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Wednesday, January 18, 2012

State of the Union with Tracy & Hepburn

If you get a chance, watch the 1948 movie, State of the Union, with Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn.  Tracy is seeking the Republican nomination for President to run against Harry Truman.

As the movie develops, Tracy, a man of principle, learns that his principles won’t get him elected because he must get the support of the various factions of the party, that is labor, banking, agriculture and so on.

Slowly, you see Tracy, as painful as it is, sell out to every faction involved to get their support.

Soon, as you will discover, there is nothing left of Tracy’s values, talents and good intentions.

In the end he tells all the various lobbyists to go to hell because he can’t be President without principles.

Since it is a movie, Tracy stands up to all the factions, is loudly cheered by the voters and you assume that in the end the voters will prevail.

Note that the head of the party says that the voters don’t count because they are too lazy to vote and those who do vote can be bought or persuaded.

Sounds like every election I have ever witnessed.

5 comments:

  1. A few years back, I had this dumb idea that I might run for congress. I flew to Washington, met with some GOP Big Shots, at least they thought they were.
    He's what happened in a nutshell; I told them about the concerns of the people in NV. They said they didn't care what the people thought. They then said what I needed to do. Make all the contacts, do all the work, raise ALL the money and basically give it to them. I said they had the wrong guy and walked out!
    Washington truly is 70 square miles surrounded by reality! And a city full of itself!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Call me Mr. Gordon goes to Washington circa 2012 Part I

    Now is the time for the American people to leverage their collective political and spending power.

    Now it’s time that the American people exercise their responsibility and use tools to directly drive the political and economy process on behalf of the millions of Americans on your street.

    Americans must speak with one voice and make it crystal clear to each of the 535 lawmakers that we the people want an equal opportunity to participate in the economic recovery of the United States. And that we want our fair share of the American economic pie!

    YourStreet.org is the platform for millions of income tax filers, which includes more than 25 million unemployed and the underemployed Americans; the 15 million homeowners with underwater mortgages; the 38 million students and recent graduates struggling with students loan debt; returning veterans; military families; including the nation’s 50 million boomers (AARP members, many on fixed incomes, and others to leverage their collective, political and spending power to get this economy moving again.

    The technological tools to directly bring these millions of Americans together to build a new paradigm for a people-driven digital representative democracy are readily at hand. By harnessing the incredible powerful tools of the Internet—through the use of Facebook, Google+, Yahoo, Microsoft, Twitter, Amazon, and Apple—using PCs, laptops, smartphones, tablets, and the yet to be invented devices that will surely come, we can create a prosperity shared by all Americans.

    These tools also provide the ability and the opportunity to mobilize millions of Americans to lobby President Obama and Congress to enact emergency legislation to establish the Consumer Investment Incentive Agency (CIIA) and the YourStreet Money Debit Cards (YSMDC) in order to immediately put cash back into consumers’ hands, and evoking the sentiments in President Reagan’s TV Ad— “It's morning again in America”— sparking consumer confidence and unleash a tidal wave of consumer spending and prosperity.

    An Action Plan for the American People

    1) Send a message to the 535 members of Congress as well as to the 5 delegates representing U.S. territories and the one delegate representing the District of Columbia, and let them know that you want them to vote on (in committee for delegates) and pass emergency legislation establishing the CIIA, with the provision for consumer, students and business YSMDCs, with an implantation date of April 15, 2012.

    Let President Obama and Congress know that there should be nothing more important on a joint legislative agenda for the 112th Congress than the passage of this important emergency landmark legislation, and that the American people are counting on them to administer the wherewithal to stabilize the U.S. economy and to help the American pelope create jobs now in the private sector.

    2) After reading what YourStreet Money Debit Cards can do for you, as a student, your family or your business, go to a financial institutions of your choice and open up an account for either $500, $1,000, $1,500, $2,000 or 2,500, whatever you can afford, or in the case of a business account deposit up to $12,500 and designate it as your YourStreet Money Debit Card financial account.

