raise $1,000,000 by Labor Day, to be used to mount a credible campaign in the Democratic Presidential Primary. See the Plan Step 1.
Also, yesterday I learned about the Honest Elections Seattle initiative of Represent.Us. An email from Represent.Us explained as follows:
We're on the brink of something huge. A passionate coalition is fighting hard to make Seattle, WA the second major city to pass a law protecting their city from corruption.The Honest Elections Seattle initiative is headed to the ballot this November, but powerful special interests are already working to stop the proposed law.Together, we're the most powerful anti-corruption community in America. If we all pitch in, we could build a defense fund ready to protect the Honest Elections Seattle initiative and future Anti-Corruption Acts.Better yet, a generous donor has offered to match every donation from one of us with one of their own – up to $10,000 – until Friday, August 14th.
Will you chip in now to unlock this $10,000 gift? We only have until next Friday.When the attack ads begin, and the secret money starts to flow, our defense fund could:
- Run print and radio ads telling the truth about the Honest Elections initiative
- Create powerful videos telling the real stories of regular people in Seattle, and why this law will make a difference
Will you make a small contribution before next Friday and double your impact?This is about so much more than Seattle. Together, we're working to put Anti-Corruption Acts on the ballot in cities and states across the United States.
- And respond to opposition campaigns faster than ever
Once passed, these laws aren't safe. Special interests will do everything they can to dismantle anti-corruption laws in order to regain their political influence. It's up to us to make sure that doesn't happen.
If just one in ten of us makes a small donation today, we could supercharge Honest Elections Seattle and fund future Anti-Corruption Acts.Anti-Corruption Acts are powerful because they crack down on corruption and make politicians beholden to their constituents. That's why moneyed interests will do whatever it takes to strike them down. It's up to all of us to pass these Acts and protect them from being taken apart brick by brick.
Make a small donation today and your money will go towards protecting existing Anti-Corruption Acts and getting more Acts on the ballot for 2016.Together, we can win and return the power to the people.
Last month MAYDAY's announcement launched with:
Fight against corruption in the 2016 elections.
Contribute now. We need you. We need to build power so we can demand that politicians do something about how private money is destroying democracy.* * * *
We are up against some of the most powerful anti-democratic forces in the world, and need people power to fight. * * * *
All campaign finance reformers, who want to see an end to the corruption, will well wish that Prof. Lessig, Represent.Us and MAYDAY receive bounteous donations to carry out their campaigns.Show your power and contribute.
That is money power.
Campaign finance reformers have become accustomed to "embracing the irony" of fighting money with money.
I made donations yesterday to Prof. Lessig and Represent.Us.
People power
My interest is with people power (maybe because I don't have any influence over the money).
Let's define people power as large numbers of people taking significant actions seeking to achieve a political objective.
The instigation for people power may be a charismatic leader, or a cause, or a combination of the two. The widespread action in people power ostensibly happens in a spontaneous and infectious way.
Money may be expended in tandem with the people power actions, and such money is frequently derived from donations in small amounts by the people engaging in the the action. The potency of people power comes predominantly from the widespread personal actions and involvement of the people, and the money receives much less note.
Noteworthy examples of people power include the current Sanders candidacy, the Ross Perot candidacy in the 1990's, the Tea Party movement of a few years ago, and maybe the Trump phenomenon.
People power can be potent and can influence political outcomes (sometimes in the not directly intended way, such as the Perot candidacy in 1992 resulting in Bill Clinton winning the Presidential election).
If money power is lacking, people power is imperative for the achievement of a political goal.
Those who have a political objective but lack money power can do little to conjure people power, and people power is largely a happenstance of whether large numbers of people spontaneously and infectiously joining in political actions seeking to achieve a goal.
How much people power will arise on behalf of @lessig will be seen in the course of time.
I don't know enough to comment about people power arising in support of the the Honest Elections Seattle initiative of Represent.Us.
At the moment, not much people power is being manifested on behalf of MAYDAY.
