Be a Rootstriker

Be a rootstriker against the root evil in American politics.

The root evil is corruption by and through campaign finance money.

In the words of Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig, “Practically every important issue in American politics today is tied to this ‘one issue,’" and the overriding agenda (invoking Thoreau) should be to attack “the root, the thing that feeds the other ills, and the thing that we must kill first.”

Aspects of the root evil include the legalized bribery of campaign contributions, non-transparency of the legislative and regulatory processes, the revolving door between Congress and lobbyists, earmarks, and gerrymandering.

Increasingly, a case is being made that the root evil is is causing Congress to fail to do its job properly for the American people.

Rootstrikers is one of a number of organizations that are organizing to defeat the corrupt iron triangle of lawmakers (Republicans and Democrats), lobbyists and leaders of special interest organizations that is based  in Washington D.C.  This iron triangle utilizes a tyrannical control of the government in order to entrench its position and to enrich itself  with billions of dollars of taxpayer moneys and campaign contributions that go into into pockets of the iron triangle and their cronies.  This corruption result in Congress failing to do its job properly to help the American people to try to solve the huge problems that confront the country.

Other organizations fighting the battle are Move To Amend, Amend 2012, UnitedRepublic, Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington, OpenSecrets, and Public Citizen.

These organizations are urging various actions, including actions that can be taken before Election Day.

I am doing the following:

I have petitioned Spencer Bachus and Penny Bailey in my 6th Congressional district in Alabama to take the Rootstrikers no lobbying pledge.

I am going out in Birmingham by the sides of roads and at highway entrances and exits, during rush hours and at other times, with the below sign:

I am urging the various organizations to join their voices  The current state of that urging is reflected in the below email correspondence to the Move To Amend organization:

From: Robert Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Sep 22, 2012 at 8:02 AM
Subject: Follow up re Rootstrikers.campaign
To: Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap <move2amend@gmail.com>, Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap <info@movetoamend.org>
Cc: Party Building Discussion <pbc@reformparty.org>, "Rick Staggenborg, MD" <staggenborg4senate@hotmail.com>, Lawrence Lessig <lessig@pobox.com>, Szelena Gray <szelena@rootstrikers.org>, Tim Cox <tc@goooh.com>, markh@goooh.com, "Independent Voting.org" <national@independentvoting.org>, drremer <drremer@gvtc.com>

Dear Kaitlin,

I wish to keep the Move To Amend Steering Committee advised of my continuing steps in urging similarly minded organizations that believe the two party system, as it currently exists (including the corruption by and through campaign finance money), is failing the American people, and to join their voices as may increase public awareness of that failure, Yesterday I sent the below email to the 50 state leaders of GOOOH (using their addresses from the GOOOH website) regarding the Rootstrikers campaign, and this morning I have reported the below emailing to the Reform Party, Independent Voting.org and Vote Out Incumbents Democracy to urge them to try to join in in some way:

From: Robert Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Sep 21, 2012 at 4:33 PM
Subject: Be a rootstriker against the root evil in American politics
To: [email addresses redacted]
[I am an Alabama member of GOOOH. I requested of Tim Cox whether he had an objection to my communicating with other GOOOH members about this. I urged that this email message reflected centrally GOOOH's rationale for its mission (as indicated by GOOOH here), that participation and further purveying of the the message by other GOOOH members would augment public awareness of GOOOH and its program, and that communicating about this with other GOOOH members would be in furtherance of GOOOH's goals. Tim acquiesced regarding my request. I hope none of the addressees will find this email objectionable. Thank you, Rob Shattuck]
The root evil in American politics is corruption by and through campaign finance money. In the words of Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig, “Practically every important issue in American politics today is tied to this ‘one issue,’" and the overriding agenda (invoking Thoreau) should be to attack “the root, the thing that feeds the other ills, and the thing that we must kill first.”
What's a simple test for whether a Congressional candidate will work just for us, or will work for Washington lobbyists who will be his or her future employer?
Just ask the candidate whether the candidate will pledge, if elected, not to become a lobbyist after he or she leaves office.
Professor Lessig and others have started Rootstrikers and are conducting a national campaign to get voters to petition their Congressional candidates to make a pledge that the candidate will not, if elected, become a lobbyist after he or she leaves office. Please go to this link in order to petition your Congressional candidates to make this pledge.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Rob Shattuck
3812 Spring Valley Circle
Birmingham, AL
(205) 967-5586
My website: Two Party Failure (@retire_Bachus)

I hope Move To Amend will find a way to use,support or just mention the Rootstriker activity to advance MTA's goals.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,
Rob Shattuck