Independents Rising Chapter 2 review

In 1992 I was not a seasoned independent grassroots organizer, but I knew a thing or two about knocking doors and building a movement. I was 20 years old and serving as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Yes, coincidentally that is the 'Mormon' church to which Mitt Romney belongs, and no, I won't be voting for him, but that is another story*.

My parents and their friends and community were basically conservative Republicans. I was young and naive. I believed what I had heard---I had little or no exposure to any contrasting political views and I was focused on theology. I would not say I was skeptical. I wouldn't say I believed all the rhetoric I was exposed to, but I did feel like there was a home team under constant anti-American attack. Perhaps I was a well-trained partisan. Even in my bitter-about-the-war years, I defended the Utah Legislature in conversation over their 2000 gerrymandered redistricting plan. Corruption in my mind was unique to liberals in far off places like Chicago and New York. I don't know entirely how my eyes were opened, but I'm glad they were and I'm certain Jackie Salit and Nancy Ross had something to do with it.

I recall just a few thoughts of my political thinking in 1992:

1. I remember thinking (perhaps due to Perot raising it to the fore) that debt was an omnipresent issue that the two parties were powerless to overcome.
2. Something, anything new (seeds of independence?), even Jesse Jackson might represent a "new face" approach that was needed. I wasn't an ardent supporter of that, just open to the idea. I was doing a lot of listening in the months and years running up to November 1992.
3. I remember thinking how unconscionable it was that my missionary companion from Oregon was a supporter of that 'pot smoker' Bill Clinton. Boy have I done a lot of growing up since then!

Nancy's introduction to this chapter by chapter project says "This is your story, our story--the story of the rise of independents". I have read a number of fiction and non-fiction thrillers with great anticipation of 'how it ends'. But it is surreal as I read through this narrative of independent history. I remember that past, our past...our present. It wasn't that long ago and it is how I arrived here. I know how this book ends before I've read it! The compelling draw is what will fill the pages of the subsequent sequels.

Chapter 2--Populism versus Centrism

Centrism is a meaningless abstraction. Those are my words not Jackie's. My local political conditions will partially illustrate this.

Candidates in Utah are screened through a caucus / convention system and if they score high enough, a primary election is avoided. This arrangement has become a practice that can be manipulated and misused. There are voices within the parties and even more voices without calling for an end to the caucus / convention / closed primary system. Party leaders of at least the Democratic and Republican parties predictably support the current arrangement. If centrism is vaguely defined as somewhere between left and right, is it squeezed out when the parties are in unison as in this example? Is left / center / right even relevant to an electoral equity issue?

Chapter 2 chronicles not ideological positions as problematic, but ideology generally as problematic and this often includes 'centrism' as the obstructive ideology of 'centrists'. This is the stark contrast and the chapter's namesake of populism versus centrism.

Populism is power to the people through pro-democratic institutions without a bias or preference as to what the voice of the people might say. Centrism is an advocacy of ideological noise not (a) pro-left or (b) pro-right, but (c) for bipartisan centrist middle. It is ideologically oriented. Populism is institution oriented.

*A story that I'd be happy to tell those who are interested. Drop me a line--http://www.facebook.com/RandyNMiller

New York Legislators Say No to Independent Redistricting

INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING
Lawmakers Pledge to Reform, But Gerrymandering Keeps Getting Worse (by John Avlon, Daily Beast) In New York, 186 state legislators swore to support non-partisan redistricting efforts when they ran for office in the angry, anti-incumbent year of 2010. Most came down with convenient amnesia when they got back to Albany. The brinksmanship has continued despite promises by Governor Andrew Cuomo to veto nakedly partisan district lines and the efforts of good government group coalitions like ReShapeNY (on which, full disclosure, I serve on the advisory board.) Not only are New York’s redistricting maps still not set, initial glimpses have shown the same old partisan games, with potential rivals drawn out into different districts by incumbents seeking to preserve their power at almost any cost. Mediators and judges are now looming over the legislative impasse. One key dynamic to watch is whether a deal is struck that would at least try to move a state constitutional change forward to create an independent commission in ten years’ time. The principle of short-term self-interest predictably outpaces ethics or honor. New York is one of only two states in the nation to have not yet even voted on lines that will be on the ballot this fall.