[to be continued]
Saturday, August 8, 2015
Bernie to LA on Monday
Los Angeles Rally with Bernie Sanders on 8/10
(NB. Top item on discussion list for event is "get big money out of politics".)
Tell Southern California Representatives in Congress they need to #lead4reform, or they will #FeelTheBernHeat.
I have sent my tweets to Representatives Capp, Knight, Brownley, Chu, Schiff, Cardenas, Sherman, Aguilar, Napolitano, Lieu, Becerra, Torres, Ruiz, Bass, Sanchez, Royce, Takano, Calvert, Waters, Hahn, Walters, Sanchez, Lowenthal, Rohrabacher, Issa, and Hunter.
You can find my tweets at #lead4reform and #FeelTheBernHeat.
Please, retweet my tweets, or favorite them, or even better send your own tweets.
Thank you.
Also, you might be interested in reading Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and CFR (CFR being campaign finance reform).
Friday, August 7, 2015
Tuscaloosa Move To Amend
I find the below three emails, and related facts, instructive about "the way things are" in the campaign finance reform movement. It would seem appropriate to make an evaluation of the impact of the "way things are" on how the movement is progressing and on its chances for success. I will, however, leave it to readers to decide their own reactions.
The first email is from Tuscaloosa Move To Amend to me, giving a summary of a meeting it held in June. The second email is a reply from me to Tuscaloosa Move To Amend, making an appeal for campaign finance reform organizations to try to be collaborative and mutually supporting. The third email is from Tuscaloosa Move To Amend to me, giving a reminder of its meeting later this month.
Tuscaloosa Move To Amend never responded to the second email below. Further there are other, earlier emails I sent to Tuscaloosa Move To Amend to which I did not receive a response.
Recently I have been bombarding the national MoveToAmend and other campaign finance organizations with tweets about various ideas, such as the campaign finance reform movement seeking synergy with the Bernie Sanders campaign. I have gotten no reaction from the national MoveToAmend. I do not know whether the national MoveToAmend sees anything about the Bernie Sanders candidacy that could be availed of by MoveToAmend to advance its program, or whether the Bernie Sanders candidacy has, in fact, affected the way MoveToAmend is pursuing its agenda.
This is part of "the way things are" in the campaign finance reform movement.
As indicated, I will leave it to readers to decide their own reactions.
From: Tuscaloosa Move to Amend <tuscaloosa@movetoamend.org>
Date: Thu, Jun 25, 2015 at 3:52 PM
Subject: Meeting Notes 6-18-2015
To: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>
The first email is from Tuscaloosa Move To Amend to me, giving a summary of a meeting it held in June. The second email is a reply from me to Tuscaloosa Move To Amend, making an appeal for campaign finance reform organizations to try to be collaborative and mutually supporting. The third email is from Tuscaloosa Move To Amend to me, giving a reminder of its meeting later this month.
Tuscaloosa Move To Amend never responded to the second email below. Further there are other, earlier emails I sent to Tuscaloosa Move To Amend to which I did not receive a response.
Recently I have been bombarding the national MoveToAmend and other campaign finance organizations with tweets about various ideas, such as the campaign finance reform movement seeking synergy with the Bernie Sanders campaign. I have gotten no reaction from the national MoveToAmend. I do not know whether the national MoveToAmend sees anything about the Bernie Sanders candidacy that could be availed of by MoveToAmend to advance its program, or whether the Bernie Sanders candidacy has, in fact, affected the way MoveToAmend is pursuing its agenda.
This is part of "the way things are" in the campaign finance reform movement.
As indicated, I will leave it to readers to decide their own reactions.
From: Tuscaloosa Move to Amend <tuscaloosa@movetoamend.org>
Date: Thu, Jun 25, 2015 at 3:52 PM
Subject: Meeting Notes 6-18-2015
To: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>
MOVE TO AMEND – TUSCALOOSA SUMMARY MEETING NOTES
June 18, 2015
Jim Price welcomed those in attendance. Alice Parker facilitated the business portion of the meeting.
Secretary Report
- Nancy Price requested that the meeting notes be accepted. Notes accepted by group with no changes.