    3) Make a short video (less than 3 minutes in length) expressing your support. Ensure that your video prominently displays a copy of the proposed YourStreet Money Debit Card (download a copy of a YSMDC here), then upload it to the Web. Show and tell the world what you are going to buy. Also, respectfully ask your senators and congressperson (by name and title) to vote for passage of the emergency legislation establishing the Consumer Investment Incentive Agency and the YSMDC. Further, ask them to make a public promise and post it on their official congressional or senatorial Websites, as well as on their re-election Websites that they support and will vote for the $2 trillion consumer-driven economic CIIA legislation.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Call me Mr. Gordon goes to Washington circa 2012 Part I

    Now is the time for the American people to leverage their collective political and spending power.

    Now it’s time that the American people exercise their responsibility and use tools to directly drive the political and economy process on behalf of the millions of Americans on your street.

    Americans must speak with one voice and make it crystal clear to each of the 535 lawmakers that we the people want an equal opportunity to participate in the economic recovery of the United States. And that we want our fair share of the American economic pie!

    YourStreet.org is the platform for millions of income tax filers, which includes more than 25 million unemployed and the underemployed Americans; the 15 million homeowners with underwater mortgages; the 38 million students and recent graduates struggling with students loan debt; returning veterans; military families; including the nation’s 50 million boomers (AARP members, many on fixed income), and others to leverage their collective, political and spending power to get this economy moving again.

    The technological tools to directly bring these millions of Americans together to build a new paradigm for a people-driven digital representative democracy are readily at hand. By harnessing the incredible powerful tools of the Internet—through the use of Facebook, Google+, Yahoo, Microsoft, Twitter, Amazon, and Apple—using PCs, laptops, smartphones, tablets, and the yet to be invented devices that will surely come, we can create a prosperity shared by all Americans.

    These tools also provide the ability and the opportunity to mobilize millions of Americans to lobby President Obama and Congress to enact emergency legislation to establish the Consumer Investment Incentive Agency (CIIA) and the YourStreet Money Debit Cards (YSMDC) in order to immediately put cash back into consumers’ hands, and evoking the sentiments in President Reagan’s TV Ad— “It's morning again in America”— sparking consumer confidence and unleash a tidal wave of consumer spending and prosperity.

    An Action Plan for the American People

    1) Send a message to the 535 members of Congress as well as to the 5 delegates representing U.S. territories and the one delegate representing the District of Columbia, and let them know that you want them to vote on (in committee for delegates) and pass emergency legislation establishing the CIIA, with the provision for consumer, students and business YSMDCs, with an implantation date of April 15, 2012.

    Let President Obama and Congress know that there should be nothing more important on a joint legislative agenda for the 112th Congress than the passage of this important emergency landmark legislation, and that the American people are counting on them to administer the wherewithal to stabilize the U.S. economy and to help the American people create jobs now in the private sector.

    2) After reading what YourStreet Money Debit Cards can do for you, as a student, your family or your business, go to a financial institutions of your choice and open up an account for either $500, $1,000, $1,500, $2,000 or 2,500, whatever you can afford, or in the case of a business account deposit up to $12,500 and designate it as your YourStreet Money Debit Card financial account.

    3) Make a short video (less than 3 minutes in length) expressing your support. Ensure that your video prominently displays a copy of the proposed YourStreet Money Debit Card (download a copy of a YSMDC here), and then upload it to the Web. Show and tell the world what you are going to buy. Also, respectfully ask your senators and congressperson (by name and title) to vote for passage of the emergency legislation establishing the Consumer Investment Incentive Agency and the YSMDC. Further, ask them to make a public promise and post it on their official congressional or senatorial Websites, as well as on their re-election Websites that they support and will vote for the $2 trillion consumer-driven economic CIIA legislation.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Call me Mr. Gordon goes to Washington circa 2012 Part II

    The Importance of Your Immediate Actions

    After opening your YourStreet Money Debit Card financial account at a bank, federal credit union, community bank, FDIC-insured online banks, or any other financial institution, contact the President, your senators and your congressperson and let them know—by email, U.S. mail or by calling both their local and Washington, D.C., offices—that you have opened a YourStreet Money Debit Card account in anticipation of their “Yes!” vote on the Consumer Investment Incentive Agency bill.