California Top Two Open Primary May Bring Bigger Cultural Changes Than Elimination of Partisan Gerrymadering

CALIFORNIA
November 2012 Targets - Part One: The Assembly (By Allan Hoffenblum, Publisher of the California Target Book and owner of Allan Hoffenblum & Associates, Fox & Hounds Daily) Somewhat surprising, it's beginning to appear that the top-two open primary may do more to change the culture in Sacramento than the elimination of the partisan gerrymandering.

Blame the Voters

The Parties, The President and the Budget

THE PARTIES, THE PRESIDENT AND THE BUDGET

• GOP presidential field sees budget wars from afar (AP) In the absence of a Republican president or clear-cut party leader, a little-known congressman from Wisconsin seized the initiative. Backed by most House Republicans, Rep. Paul Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman, wrote a far-reaching spending plan that right away framed the debate on Capitol Hill.
• Budget deal foreshadows larger fight ahead - The last-minute resolution on 2011 was a victory for Republicans, and helped President Obama preserve his standing. But the wrangling offers little hope for an easy resolution to the next fight: lifting the U.S. debt ceiling. (By Paul West, Washington Bureau, LA Times)

INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING
Gerrymandering Lawsuit Brings New Scrutiny To Governor’s Use Of Budget Extenders (City Hall News - New York) This most recent case pits the Department of Corrections and the Legislative Task Force on Redistricting, also known as LATFOR, against a number of prominent Senate Republicans. The defendants have until April 24 to answer the complaint. If the case goes to court and the ability to append non-budget related bills is taken away, the Legislature could regain some power from the governor, Lane said.

We've got to stop 'Top 2' from coming, But How?

Book Review, Mad as Hell by Doug Schoen and Scott Rasmussen

Mad as Hell
How the Tea Party Movement is Fundamentally Remaking our Two-Party System

I was not impressed by this book initially. I started with an open mind thinking maybe the Tea Party movement is more mainstream, less ideological or effective than I thought according to the claims in the introduction of Mad as Hell. The first half of the book left me the impression they were trying to affirm the relevance of the Tea Party as means of selling books as if to say ‘See, you are mainstream. Our book says so. Now buy our book.’

It is worth noting that the editing prior to publishing was not done. The book is rife with spelling and grammatical errors as many reviews for Mad as Hell on Amazon.com will point out in detail. I can't help but wonder if this publication was just a get-rich-quick for-profit venture.

Granted the challenge to Rasmussen and Schoen is the rapidly changing dynamic of what the Tea Party movement is and who it is led by. Even since I started this review things have taken a turn with the Rand Paul campaign violence episode. Some old questions are now up in the air again: Who or what is the Tea Party? Who are the leaders? Is the Tea Party a bunch of racist hillbillies or a legitimate political force? Is the Tea Party grassroots or Astroturf? Pinning an accurate label on the Tea Party is probably not impossible. Just about anything one might say could stick with some truth and relevance. But being a groundswell movement, any labels subscribed to the Tea Party can only be transitory at best. Time will still have to tell what the movement will definitively stand for and more importantly accomplish long term.

From page 5 of the introduction of Mad as Hell: “It is not only America’s most vibrant political force “at the moment” to quote The Economist, but a movement that has unprecedented broad-based support, and the power to influence the 2010 and 2012 elections and, indeed, the future of American politics in ways that have been fundamentally misunderstood and not appreciated.”

