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How Occupy Wall Street can have staying power
Gold Party is a scheme to break the plutocracy by creating a political party that can seize government power and rebuild the political system along more humane lines. We cannot do this without political power. To gain political power, we must have a political party that runs candidates for office who are committed to fundamental change. That includes changes in financial institutions and in the control of government by Big Money.
The idea of Gold Party has been around for several years but, until now, there has not been an opportunity to put its principles into action. With Occupy Wall Street, the first step has been taken. The people are there for a nucleus of activists comprising a movement that can form a new political party to take over the government. To have lasting significance, it must move to the next step - taking over the government.
What would be the platform of this new party? What are the views of the people occupying Liberty Plaza? They are diverse. Yet, the people taking part in this mass demonstration hold together in a common opposition to plutocratic society. It is “Wall Street” they are occupying. “Wall Street”, as it currently operates, is a political system that puts money before people. It is destroying jobs while depleting and poisoning the earth. It is fostering a greater disparity of incomes. The rich get richer while the poor despair. There seems to be no way to defeat the plutocracy other than by taking to the streets.
Because the commercial media control the public message, it will not be possible for candidates to be swept into office on the basis of their better ideas. The media will not allow these better ideas to be heard. It’s a Pay for Play system. Only the well-heeled candidates can afford the expensive television commercials that can deliver their election pitch straight to the voters; and this type of candidate will not support proposals that seriously challenge the plutocracy.
Because the electorate is severely polarized between left and right factions and there are so many different issues and concerns, it will not be possible to gain majority support for a particular program of reform. We will all be carping at each other to make our own point of view heard at another’s expensive. This is why a political party cannot prevail by issues alone. We need a movement that welcomes many points of view. If a Ralph Nader, Dennis Kucinich, and Ron Paul can all come together to support Occupy Wall Street, the issues barrier might be overcome. Therefore, be welcoming rather than rejecting. Be positive and of good cheer.
Gold Party is not intended to replace the Democratic or Republican Parties or any other existing political party. It is more like the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street movement. You can support it without renouncing your previous political allegiances. So what makes Gold Party special? Its uniqueness lies in its system of weighted voting.
the rationale for weighted or unequal voting
This requires an explanation. Political movements, inspired by ideas and personalities, lack staying power. Its supporters work feverishly for the cause expecting a quick outcome. If victory does not come quickly, many are disappointed and drop away. A campaign worker can work hard to elect someone to public office only to learn that the elected official follows another course than what was promised in the campaign. Therefore, the political worker does not have a sufficient reward for his or her effort. There is no ownership in the cause which the volunteer worker helped to advance.
Contrast this with the situation of commercial enterprise. The commercial worker - owner of a business - works hard to establish a new business. If the business is successful, it translates into ownership of money. The business makes money - earns a profit - each year, and this income accrues to the owner. Alternatively, the owner can sell the business for a sum of money. Commercial success therefore has staying power because money has this. It can be owned or transferred to an heir. Ownership of money is a cumulative reward for efforts to make a business successful.
The interests of money prevail in politics because the owners of money can hire others to do their bidding over the long term. Where people supporting a cause lose heart, the paid lobbyist works consistently to promote the agenda of his paymaster. For instances, lobbyists for professional sports teams can persuade state legislators to appropriate public funds to build their team a new stadium even if the vast majority of voters is opposed. To counter the influence of money in politics, political organizations need better incentives for people to work for a cause over the long term, even when enthusiasm wanes.
The problem with incentives in political parties is the system of equal voting. Each party member has one vote regardless of contribution to the party. If that member shows up at a convention, his vote will count the same in nominating a candidate as someone who has worked hard to support the party and its candidates. (By contrast, shareholders in publicly held corporations vote for corporate officers in proportion to the number of shares that they own.) This needs to be changed. To motivate political workers, we need a system of voting in proportion to the contribution they have individually made in building up the party.
