nolabels.org

From: Robert Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>

Date: Fri, Jun 1, 2012 at 7:42 PM
Subject: Dear No Labels
To: backoffice@nolabels.org
Cc: "Independent Voting.org" <national@independentvoting.org>, David Collison <chairman@harriscountyrp.org>, Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap <info@movetoamend.org>, Tim Cox <tc@goooh.com>


Dear No Labels (http://www.nolabels.org/),

Here are bottom line questions I put to independentvoting.org this morning:

Does the country have a big ailment in how its Congress gets elected, governs and stays elected, which ailment is of first priority for the country to have a national (and Congressional) debate about?  If so, does the sitting Congress owe it to the country to initiate and carry out such a debate and to make a responsive proposal to the country for the country's consideration?  Will Congress do that of its own accord?  If not, should the American people rise up in unison and demand that Congress have this debate and make a proposal and threaten Congress with eviction if it is not responsive to that demand of the American people?

No Labels, on its website, describes the bottom line problem as follows:

The government in Washington is no longer capable of solving the very real problems facing America. Before every election, our politicians make promises about how they will fix our tax system. Our immigration laws. Our schools. Our budget issues. But after every election, these promises are crushed under the weight of the same poisonous rhetoric and hyper-partisanship.
We, the American people, are the collateral damage of this partisan warfare, saddled with debts we can’t afford and an economy that no longer creates enough good jobs with good pay.

My diagnosis of the "poisonous rhetoric and hyper-partisanship" that crushes "the promises about how they [the politicians] will fix our [problems]" is set forth in my Thesis this way:

There is an "iron triangle" in Washington D.C. of lawmakers (both Republicans and Democratics), lobbyists, and special interest organizations, that profits enormously from tens of millions and hundreds of millions of dollars sloshing around in Washington in a cesspool of, call it what you want, "influence peddling," "government for sale," or just plain corruption.
This "iron triangle" finds the political divisions, polarization and gridlock, in which every issue can be turned into a life and death, us against them, battle, as very advantageous for preserving their positions and riches. This distracts the citizens from the rampant corruption going on in Washington and associated failures in Congressional performance and keeps the voters from uniting to take action against the corrupt participants in the Washington cesspool.

Is there common ground here for organizations such as the Reform Party, GOOOH, Move To Amend, independentvoting.org, and No Labels, to speak with a united voice and increase their influence?  I sure wish that is the case.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Rob Shattuck

Birmingham, ALL