Treasurer Report
- Doug Lightfoot reported on the balance for the Move to Amend-Tuscaloosa account.
Petitions Coordinator Report
- Patty Lightfoot gave the June report.
Media Relations Team Report
Website Administrator Report (including Affiliate Web Page, NationBuilder, Move to Amend-Tuscaloosa Calendar, and Monthly Conference Calls)
- The Move to Amend coalition call was Tue., June 16th.
Work Together Alabama!
- Alice Parker reported on the Work Together Alabama! meeting.
Update on Trans-Pacific Partnership
- Alice Parker reported that she attended and represented Move to Amend-Tuscaloosa along with a coalition that included members from Public Citizen, Rev. Fred Hammond, and MoveOn in lobbying Congresswoman Sewell. This group met with a trade representative from Congresswoman Terri Sewell’s office and asked her
End Citizens United
- Jim Price shared with group that an organization is emulating Move to Amend. It is a “fraud group” seeking people to like them on Facebook, building a mailing list, asking for money, and clogs emails. Do not like.
Study Circle
Presentations from the Movement Education Program Session were provided by:
- Alice Parker “Real Democracy”
- Johnny Marks, Jr. “Principles of Anti-Oppression and Anti-Oppression Practice”
- Group also viewed and discussed assigned videos and readings for Session II of the Movement Education Program.
Outreach
- No report.
July Meeting
- Group agreed not to meet in July.
- Next meeting: Thursday, August 20, 2015, 7:00 p.m., TDOT Building.
This concludes the notes for the June 18, 2015 Move to Amend-Tuscaloosa meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Nancy Price, Secretary, Move to Amend-Tuscaloosa
Move to Amend · PO Box 610, Eureka, CA 95502, United States
This email was sent to rdshattuck@gmail.com. To stop receiving emails, click here.
Move to Amend · PO Box 610, Eureka, CA 95502, United States
This email was sent to rdshattuck@gmail.com. To stop receiving emails, click here.
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com> Date: Sat, Jun 27, 2015 at 12:14 AM Subject: Re: Meeting Notes 6-18-2015 To: Tuscaloosa Move to Amend <tuscaloosa@movetoamend.org>
Thanks for this report, Jim and Nancy.
For some time, I have believed organizations such as MoveToAmend, Represent.Us, and MAYDAY.US, which have a common objective, should be collaborative and mutually supportive in promoting that common objective, even as the organizations have differing approaches for how to try to bring about needed change.
I have tried to push for such collaboration. Please see, for example, this blog entry: Trying for MoveToAmend.
If trying to foster collaboration appeals to Tuscaloosa Move to Amend, I would very much like to work with you on it.
Sincerely,
Rob Shattuck
Mountain Brook, AL
From: Tuscaloosa Move to Amend <tuscaloosa@movetoamend.org>
Date: Thu, Aug 6, 2015 at 12:48 PM Subject: Reminder: Move to Amend-Tuscaloosa Meeting 08-20-15 To: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>
|
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Are CFR'ers tweeting tonight?
I just saw a tweet by a Bernie tweeter urging Bernie supporters to get tweeting and hashtags going tonight to promote Bernie Sanders during the Republican debate.
That caused me to have my first thought about campaign finance reformers doing similarly to promote campaign finance reform during the debate.
Can we get campaign finance reformers going doing tweeting tonight to promote the campaign finance reform issue?
That caused me to have my first thought about campaign finance reformers doing similarly to promote campaign finance reform during the debate.
Can we get campaign finance reformers going doing tweeting tonight to promote the campaign finance reform issue?
Please tell me if you become aware of anything.
For thoughts about messaging, please see Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and CFR.
Possible hashtags to use include #getmoneyout #lead4reform #representus #getmoneyoutofpolitics.
EDIT
I have not done this before. The hashtags for the debate are #debate and #GOPDebate.
I have tweeted this, which I embed here for those interested in retweeting.
For thoughts about messaging, please see Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and CFR.