The name of the political game is to persuade a majority of voters to vote for your candidate. The persuasion can take place either by presenting attractive arguments and images to voters through the media (an expensive proposition) or by growing party membership to the point that a majority of voters belong to the party and therefore tend to favor its candidates. Gold Party favors the second approach. The name of its game is to increase the number of members and then, through internal communications, motivate its members to vote for a particular slate of candidates. That’s how Gold Party would take over the government.
The way to grow party membership is to create incentives for existing party members to work at recruiting new people. They would receive “points” for contributing certain things to the party. These points would translate into votes at party functions such as nominating conventions for candidates to public office. And so, John Jones, a stalwart party worker, might have eight votes in nominating a candidate whereas Bob Smith, a party newcomer, would have only one. John Jones would have greater ownership in this political enterprise than Bob Smith. Once party members are invested with points, they have an individual ownership stake in Gold Party and are likely to support its enterprise through thick and thin.
possible elements of a voting system
The crux of the matter is how the party would assign points (or votes). The process must be seen as reasonable and fair. This would be the question which would consume the party in its early days. As a general principle the assignment of points should represent meaningful contributions to building membership in the party. I would invite the Wall Street occupiers to ponder such questions. Here is a beginning scheme:
(a) 1 point for basic membership. This requires that a person fill out and sign a membership form and pay annual dues of at least 1 cent.
(b) extra points for paying a larger amount of annual dues
1 point for annual dues of $10.00 or more
2 points for annual dues of $100.00 or more
3 points for annual dues of $1,000.00 or more.(c) extra points for Occupy Wall Street activity or related event in another city:
1 point for joining Gold Party at an Occupy Wall Street site
2 points for joining Gold Party and having regular presence at Occupy Wall Street site
3 points for being Gold Party coordinator at Occupy Wall Street site(d) 1 extra point for renewing Gold Party membership when one was a member in the previous year.
(e) 1 extra point for signing up another person to become a member of Gold Party. To qualify, one must supervise the process of filling out the application and accepting dues and forward the completed application and dues to Gold Party headquarters.
The points are calculated individually at least once a year. For example, a member who paid annual dues of $10.00, joined while at an Occupy Wall Street site, and signed up two other members would have five points - 1 (a) + 1 (b) +1 (c) + 2 (e).
Some points are permanent. Others change each year. One must, of course, be a member to have any points in a year. With respect to dues payment, the single point is received if a member pays $10.00 in the current year. If the member pays $100, he or she receives two extra points in each of the next three years. If the member pays $1,000.00, the three extra points are a lifetime award.
The extra points for Occupy Wall Street are a lifetime award except that the three points for being a site coordinator go with the incumbent in that position. The site coordinator decides which members have had a “regular” or frequent presence at the site and therefore receive two points. Someone who has spent at least three nights at the site automatically qualifies. When the site coordinator hands the position to someone else, he or she then has two points.
The point for membership renewals depends on whether or not one was a member in the preceding year. If so, he or she receives the point. There is no extra point for the first year’s membership or where a member renews after not being a member in the previous year.
The greatest opportunity for gaining extra points lies in signing up new members. The requirement is to persuade people to fill out and sign the membership application and send the signed form plus membership dues to Gold Party headquarters. The recruiter would have an extra point for that person for at least a year.
The rule is that, after the first year, the recruited person can decide to bestow the extra point on any other member (not necessarily the same person who recruited him or her). That decision is made at the time of the annual renewal. If no decision is made, the extra point remains with the person designated in the previous year.
Gold Party headquarters will tabulate the points for each member and, on its website, list the members in descending order of points. The purpose is to create an incentive to grow the party and recognize those individuals who have done the most to achieve that end.
As Gold Party grows, it will move into a second phase related to political organization. Members will organize themselves into local chapters, elect chapter leaders, discuss issues, etc. Party meetings ought to allow a thorough discussion of issues ranging from jobs to environmental protection to fair taxation and government spending. The voting would follow the point system. For instance, a member with one point would have one vote in all party decisions; a member with five points would have five votes. In this phase, party members might decide to change the point system in some respects.
what issues would Gold Party embrace?
