Back in April I started the GuvWurld blog by
pondering the possibility of a No Confidence Resolution. It was clear to me that conditions did not exist for us to have an election where the results would be beyond question - there is no BASIS for confidence.
A week later I posted a
first draft. Over the next three months I generated a ton of local
media attention here in Humboldt County, CA. I spoke at meetings of several community groups and got people to help me with
leaflets and petitions. Vets For Peace Chapter 56 voted to endorse the resolution. At that point community input had led to several revisions and we were up to
version 4.0.
On July 7, the Arcata, CA City Council considered the resolution. They took no action, deciding instead
to re-write it. They completely watered it down making it a worthless
false alternative. It
passed 5-0.
I backed off of this for a while after that. Just prior to 11/2 I did not know what kind of action I would want to be involved with in response to the controversy I knew was coming. By 11/7 I had concluded No Confidence was right all along and I drafted an entirely
new resolution. I've got a good core group now that is helping to push for the Arcata Council and the Eureka, CA Council to take it up. (All of these links are pointing to supporting materials in the
GuvWurld blog and
News Archive).
All of this is stuff that you can do in your town, pretty much exactly how I've done it. In fact, for the vision of the
No Confidence Movement to be realized, we will need a steadily increasing number of communities to pass similar resolutions.
Consider that over 300 anti-Patriot Act resolutions have been passed. Collectively, these have not restored our rights. The intentional difference with the No Confidence Resolution is a mechanism for cumulative impact. We are talking about the
Consent of the Governed, currently being denied, ignored and otherwise deemed irrelevant. It is therefore not in any way a stretch for us to be talking about withdrawing this Consent.
When the first resolution passes, the world will not recognize that the Consent of the Governed has been withdrawn. But with each additional resolution the question will be asked anew: has the Consent of the Governed been withdrawn, YET? After 25, or 50, or 100 resolutions, at some point, the answer will switch from NO to YES, the Consent of the Governed has been withdrawn. This last straw is the hallmark of a tipping point.
On Edit, added: I really can't encourage you all strongly enough - wherever in the US you may be, this is a campaign that needs to be started in your area. This can be done one person at a time. Funny what it takes to start a revolution, huh?
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