A stark reminder of the imbalance of financial power in political campaigns is the story of the Crossroads GPS super-pac in the article Crossroads hits vulnerable Dems with $1 million in new ads.

For Elizabeth Warren supporters, the key paragraph in the story headlined above is,

“But the biggest buy is saved for Massachusetts, where Crossroads has made Democrat Elizabeth Warren a top target of its 2012 election efforts. The group will spend $524,000 to undercut Warren in December.”

Also consider that the Top 1 Percent Control 42 Percent of Financial Wealth in the U.S.. The bottom 99% of the population that has the rest of the wealth doesn’t have the leeway between what they have and what they need for survival as does the top 1%. So the actual disparity between what the 1% can spare to sway elections and what the bottom 99% can spare is even larger than total wealth numbers indicate.

How can the bottom 99% compete with the top 1% for political influence?

As I see it, the title of this article is the clue. The top 1% have the money, the other 99% have the people.

Somehow, we have to turn our advantage in numbers into real political influence.

In a political campaign, the money controls the traditional means of communication which gives the top 1% the advantage in establishing the terms of the debate and national conversation.

Technology has given rise to new means of communication. Not only do we have the internet, but many people also have unlimited phone service. That means that postings on the internet and telephone calls to establish contact with people in your area are free of additional monetary cost. What they do cost is person-hours. Nobody has more than 24 hours in a day, so our advantage in numbers of people gives us the advantage of the number of people-hours we have.

What are the ways of using our people hours to maximum advantage?

• Volunteer your time to a campaign
• Make phone calls to other voters and go house to house to urge support for causes and candidates. Such contact has been found to be the most influential means of getting people to vote
• Use the internet
  • Use sharing tools on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, YouTube, etc. to let the world know about issues and candidates you support.
  • Write comments on articles and posts to indicate your position
  • Create your own web pages – Facebook, Google+, YouTube, blogs and any other means – to promote your issues and candidates.
  • Multiply the effectiveness of other people’s efforts to make their constributions go viral by sharing them, liking them, subscribing to them, +1-ing them, and emailing them to your social network. Don’t just be a passive reader of internet content. Use all means available to make it clear that you are one more person who has read, agreed with, and supported an item on the internet.
  • Use online tools to organize group meetings where interpersonal support for an issue or candidate can be reinforced
• Participate in peaceful street demonstrations that attract media attention
• Attend public political events to demonstrate to others the amount of support a policy or candidate has

To begin practicing some of these ideas, comment on this post to add suggestions, pass it on to others, indicate you like it, +1 it, share it, tweet it, etc.

Thanks to reader LlandaR for bringing this to my attention. I think I probably have another pointer to this buried in my email inbox that I would have eventually read, but when I see an email from Llanda, I read it right away.

This article is featured on the Sturbridge For Elizabeth Warren pages on Facebook and Google+.  You do not need an account on either Facebook or Google+ to see the articles.

As noted there:

For Elizabeth Warren supporters, the key paragraph in the story headlined below is,

“But the biggest buy is saved for Massachusetts, where Crossroads has made Democrat Elizabeth Warren a top target of its 2012 election efforts. The group will spend $524,000 to undercut Warren in December.”

Here is a discussion you won’t find in the lame stream press.

I cannot figure out when this interview occurred. The introduction by Paul Jay mentions the passage by the Senate on Thursday, December 1, 2011. I was under the impression that the legislation is now sitting on the President’s desk waiting for veto or signature. Ray McGovern seems to be saying that it must first go through the House.

If, in fact, it still has to be approved by the House, then we have more time to put pressure on the President to carry out his promise to veto. Until we know the true deadline, it is best to act as if the deadline is today.

If this doesn’t get Wall Street’s attention, I don’t know what will.

The mortgage holders of vacant real estate could go from almost total loss to making at least some money by renting out the home. That they have not done so in three years is not demonstrating an entrepreneurial spirit. If the Occupy movement has to show Wall Street how to be a true capitalist, then let them show the way.

Perhaps I too could claim to provide the intellectual basis for what the OWS movement does. See my June 12, 2011 post Solution to The Housing Market Crash for further details.

I’m not sorry, I just could not resist this one.

I just discovered the ideal replacement for President Obama.