Possible hashtags to use include #getmoneyout #lead4reform #representus #getmoneyoutofpolitics.
EDIT
I have not done this before. The hashtags for the debate are #debate and #GOPDebate.
I have tweeted this, which I embed here for those interested in retweeting.
#debate this America: Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and campaign finance reform http://t.co/YuerJWGvk5 #GOPDebate
— Rob Shattuck (@RobShattuckAL06) August 6, 2015
If you tweet and you want me to embed your tweet here so others can retweet, please email me the embed code rdshattuck@gmail.comDonald Trump, Bernie Sanders and CFR
Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have in common that tens of millions of Americans are disgusted and angered with Washington DC, and the oligarchic political class that runs our country.
On the Republican side, this has fueled Donald Trump's incredible soaring in the race for the GOP Presidential nomination.
On the Democratic side, the growing candidacy of Bernie Sanders is speaking "political revolution" and taking "on the enormous economic and political power of the billionaire class."
The campaign finance reform movement has for years been beating the drum that Congress is broken and not working properly for the American people, and that this is due to the corrupting influence of money in politics.
A top issue for Bernie Sanders is "getting money out of politics."
As to Donald Trump, he publicly talks about how both the Democratic and Republican politicians love him, and treat him very nicely, and he Trump gives the politicians on both sides lots of money, because he is a businessman and that's what it takes to get the politicians to do what he needs.
The widespread anger and disgust with Washington DC, and the strong candidacies of Trump and Sanders that are being fueled, provides the finance reform movement excellent opportunity to make headway.
The attention getting paid at the level of the 2016 Presidential race, while beneficial to the CFR cause, should not distract the CFR movement from its understanding that the needed change will will not come from the top down, but only because the people at the grassroots are able to bring enough pressure to force it from the bottom up.
MoveToAmend, Represent.Us, Wolfpac, and StampStampede have been dedicating their efforts at local, grassroots levels for several years, and this must keep up. MAYDAY is working at the Congressional level, and it too must keep up.
While change will only be forced from the bottom up, what is happening at the national level in the 2016 Presidential race should be maximally availed of by the campaign finance reform movement in whatever effective ways can be found.
I have been pushing this for a couple of months since Bernie Sanders entered the Presidential race. @DefiningAmerica has been helping me recently.
With all political eyes focused on the first Republican Presidential debate to be held in Cleveland this evening, it seems a good occasion to renew our urging the campaign finance reform movement to get more public attention to its cause by finding ways of linking the same with aspects of the frenetic action going on at the national level in the 2016 Presidential race.
EDIT
It also seems appropriate to give a status report on the campaign finance reform organizations about this.
Except for MAYDAY, I haven't kept up with the specific activities of the organizations recently. I assume they continue to pursue their locally focused efforts of which I have been aware in the past. Represent.Us and StampStampede have been supportive of things put forth in this blog, by retweeting or favoriting some tweets of mine containing links to recent entries in this blog.
MAYDAY has been unresponsive. Possibly the explanation is that MAYDAY has not figured out what to do about Zephyr Teachout's conundrums.
If you are in the grassroots, there are things you can be doing right today. For information about these, see the below links:
1. We are ready for more districts to target
2, Politicking and strategizing re Sanders campaign
3, Will you tweet this to your Representative?
EDIT #2
See Are CFR'ers tweeting tonight?
EDIT #3
Bernie Sanders is going to Los Angeles on Monday (August 10th). Tell Southern California Representatives in Congress they need to #lead4reform, or they will #FeelTheBernHeat. See Bernie to LA on Monday.
On the Republican side, this has fueled Donald Trump's incredible soaring in the race for the GOP Presidential nomination.
On the Democratic side, the growing candidacy of Bernie Sanders is speaking "political revolution" and taking "on the enormous economic and political power of the billionaire class."
The campaign finance reform movement has for years been beating the drum that Congress is broken and not working properly for the American people, and that this is due to the corrupting influence of money in politics.
A top issue for Bernie Sanders is "getting money out of politics."