From their own statistics later in the book on the demographics of Tea Party sympathizers: 80% are White, just 2% African-American. 68% are Protestant. Are we to conclude that White and Protestant is the new mainstream?
According to the University of Washington study on the subject (http://depts.washington.edu/uwiser/racepolitics.html) 45% of White Americans support the Tea Party movement. White support is evenly divided in enthusiasm: 23% strongly support, 22% somewhat support. White population (18 years old and older) from the 2000 Census is 205,158,752. Translation, nearly 1 in 3 Americans is a Tea Party supporter. One third is hardly a majority but still a substantial showing. Mad as Hell opens by asserting that the Tea Party movement can be classified as mainstream. I was skeptical of that assertion, but given these numbers it is safe to say that the Tea Party in general terms is in fact a mainstream movement.

Effectiveness

The effectiveness of the Tea Party can clearly be measured in the short term, but what about long term? The Obama administration has advanced a number of ideological agendas and the Tea Party is a largely dare I say ‘knee jerk’ ideological reaction. Neither persuasion addresses the issue of the necessity of systematic power to the people political reforms. Each side of this short term ideological skirmish is looking at the outcome of this skirmish as an ominous indicator of the future of this country. Although those concerns probably have some merit, where are the strategic thinkers looking beyond this relatively brief skirmish? And why or how did we wind up on opposite sides seemingly on grappling for control of our republic?

More insight into the Tea Party direction and affiliation with the GOP from Mad as Hell: “”the plurality of GOP voters (43%) say their party has been too moderate over the past eight years, and 55% think it should become more like Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in the future.” These numbers reflect a party driven by a populist core increasingly uninterested in compromise.” (p.171) More like Sarah Palin? Uninterested in compromise? Let me know how that works out for ‘ya. I guess I draw a lot of my skepticism from the fact that factions uninterested in compromise usually have a limited lifecycle in this country or go to great lengths to maintain their control unconstitutionally and unethically (Jim Crow for example).

The Palin Factor

Perhaps my skepticism is related to the Palin factor. I just assumed that both conservatives and liberals know that more appeal is better than less when it comes to winning elections. Like, love or hate Palin, or somewhere in between, I thought it was pretty obvious that Sarah Palin only appealed to party loyalists and evidently white protestant GOP loyalists at that. Truth is, Sarah ‘Fox News’ Palin does not have wide appeal. And the Tea Party movement seems OK with these types of ideological purist arrangements. So, I guess I am skeptical why they think the inequality 33%<51% isn’t an impediment from the start. The best consensus builder (Obama) won in the 2008 Presidential election. He hasn’t done much for that consensus in the meantime, but the basic logic has not changed. I don’t know. Perhaps they are banking on continuing to manipulate the Electoral College and to gerrymander districts (something Karl Rove has unabashedly sworn to do) —another testament to how radically we need to reform the political process away from party manipulation and control. GOP 'tea party' gains in 2010 are from a different kind of establishment power assertion and manipulation of the system, not from a wider appeal and building coalitions of groups who disagree on some points. It appears to me to be a line in the sand when success depends on a successful sales pitch.

So, I started the book skeptical that the Tea Party movement could be considered truly ‘mainstream’. I’m much less skeptical now, but the definition of the Tea Party changes so much from day to day, that it will just be interesting to see what shakes out.

The Conclusion chapter of Mad as Hell was the best. The book would have held me better had I read the conclusion first. Still, if any chapter received any solid editing, I would think it would be the conclusion and the editing is noticeably absent. Perhaps coverage of such a mercurial subject as the Tea Party requires that you publish quickly to get out in front before the subject reinvents itself. I’ll give the authors that one, but I do wonder if there is a niche of sorts for a new style of relevant content much lengthier than a blog, not suited for published video content, but not worth publishing as a hard cover or even e-book as the content may not be relevant in six weeks.

About the author: Randy Miller is an independent in Utah, founder of the Utah League of independent Voters and an independent candidate for County Surveyor in Davis County Utah.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
Pew Study Finds One in Five Atheists Believe in God (CommonDreams.org) --Atheists and agnostics also have higher ratios of independent voters than most other groups in the study.