The Obama giving this speech is the one I wish we had elected. This one really knows what the issues are. I bet he wouldn’t appoint the strongest representatives of Goldman Sachs to head all the top monetary and fiscal positions of his administration. I bet he wouldn’t let the major culprits go unprosecuted for three years. He wouldn’t let the regulatory agencies remain understaffed given the huge level of fraud that needed investigation and prosecution.

A guy like this would have been running around the country for the past three years rallying the masses to mobilize to fight the entrenched interests in Washington.

He missed it in this speech, but I bet in the next speech he would be urging movements like OWS to keep up the pressure. He would have noted how the tone of the debate is suddenly shifting in favor of the 99% since the occupations and demonstrations started. The very fact that the country is finally waking up to the idea of the 1% versus the 99% could not have been done without the citizens vigorously protesting.

If he had time, I bet he would have also mentioned that we are not going to waste another cent on trumped up wars. He wouldn’t ignore the evidence from the intelligence agencies so that as President he could lie to the public about some imagined threat that he knows does not really exist.

Maybe in the next speech he could mention that he would reverse the erosion of our civil rights by people who are using imaginary threats to terrorize us into acquiescence.

Where could we find a person like this who would act in office like the person who ran for that office?

I have just figured out the only way that this Obama could regain the credibility he has lost. This must be done before the election if he wants us to vote for him. He must fire everyone in his administration who ever worked for or cooperated with Goldman Sachs. He must show zero tolerance and no mercy for this connection. Anything less, and what he says are just empty words.

I might make an exception for anyone who was a Goldman Sachs whistle blower and helped put Goldman Sachs managers in prison. Oops, for those criteria to be met there would have had to be at least one prosecution and a conviction.

I watched the Stonehill College debate at The Enterprise News website.

One of the comments on that web page was:

Licking my chops, It will be amusing to watch them eat their own.

I wonder if Lizzy’s Occupier friends will show up with their neck tattoos, ear gauges and unbathed carcasses. The Occupods want to know ‘ Will free food be available?’

As we all know it is her that is responsible for them when she stated ‘I created much of the intellectual foundation for what they do, she said in the interview. I support what they do.

If that is an intellectual foundation for anything, it is disaster. We as a nation are doomed!

My response to that comment was:

I am so glad someone asked about the intellectual foundation that Elizabeth Warren provided to the Occupy movement.

Elizabeth Warren wrote a book, “The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class”

If you really wanted an answer to the question, you would devote the time to listen to her invited lecture on what is the lesson from the book.
http://wp.me/peCeJ-172

I do not understand why the campaign doesn’t use this strong message to shoot down the Karl Rove meme. I suggested Warren acknowledge the OWS movement. The proviso was that there was going to be blowback, and you had to be prepared for it. Now that you have taken the bold step, you cannot retreat. You must use the blow back as a teachable moment.

The blowback will continue until you answer it forcefully. If some professional political advisor is holding Elizabeth back from making her case, that person ought to be fired.

If she is a bold person, and we like boldness, then you can’t retreat and be a wimp. Go for broke, or go home.

Please sign my petition by the end of the week before the United States government goes down this dark path.

WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:
veto the defense appropriations bill that allows the military to detain US citizens indefinitely.

The President has promised to veto the Defense Appropriations bill that would allow our military to pick up a US citizen on US soil and hold that person indefinitely without trial or right to counsel. This is the most important promise he has made. He should not negotiate with himself to talk himself out of keeping his promise.

If he keeps his promise I will vote for him in 2012. If he fails, I will not vote for him. As simple as that.

They don’t make it easy to sign a petition.  Perhaps these instructions still work, How To Sign a whitehouse.gov Petition.

Elizabeth Warren said:

I watched tonight’s 60 minutes. Another example why it’s past time we start demanding accountability for those who broke the economy.

She was referring to the 60 Minutes story, Prosecuting Wall Street – CBS News.

Do you know any people who think we shouldn’t tax the wealthy job creators and their great wealth because they earned their money through hard work?  Could you do me a favor?  Could you walk over to them, tap them on the head, and see if anybody is home?

If there is any sign of life there, could you drag them over to watch the CBS 60 Minutes video?  I’d love to hear about their reaction.

Are there any Obama supporters who still feel that he is doing everything that he can?  Maybe you can check for signs of life there, too.