Fwd: Where Do We Go From Here Post Election??

Hi -- This has been sitting on my computer since the election, but it's a good reminder that the President EXPECTS us to push him hard if we are concerned about something. 
--Kim

Hi -- this was sent to me by one of our readers.  Good article about where do we go from here.  It's about staying engaged and making the president do what we want him to -- having his back, as they say. 
--Kim

Hi, you might find this article of interest.



Begin forwarded message:

From: The Pen <theteam@peaceteam.net >
Date: November 7, 2012 12:30:47 AM PST
To: ...
Subject: Where Do We Go From Here Post Election??


Dear Friends and Activists:

When President Obama was challenged a couple months ago about various
disappointments, he said it was not about him, it was about us. That
is to say, WE were to blame for not pushing him harder. We agree.

As one prominent example, because we did not stand strong enough
demanding real health care reform in the form of single payer, we
ended up with a bad bill that was a part of the mood of
disappointment. And candidate Romney had the gall to solicit that
disappointment as a reason to vote for him instead, as if he would
not have changed things for the worse.

So unless we get cracking right now, and advocate for policy change
in voices that WILL NOT be ignored, in another two years we will
again be faced with a choice between candidates hard to defend and
even greater evils.

With all that in mind, we take note of something President Obama had
to say last night in his victory speech.

"The role of citizens in our Democracy does not end with your vote.
America's never been about what can be done for us. It's about what
can be done by us together through the hard and frustrating, but
necessary work of self-government."

Isn't that what we've been saying all along, that is is not enough to
vote for someone and then HOPE they bring about the progressive
change we want? We must force their hands every day of our lives.

And here is the three part plan we propose from this point on:

1) Citizen Ballot Initiative Movements

The brightest spot of last night's election was some very good law
was made by citizen initiative across the country. Two states
legalized gay marriage, three legalized marijuana, etc. This is the
best form of "self-government" (to quote President Obama). We need to
get to work right now preparing ballot initiatives for the next
election cycle, educating voters, recruiting support, for single
payer, public financing of elections, you name it, whatever we really
want.

We don't have to wait for some politician to do us a big favor and
actually do their job representing the interests of the people. We
can go to the people (ourselves) directly and make it law in many
states. And the added benefit is such measures will bring people to
the polls who will also support the candidates we'd really like
better in any case.

Please email us if you would like to participate in such actions and
let's get it together.

2) Citizen Drafted Legislation Seeking Sponsorship

The right wing has long had ALEC, a coordinating group dedicated to
writing bills expressly drafted to favor their corporate special
interests and pushing them on legislatures. We should be doing the
same with our greater numbers. Let us write the bills WE want, and
demand that our legislators sponsor them.

If they refuse to sponsor, let us publish that and recruit other
candidates who will. And if we start that process immediately, and
current legislators will not act, we can STILL put those same bills
up as citizen ballot initiatives state by state, and have a head
start on educating our fellow citizens that way.

Please email us if you would like to participate in these actions,
especially if you have experience drafting law at the legislative
level.

3) Enlightening Media Policy Action Projects

We need to find other creative ways to educate and advocate for
policy change.

That is why we put so much energy into producing a full length
feature dramatic film, "The Last War Crime," about the lies that took
to war in Iraq, false intelligence which could only be obtained by
torture. And we will put in real theaters near you just as soon as
enough of you are ready to get real about it. And that means we need
tens of thousands of you (speaking nationwide) to request tickets,
and we are still not there yet. Please check out the new closing
argument clip at

http://www.peaceteam.net/closing_argument2.php

If this video sample does not touch something inside you there is
nothing more we can do for you.

In the meantime we are fighting back hard against the repressive
forces trying to stop the word from getting out about this movie.
Monday our lawsuit for political speech discrimination against right
wing radio station WMAL was filed in federal district court in
Washington, DC. This is a very serious action raising constitutional
questions of probable first impression. Check out this link to hear
the ad they rejected, and you can also read a draft of the complaint
from a link on the same page.

http://www.peaceteam.net/extraordinary_vacation.php

We are especially interested in hearing from qualified parties NOW
who would like to submit amicus briefs in this case. This has a
chance to make real precedent in a great test case.

And we want you to know, we can't wait to get back into production
for our next movie planned, to be called "Citizens United", in which
we will confront the issue of corporate personhood. But first, we
need to get this first one out there.

So those are our proposals for how to proceed going forward. Please
join in now in every possible way, and we will not have to bite our
nails again so hard two or four years hence.

Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed
to be ours, and forward this alert as widely as possible.
Contributions to The People's Email Network are not tax-deductible
for federal income tax purposes.

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