CAMPAIGN
New political battleground: Voters in the middle (Chicago Daily Herald)

REFORM

• Results of new poll surprising-The Midwest Democracy Institute has taken a new poll of 400 Michiganders, and it predictably strikes a dismal note — but one that contains some surprising grounds for optimism. (Hometown Life MI) lots of folks are interested in reforming the system and willing to work hard to do it.
• 'Reform' petition is a grab for control of the courts (The Detroit News Editorial) It is far too radical a rewrite of the state Constitution to be done in a ballot measure pushed by anonymous funders and masked in salary cutting language
• Voters may be asked to downsize Lansing-GOP says Dems gain in petition to cut leadership (Detroit Free Press)
• Groups criticize Perata for opposing redistricting measure (Contra Costa Times)
• REDRAWING THE MAP ON DEMOCRACY (Philadelphia Daily News) As you can imagine, the power to guarantee themselves great jobs means it will be hard to pry this power out of lawmakers' hands.
• 21st century gerrymander is biggest threat to system (By DAVID S. BRODER, The Washington Post)
• Keep electoral college (LETTER Tampa Bay Weekly) It is every liberal-socialist’s dream that this be done so that heavily populated states such as New York and California can dictate who the U.S. president is going to be.

RALPH NADER
Lengthy Washington Post Article on Ralph Nader (Ballot Access News) WaPo article here

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
The float vote (Frank Luntz, LA Times) Gone are the days when the candidate most successful in turning out his loyal partisans inevitably won.

CAMPAIGN

• In Jacksonville, African-Americans find inspiration in Obama's promise (St. Petersburg Times) The Obama campaign this month deployed 400 specially trained volunteers to launch a statewide voter registration and mobilization drive
• THE DEMOCRATS DARE TO DREAM (San Francisco Chronicle) Is post-partisan era to be one-party rule???
• Bloomberg Decries 'Whisper Campaign' Against Obama (Washington Post/The Trail)

REFORM

• California pols need a reality TV show (the Fresno Bee) Redistricting
• Dan Walters: November ballot is full of divisive issues (Sac Bee) Redistricting
• Democratic leaders accused of pressuring supporters of redistricting measure (Contra Costa Times)
• Redistricting reform: Keep up the pressure (Pocono Record)
• Redistricting reform needed (LETTER Wayne Suburban.com PA)
• Midwesterners Issue Call to Action on Reform (PRESS RELEASE, WisBusiness)
• Here's how to fix our broken election process (LETTER Sun Sentinel FL)
• Will states topple the Electoral College with new movement? (Times Leader PA)
• R.I. lawmakers approve plan on national popular vote (Boston Globe)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Washington state voters want a primary (Seattel Post Intelligencer blog)
• Democrats Abroad makes voting accessible-Organization works to enfranchise thousands of Americans (The Daily Evergreen)
• Rock the Vote's Post-Super Tuesday Poll (Fox Business) poll says 16% independent --- NOTE: I've seen polls where youth come in more around 40-45% independent, so watch for a disconnect with Rock the Vote's analysis..... -NH
• Gerrymandering robbery (Salt Lake City Tribune)

OHIO:

• Clinton courts county Independents on wife Hillary's behalf (Lancaster OH Eagle-Gazette)
• Grassroots grow deep in Ohio (Politico)

RALPH NADER:

Ralph Nader announced his intention to run for president as an independent on Meet the Press on Sunday:

• LINK TO MEET THE PRESS TRANSCRIPT ON COUNTERPUNCH HERE
• Give it up, Nader (Concord Monitor editorial)
• Independent candidates offer option for dismayed voters (Elmira Star Gazette)
• Nader could make Oregon ticket (The Register-Guard)
• Editorial: Nader again? Why? (Worthington MN Daily Globe)
• Nader vs. the Democrats (Boston Globe)
• Nader to Run, Citing Events of 2004 Race (New York Times)
• Nader Enters Presidential Race, Addresses the 'Spoiler' Concern (US News & World Report)