Some questions for Jamie Raskin

Dear Mr. Raskin,

You are MAYDAY's first (and right now only) endorsed Congressional candidate in MAYDAY's 2016 election campaign. See Kicking off 2016 with Jamie Raskin for Congress.

I would like to pose some questions for your consideration.

This starts with, just how is MAYDAY going to achieve its goal of obtaining a reform minded Congress that passes desired campaign finance reform legislation?

MAYDAY has on its front page this quotation:

The mortal struggle at hand today is not between the right and the left. It is not between Republicans and Democrats. It is not between the Congress and the president. It is between us (currently outsiders to our own government) voters and the Washington Insiders.

This mortal struggle diagnosis would seem to call for as much unity as possible of voters to elect Congressional candidates who will take action on behalf of reform.

This, however, presents a problem.

Voters have differing views on important issues, such as climate change, immigration, and privacy versus security in the war against terrorism and battling crime. If a Congressional candidate takes positions on other important issues, many voters may not support the candidate on that basis, and this undermines the needed unity in the struggle of us voter outsiders against Washington insiders.

On the other hand, a Congressional candidate who takes the position that Congress must be fixed first, that voter unity on that must not be undermined, and for that reason the candidate declines to take positions on other issues, in all likelihood, will attract little or no voter support.

The foregoing conundrum may have been a contributing factor in Larry Lessig's decision to leave MAYDAY and undertake his almost "Hail Mary" run for President and his idea of a trustee President whose only purpose is to get reform passed by Congress. Professor Lessig denominated this a "referendum Presidential candidacy."

That candidacy has now foundered, so focus may return to MAYDAY and its plan.

The conundrum continues, however.

Professor Lessig could not run a single issue Presidential campaign, and very likely no Congressional candidate can run a viable single issue Congressional campaign.

You are running a multiple issue campaign, as is likely you must.

No one can predict how much success MAYDAY will have in advancing the cause of reform in the 2016 Congressional elections.

Possibly there will be no meaningful success in the 2016 elections, reform will not get enacted by the next Congress, and the situation will remain unchanged until a next chance arises with the 2018 elections.

If unity of voters is critically important in order to force the passage of reform by Congress, and if Congressional candidates cannot run single issue candidacies, and if that can cause the reform issue to get lost in the mix in the 2016 elections, is there any alternative course of action for the 2016 elections?

Here is an idea: Can the current Congress be forced  by the American people to take action about reform before the 2016 elections, under the threat that the 2016 elections will be a referendum on how Congress, and individual Representatives and Senators, do in taking action to pass reform.

It would require massive public mobilization for such a threat to become credible. Incumbent Representatives and incumbent Senators who are up for election in 2016 would need to be put on notice by their constituents that they risk being voted out of office if they don't act to pass reform before the 2016 elections, or if they pass reform and the reform that is passed is judged by voters not to be adequate.

While there is widespread belief that Congress is "broken", there are numerous different things that might be done to try to "fix" Congress, and there will be differing ideas about what should be tried. These would be legitimately subjects of debate.

Indeed, that is exactly what should happen. Both Republican and Democratic incumbents in Congress should be forced to take a position about whether or not they think Congress is "broken."

They can take a position that they don't think Congress is "broken" and their constituents can decide whether the constituents agree or not.

Alternatively, an incumbent in Congress who says that Congress is "broken" can propose what he or she thinks should be done to try to "fix" the broken Congress.

Congressional debate should then ensue.

This debate would be subject to an overhanging threat that Congress must debate the subject and agree, or not agree, on something, and that something will be the subject of the 2016 elections referendum.

Voters can vote in favor of their incumbent if they think Congress has done a credible job in what Congress has proposed (or not proposed), or against their incumbent if voters are dissatisfied with what Congress has proposed (or not proposed).

What do you think about that, Mr. Raskin?

Are you willing to incorporate in your Congressional campaign a public announcement to the effect of:

I, Jamie Raskin, publicly announce that I believe the American people should use the 2016 elections to force Congress to face up to whether Congress is broken or not. The voters in every Congressional district and in every state should say to their incumbent Representatives and Senators, "You need to tell us whether you think Congress is broken or not, and, if you do think it is broken, you need to get your colleagues in Congress to address this matter before the 2016 elections, to debate the matter in Congress, and enact a reform for the American people to consider in how they cast their votes in the 2016 elections. If you do not do this, or if you pass reform that your constituents deem inadequate, your constituents will vote you out of office." I, Jamie Raskin, will do the utmost to communicate this announcement to my Democratic party, to the Democratic National Committee, and to Democratic incumbents and candidates for Congress throughout the country.

I hope, Mr. Raskin, that you, as MAYDAY's first endorsed candidate, will do that.

Thank you very much.

@jamie_raskin Some questions for you, Mr. Raskin. https://t.co/9ezFlfPols

— Rob Shattuck (@RobShattuckAL06) November 11, 2015

UPDATE 11/14/16:  See MAYDAY: Tweet and shout at #MD08.