HOW TO FOLLOW UP

Recently, Bob Marshall lost his bid to be the Republican Party’s nominee for the Senate by a very small margin (see here).  Marshall led a grassroots, low budget campaign; he was clearly a people’s candidate.   Because he himself is a fighter, Marshall succeeded in rousing loyal supporters to fight for his campaign.   With the example of the battles he has waged to protect our traditions and our constitutional form of government, Marshall has shown one person really can make a difference. 

How can we help Bob Marshall?  Well, let’s look at the process.  Many of us gripe about politicians.  We complain about all the money they spend and waste.  Then most of us do nothing.  Most of us not even bother to vote.  We expect somebody else to fix the mess, but a republic does not work that way.  Marshall’s battles are our battles.  This is our country.  Win or lose, we will all live with the outcome.

Why do so many stand by and do nothing?  Since each of us is unique, I would imagine there are many different reasons.  Since most people were educated in the public school system, I would also hazard a guess that the predominant reason is most people do not know what to do.  Our education system is managed by politicians.  Would the rascals want to teach us how to throw the rascals out of office?  Of course not.  So here is a primer on our political system.

NEWS SOURCES

What They Do

Most of us receive our information on current events from the popular mass media.  We must treat each news source with great skepticism.  The news media does not exist to inform us.  Accuracy is not its primary objective.  The mass media is for the most part owned by corporations. Corporations exist to provide stockholders a profit.  The news media earns a profit by providing an audience for advertisers.   Unless you and I, their viewers, listeners, and readers, insist otherwise, corporate interests will strive to eliminate competition and feed us cheap drivel.

So-called nonprofit news outlets are no better.  Their news coverage is especially biased.   Such news sources are biased by the need to motivate listeners to fund them.  Because these news sources receive almost half of their funding from government (i.e., the incumbent politicians), such news sources are also immoral. 

To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
Thomas Jefferson

Our Mission

We live in the Information Age.  We do not need to depend upon one single news source.  WE MUST BECOME INFORMED CITIZENS!  We must shop around for our news.

POLITICAL PARTIES

What Political Parties Do

Political parties exist for only one purpose, to nominate and elect candidates for public office.  The United States has only two political parties that have any significance: The Democratic Party and The Republican Party.  Without the nomination of one of these two parties, a candidate for public office has very little chance of being elected.

Several means exist to select the nominee of a political party.  The two most common are the convention and the primary election.  The convention process has the virtue of making the party label meaningful.  When a candidate receives a party’s nomination via a convention, only those people willing to take the time to spend hours listening to politicians speak and then vote participate.  Such dedicated people insist their candidates abide by their party’s principles.  Primary elections, on the other hand, make it easier for the general public to participate.  Unfortunately, many states, including Virginia, do not require party registration.  Then almost anyone can participate in a primary election.  In such cases a party’s nominee has little reason to abide by the principles of any particular political party.  Primary elections, particularly in states with party registration, render a party’s label virtually meaningless.

For politicians who do not wish to be held accountable for their decisions by the political party that nominated them, primary elections are the preferred nomination method. 

Our Role

In politics, half of the battle is just showing up.  The people who show up to vote in primary elections or show up at conventions decide.  The rest of the People live with the decisions of others.

As citizens, we can choose not to participate in the activities of any political party.  However, if we choose not to participate in one of the major political parties, we severely limit the effect we can have upon an election.  We are mostly reduced to choosing in the General Election between The Democratic Party’s and The Republican Party’s nominee. 

Nonetheless, even if we simply cannot decide which political party to join, we still have options. 

• We can work for or donate funds to the people competing for major party nominations. 
• We can work with folks in one of the minor political parties.  
• We can contribute our funds and energies to the political causes that interest us.

THE GENERAL ELECTION

Deciding Who Wins

This is the time when most people begin to take an interest in the political process.  Since at this point most of the deciding has been done, waiting until this point to take an interest is akin to waiting until the World Series to watch professional baseball.  Except in this case, we are important players.  If we have chosen to sit out all the previous games and our team is not on the field, whose fault is that?

Better Late Than Never

Nevertheless, even when the number of serious candidates has been reduced to two, we still have a choice.  To ensure the best candidate win, we must become informed and donate our money and time to his or her campaign.

IT IS OUR COUNTRY.  TO KEEP IT FOR OUR CHILDREN, WE MUST NOT GIVE UP OUR RIGHT TO CHOOSE WHO RULES US!

FOLLOWING UP

Politics is a never ending struggle.  Even after the election, citizens can affect the outcome.  Bob Marshall has stood up for us against most of the General Assembly.  Marshall has fought to protect our traditions and our constitutional form of government.  Yet there are those in the shadows.  There his enemies will try to undermine and weaken his effectiveness.  When the news media wanted a competitor for Governor Jim Gilmore and a struggle over the Republican nomination, they raved about maverick Bob Marshall.  Now the contest is over.  Because they want us to think of him as inconsequential, the news media now refers to Bob Marshall as a “gadfly.”  In the General Assembly, Democrats label him as an extremist.   And too many spineless Republicans call him unreasonable.

Before we decide to abandon Marshall to the tender mercies of these people, we must ask ourselves a question.  Just who is being unreasonable?  We do not have enough government?  Why would anyone think we need more government?  Why don’t we need politicians willing to fight the growth of government?

Marshall has fought the growth of government.  Marshall has fought to protect our rights and our “unreasonable” traditions.  To help Marshall in his battles, we can write our delegates and ask them to support Marshall. 

It is our home.  Our country.  Will we fight for it?  Will we always be too lazy to show up for the battles?  If we will not fight for ourselves, who will fight for us?

Here is a website that provides the email addresses of our delegates.  Let’s send the rascals a message.  Vote for Bob Marshall for Speaker of the House.