As to Donald Trump, he publicly talks about how both the Democratic and Republican politicians love him, and treat him very nicely, and he Trump gives the politicians on both sides lots of money, because he is a businessman and that's what it takes to get the politicians to do what he needs.
The widespread anger and disgust with Washington DC, and the strong candidacies of Trump and Sanders that are being fueled, provides the finance reform movement excellent opportunity to make headway.
The attention getting paid at the level of the 2016 Presidential race, while beneficial to the CFR cause, should not distract the CFR movement from its understanding that the needed change will will not come from the top down, but only because the people at the grassroots are able to bring enough pressure to force it from the bottom up.
MoveToAmend, Represent.Us, Wolfpac, and StampStampede have been dedicating their efforts at local, grassroots levels for several years, and this must keep up. MAYDAY is working at the Congressional level, and it too must keep up.
While change will only be forced from the bottom up, what is happening at the national level in the 2016 Presidential race should be maximally availed of by the campaign finance reform movement in whatever effective ways can be found.
I have been pushing this for a couple of months since Bernie Sanders entered the Presidential race. @DefiningAmerica has been helping me recently.
With all political eyes focused on the first Republican Presidential debate to be held in Cleveland this evening, it seems a good occasion to renew our urging the campaign finance reform movement to get more public attention to its cause by finding ways of linking the same with aspects of the frenetic action going on at the national level in the 2016 Presidential race.
EDIT
It also seems appropriate to give a status report on the campaign finance reform organizations about this.
Except for MAYDAY, I haven't kept up with the specific activities of the organizations recently. I assume they continue to pursue their locally focused efforts of which I have been aware in the past. Represent.Us and StampStampede have been supportive of things put forth in this blog, by retweeting or favoriting some tweets of mine containing links to recent entries in this blog.
MAYDAY has been unresponsive. Possibly the explanation is that MAYDAY has not figured out what to do about Zephyr Teachout's conundrums.
If you are in the grassroots, there are things you can be doing right today. For information about these, see the below links:
1. We are ready for more districts to target
2, Politicking and strategizing re Sanders campaign
3, Will you tweet this to your Representative?
EDIT #2
See Are CFR'ers tweeting tonight?
EDIT #3
Bernie Sanders is going to Los Angeles on Monday (August 10th). Tell Southern California Representatives in Congress they need to #lead4reform, or they will #FeelTheBernHeat. See Bernie to LA on Monday.
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
We are ready for more districts to target
In four days of our tweeting campaign in the Florida 17th and 18th Congressional districts, we have obtained over 4,000 page views of FL 17th and 18th Cong'l districts picked. We think these represent significant numbers of the constituents of Rep. Rooney and Rep. Murphy in the 17th and 18th districts. We have informed Rep. Rooney and Rep. Murphy that many of their constituents seem to be interested in what we say in FL 17th and 18th Cong'l districts picked.
We now desire to target additional Congressional districts.
We like the "coupling" approach we took with FL17 and FL18 in which we picked two Congressional districts in fairly close proximity, one represented by a Republican and one by a Democrat, and we couched the campaign in the form of instigating debate between the two Representatives.
Please learn more about this approach taken in Florida by reading FL 17th and 18th Cong'l districts picked.
Then, if you would like us to target your Congressional district, please let us know. Please also suggest a nearby district having a Representative from the other political party, which we can "couple" with your Congressional district.
Hopefully we can have as much success with other Congressional districts as we have had with FL17 and FL 18.
Thank you.
We now desire to target additional Congressional districts.
We like the "coupling" approach we took with FL17 and FL18 in which we picked two Congressional districts in fairly close proximity, one represented by a Republican and one by a Democrat, and we couched the campaign in the form of instigating debate between the two Representatives.
Please learn more about this approach taken in Florida by reading FL 17th and 18th Cong'l districts picked.
Then, if you would like us to target your Congressional district, please let us know. Please also suggest a nearby district having a Representative from the other political party, which we can "couple" with your Congressional district.
Hopefully we can have as much success with other Congressional districts as we have had with FL17 and FL 18.
