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1) One is simple but very important: Encourage people to run for office. Now, this is not for everyone, but we need to find people, from the pool of us, who can enter the political realm and displace these career politicians who have screwed up everything. If you cannot run for office, consider volunteering for a local elected official or party committee. You will get to know key people and the feeling of empowerment is AWESOME! Just 3 hours a week is plenty - like a Thursday afternoon, answering phones, working on the computers; writing letters. ALL of this is needed work and you WILL be appreciated! Chances are good you will meet the politician and maybe this will help get you to run or be appointed to local office!
2) The second thing is to have a radio home for whistle blowers; a place where people with knowledge of scandals and wrongdoing (public and private) can leak documents and information to expose scandals. This is a "WikiLeaks for radio" and can be accessed by sending e-mails to [email protected] and putting "Radio Leaks" in the subject line. As I said on the radio, I will do my level best to protect the leakers; it helps being a lawyer! Using software like TOR or I2P, people can hide their identities, if they so choose, and leak anonymously. Or, people can use Internet cafes and public libraries (make sure not to leave your real name) to send material. I will fight all lawsuits and subpoenas and gather up other lawyers to fight efforts to discover identities of leakers, of course at no charge. I will claim the journalist privilege and while I cannot guarantee anonymity, if the whistleblowers take steps to hide their identities, I can help as well.
3) The third thing is to use state ballot initiatives to put our agenda before the people. I am tired of waiting on Washington. Something like 24 states have citizen initiative provisions; we should turn the tables on Karl Rove and put our agenda on state ballots - just like Rove did to swell turnout in the 2004 election, with "ban gay marriage" initiatives.
4) The fourth thing is the most ambitious but perhaps most vital: To create or find a quarterback to knit together the progressive infrastructure and get a coordinated message out in the public. Raising money to place billboards by highways ("Tax Fairness Balances The Budget" and "Outsourcing is a Job Killer - Bring The Jobs Home"
and running TV and radio commercials constantly (not just at election time) to issue advocate, not candidate advocate, would counter "The American Crossroads" campaign of Karl Rove and his corporate sponsors. We would need an Obama-style base of small donors, plus a group of middle and larger donors to sustain the effort for years to come. I am talking about a constant, relentless effort here - not a one-shot deal. Patience is a virtue.