The answer is: Whatever its members wish to embrace. Remember that Gold Party would be following a system of weighted voting. Members with more votes would have more say in determining the party's platform. Since the people who joined at the beginning would tend to have more points than newcomers, party policy would disproportionately reflect their point of view. However, as the party grew in size of membership, this bias would be less pronounced.
the final push
Once membership in Gold Party has grown to a sufficient size, it would be time to take over the government. Gold Party would seize control of government at all levels - federal, state, and local - in all fifty states. If party membership includes a majority of voters, candidates backed by the party ought to win most elections. Since the party was clearly responsible for their electoral victory, Gold Party ought then to have considerable leverage over public officials.
It should be understood that “the sky’s the limit” in what Gold Party could do if its candidates were elected to public office. At an extreme, it could monetize the points. It could achieve a peaceful socialist revolution. However, there are practical limits on what political parties and public office holders can do. Most Americans want government to be reasonable and fair. Bolshevik-style socialism has been shown to be a failure.
historical precedent
Rebellious colonists waged war against Great Britain to gain their independence. The Continental Congress issued script to finance the war. After the war, this script became worthless. “Not worth a Continental” was how it was often described.
The Continental currency was paid to soldiers in the Revolutionary war. Most eventually fell into the hands of speculators. The British produced counterfeits to disrupt the war effort. By 1780, a Continental was one fortieth of its original value.
When Alexander Hamilton became Secretary of the Treasury in the Washington administration, he proposed that the U.S. government assume the states’ wartime debt. Those who currently held the debt could expect the new government to stand behind this obligation. Hamilton’s policy ensured that this government would have a constituency which would support it.
The federal assumption of debt was controversial. Madison and Jefferson thought the government should be obligated to its original holders, the soldiers, as well as to the speculators in current possession. The need to raise revenue to pay interest in the debt led to excise taxes on whiskey and to the Whiskey Rebellion in rural Pennsylvania. Federal troops led by George Washington himself quelled the rebellion.
Even so, the United States of America thrived. Persons holding debt from the Revolutionary war had an interest in making it a success. That meant that a network of creditors supported the new government. Personal interest guaranteed political stability.
So it is with this idea of Gold Party in relation to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Those who took part in the Wall Street occupation (and its spin-off in cities around the nation) are like the soldiers who enlisted in the Continental army to fight the British in the Revolutionary war. Those struggling soldiers expected to be paid. They were paid in a worthless currency, the Continental dollar, which was later redeemed by the U.S. Government. The currency and the government then had lasting strength.
The proposal here is that who contributed to the Occupy Wall Street movement be “paid” in shares of Gold Party. They would have an extra edge in the internal voting decisions (including policy issues) of this party. If enough people accept these shares, then a viable party might be formed. There would be a network of persons having a direct personal interest in the success of this party. If the network grows, so would grow its power in electoral politics. That power would be directed from the bottom up.
That is the way that the U.S. government became established as a powerful political force. It is also the way that Gold Party can become broadly established as a force in contemporary American politics. It is a way that the gains of Occupy Wall Street can become permanent.
what we have now
The Occupy Wall Street movement has brought together in a common place many persons interested in political and economic change.
This web site, GoldParty.org, has assembled a set of writings related to the proposal. There is a proposed scheme for awarding points and a membership-application form that can be downloaded.
The web site, http://www.e-democracy.org, provides an opportunity for interested persons to join the e-democracy forum (U.S. Forum) and hold public discussions on nearly any topic free of charge. It could be used for persons interested in Gold Party to communicate with each other until the party develops its own communication devices.
What needs to be done now is to start the recruitment process and then, fairly soon, develop the computer software to keep track of members and their respective points.
Scenes from Occupy Wall Street in Minneapolis, October 7 & 8, 2011
preparing the message (day 1) .............................. friends talk (day 1) .......................... a personal statement (day 1)
former union leader and friend (day 1) ........................... keeping busy with a march (day 1) ................................... welcoming table (day 2)
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