Thank you.
Grassroots reformers are making a difference
In the tweeting campaign that has commenced in the Florida 17th and 18th Congressional districts, there have been, in just a couple of days, 3350 page views of FL 17th and 18th Cong'l districts picked.
Most of these page views have resulted from the tweeting done by @DefiningAmerica, whose tweets have made excellent tactical use of the hashtags #FL17 and #FL18, combined with city and town hashtags. You can view these tweets collected at the two main hashtags #FL17 and #FL18.
We will make sure that Rep. Rooney's attention and Rep. Murphy's attention are called to the fact that significant numbers of their constituents are viewing what we are saying in FL 17th and 18th Cong'l districts picked.
We will keep this blog entry updated about how grassroots reformers are making a difference in the Florida 17th and 18th Congressional districts, and elsewhere, as our tweeting plan proceeds.
Most of these page views have resulted from the tweeting done by @DefiningAmerica, whose tweets have made excellent tactical use of the hashtags #FL17 and #FL18, combined with city and town hashtags. You can view these tweets collected at the two main hashtags #FL17 and #FL18.
We will make sure that Rep. Rooney's attention and Rep. Murphy's attention are called to the fact that significant numbers of their constituents are viewing what we are saying in FL 17th and 18th Cong'l districts picked.
We will keep this blog entry updated about how grassroots reformers are making a difference in the Florida 17th and 18th Congressional districts, and elsewhere, as our tweeting plan proceeds.
Saturday, August 1, 2015
FL 17th and 18th Cong'l districts picked
The Florida 17th and 18th Congressional districts have been picked to begin our tweeting plan (see The tweeting plan).
The Florida 17th Congressional district is in south central Florida and is represented by Rep. Tom Rooney, who is a Republican. The Florida 18th Congressional district is nearby, situated on the Florida east coast, and is represented by Rep. Patrick Murphy, a Democrat. (Florida's Representatives in Congress, and maps of their districts, can be found in the Wikipedia article Florida's congressional districts.)
Our tweeting campaign in Florida's 17th and 18th districts will be to instigate debate between Rep. Rooney and Rep. Murphy about the recently published political document entitled Fighting Big Money, Empowering People: A 21st Century Democracy Agenda. The document, which was published in July by a coalition of 12 organizations, should be read in full. It is not a long document and you should be able to read it quickly.
We believe that the document raises issues of utmost importance that should be addressed by all Americans, and by the constituents of Rep. Rooney and Rep. Murphy in the Florida 17th and 18th districts.
We believe this matter is not about left against right, or about Republicans against Democrats.
Rather we believe this matter is about us voter outsiders against Washington insiders.
Even though some us are from outside the 17th and 18th districts, we consider it justified to intrude into the districts and endeavor to instigate debate between Rep. Rooney and Rep. Murphy.
Such a debate will, of course, not occur unless residents of the 17th and 18 districts call on Rep. Rooney and Rep. Murphy to engage in the debate.
Our tweeting campaign will endeavor to publicize to residents the Fighting Big Money, Empowering People: A 21st Century Democracy Agenda document, and to make an urgent case to them why they should call on Rep. Rooney and Rep. Murphy to debate the document.
We will start our campaign by soliciting the participation of campaign finance reformers around the country.
As initial suggestions for what to tweet, and to whom to tweet, we offer these, whether you are outside the 17th and 18th districts, or are residents of them:
Everyone should tweet this to Rep. Rooney:
And go to the follower list of Rep. Rooney, which is here, and proceed through it, try to identify persons who are in the 17th district, and send this tweet to them individually:
Campaign tracking and implementation updates
8/2
Tweets are in the process of being sent to campaign finance reformers, giving links to this blog entry.
There have been 75 page views of this blog entry.
Hootsuite templates are being prepared for use.
8/3
I don't know who is viewing this blog entry currently, but there has been a surge in page views, and the total number of page views is now over 650.
8/3 #2
@AllenLEllison, who indicates he is a candidate in FL17, should be drawn into this.