    Let President Obama, your senators and congressperson know that the YourStreet Money Debit Card is a pocketbook issue and that you are literally voting for the program with your hard-earned money in these unpredictable economic times. Further, that your self-interest parallels the interest of the nation and that you fully expect them to serve the interest of the American people as well.

    When you ask President Obama, your senators and congressperson for their votes, you are asking on behalf of millions of their constituents who want their support for fair and equal opportunities to participate in the economic recovery of the United States.

    You are reminding them that we are not only their constituents, but also we are small-business owners, entrepreneurs, students, and job creators, and we are U.S. taxpaying consumers who make up 70 percent of the U.S. economy, and that we want to be counted as full and equal partners to help grow the economy.

    When we do these simple acts, we are letting them know in a clear voice that we want their “Yes!” votes on this emergency landmark legislation. And equally as important, we are letting each of the 535 members of Congress know that there will be a time, in the not-too-distant future when we the people will vote for them based on our memory of how they voted on this critical important legislation for the American people.

    The election for all 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives will be held on November 6, 2012. Moreover, out of 100 seats in the United States Senate 33 are up for re-election. Due to 7 senators retiring in 2012, their seats will be open seats in the election. On Election Day 2012 we the voters will have our opportunity to vote for all of them in accordance with how they voted for us.

    Please take note: Nearly 50 percent of the 535 members of the U.S. Congress are millionaires. They and their congressional colleagues will decide whether you will receive up to $2,500 in matching funds or in the case of a business YSMDC $12,500 in matching funds to help get this economy moving again.

    We can all go to Washington now and effect change!

    Thank you

    Carl Gordon
    Cofounder YourStreet.org
    cg@yourstreet.org

    http://www.facebook.com/pages/YourStreet-Money-Debit-Card/224066427658544

    ©2010-2012 Carl Gordon. All rights reserved.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Call me Mr. Gordon goes to Washington circa 2012 Part III

    Addressing the question of how to pay for the CIIA and YSMDCs

    The following is a brief synopsis to questions you may have as to how to fund the Consumer Investment Incentive Agency and YourStreet Money Debit Cards.

    1) Re-investing $500 billion of paid-back bank TARP funds directly with the American people to establish the Consumer Investment Incentive Agency and the YourStreet Money Debit Card would be poetic justice for the American people, and a very smart political strategy in an election year.

    2) On December 31, 2012, allow the temporary tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, for those with incomes of more than $250,000, to expire as the Republican-controlled Congress and the Bush administration scheduled and enacted into law in 2003, and that was extended by Congress and the Obama administration in December of 2010.

    Take the $700 billion savings from allowing the tax cuts to expire and pledge $500 billion to be used for re-investment with the American people now. In fact, the current proposed emergency legislation can stipulate that the savings be used for the Consumer Investment Incentive Agency and the YourStreet Money Debit Card initiative.

    From the implementation of the Consumer Investment Incentive Agency, the federal government and states (taxpayers) will earn 4 percent on $2 trillion of purchasing transactions by consumers using their YourStreet Money Debit Card.

    4 percent of $2 trillion = $80 billion (dedicated deficit reduction)

    6 percent of $1.5 trillion = $90 billion (6 percent interest rate loan repayments)

    Average state sales tax rate of each state is 6.5 percent of $2 trillion = $130 billion (state sales tax revenues)

    Establishing the Consumer Investment Incentive Agency and the YSMDC will save the federal government and states billions of dollars on unemployment insurance payments, welfare, food stamps and Medicaid payments.

    Payroll tax contributions from workers and employers will increase and replenish the Social Security Trust Fund.

    Intangible: America’s self-esteem and consumer confidence will soar.

    Moreover, $2 trillion will have an enormous multiplier effect on the economy.

    Furthermore, if the Consumer Investment Incentive Agency and the YSMDC—incentivized consumer spending initiative is memorialized into law by April 15, 2012, Democrats will win control of both houses of Congress and the president will be assured re-election in November.

    http://www.facebook.com/pages/YourStreet-Money-Debit-Card/224066427658544

    ©2010-2012 Carl Gordon. All rights reserved.

    ReplyDelete