See Grassroots reformers are making a difference
8/5
See We are ready for more districts to target
Total page views of this page are over 5,600.
8/6
See Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and CFR
The Florida 17th Congressional district is in south central Florida and is represented by Rep. Tom Rooney, who is a Republican. The Florida 18th Congressional district is nearby, situated on the Florida east coast, and is represented by Rep. Patrick Murphy, a Democrat. (Florida's Representatives in Congress, and maps of their districts, can be found in the Wikipedia article Florida's congressional districts.)
Our tweeting campaign in Florida's 17th and 18th districts will be to instigate debate between Rep. Rooney and Rep. Murphy about the recently published political document entitled Fighting Big Money, Empowering People: A 21st Century Democracy Agenda. The document, which was published in July by a coalition of 12 organizations, should be read in full. It is not a long document and you should be able to read it quickly.
We believe that the document raises issues of utmost importance that should be addressed by all Americans, and by the constituents of Rep. Rooney and Rep. Murphy in the Florida 17th and 18th districts.
We believe this matter is not about left against right, or about Republicans against Democrats.
Rather we believe this matter is about us voter outsiders against Washington insiders.
Even though some us are from outside the 17th and 18th districts, we consider it justified to intrude into the districts and endeavor to instigate debate between Rep. Rooney and Rep. Murphy.
Such a debate will, of course, not occur unless residents of the 17th and 18 districts call on Rep. Rooney and Rep. Murphy to engage in the debate.
Our tweeting campaign will endeavor to publicize to residents the Fighting Big Money, Empowering People: A 21st Century Democracy Agenda document, and to make an urgent case to them why they should call on Rep. Rooney and Rep. Murphy to debate the document.
We will start our campaign by soliciting the participation of campaign finance reformers around the country.
As initial suggestions for what to tweet, and to whom to tweet, we offer these, whether you are outside the 17th and 18th districts, or are residents of them:
Everyone should tweet this to Rep. Rooney:
@TomRooney Sir, you need to debate with @RepMurphyFL of the FL 18th Cong'l district about this http://t.co/gQVhyDRORN #lead4reform
— Rob Shattuck (@RobShattuckAL06) August 2, 2015
And everyone should tweet this to Rep. Murphy:
@RepMurphyFL Sir, you need to debate with Rep @TomRooney of the FL 17th Cong'l district about this http://t.co/gQVhyDRORN #lead4reform
— Rob Shattuck (@RobShattuckAL06) August 2, 2015
For doing more tweeting, go to the follower list of Rep. Murphy, which is here, and proceed through it, try to identify persons who are in the 18th district, and send this tweet to them individually:
@______ Please tell @RepMurphyFL to debate with Rep. @TomRooney about this http://campaignfinancereformers.blogspot.com/2015/08/fl-17th-and-18th-congl-districts-picked.html. #lead4reform Thank you.
And go to the follower list of Rep. Rooney, which is here, and proceed through it, try to identify persons who are in the 17th district, and send this tweet to them individually:
@______ Please tell Rep. @TomRooney to debate with @RepMurphyFL about this http://campaignfinancereformers.blogspot.com/2015/08/fl-17th-and-18th-congl-districts-picked.html. #lead4reform Thank you.
Campaign tracking and implementation updates
8/2
Tweets are in the process of being sent to campaign finance reformers, giving links to this blog entry.
There have been 75 page views of this blog entry.
Hootsuite templates are being prepared for use.
8/3
I don't know who is viewing this blog entry currently, but there has been a surge in page views, and the total number of page views is now over 650.
8/3 #2
@AllenLEllison, who indicates he is a candidate in FL17, should be drawn into this.
@AllenLEllison Please tell @TomRooney to debate with @RepMurphyFL and yourself about this http://t.co/gQVhyDAe0f. #lead4reform Thank you.
— Rob Shattuck (@RobShattuckAL06) August 3, 2015
8/4See Grassroots reformers are making a difference
8/5
See We are ready for more districts to target
Total page views of this page are over 5,600.
8/6
See Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and CFR
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