Why Can't we do it ourselves?

[Flatpicker]

I'm just wondering why we can't tell the truth that the Dems seem to not want to use during an election season?

Why can't we as group simply create our own PAC, or News Organization, or whatever to bring to light what we know to be true?

If Tucker Carlson can have one of his Newz people at the WH as a correspondent, why can't DU or any organization of Progressive Minded people that can create a team?

I guess I'm trying to figure out why we are sitting around and allowing Faux and the Other MSM groups to call the shots to the public.
Really, how hard can it be. The Faux crews aren't top of the line, yet they pull it off.

[RC]

1. Good question.

[rhett o rick]

2. We have to spend our efforts making sure that the elections are fair. nm

[Flatpicker]

3. How fair

Can they be if the electorate is being lied to?
Seems to me that if the reporting is correct then we would already be more than 1/2 way there.

[rhett o rick]

13. If the voting machines are going to give the victories to the Republicans

then no amount of truth in the media will help.

[Flatpicker]

14. So?

Let's do nothing? We can't win so don't try?

I don't see where you are heading with this line of logic.

[rhett o rick]

18. You clearly cant if you think I even hinted at

"Let's do nothing? We can't win so don't try?"

A lot of people are content in saying over and over, "Let's vote, let's vote". Very little appears to being done by our Democratic Party to ensure a fair election. VOTING ISNT ENOUGH. We need to figure out how to get our government to help ensure fair elections w/o electronic voting. Paper ballots only.

The Obama administration says it's up to us. Well the admin and the Democratic Party share the responsibility. I was shocked in 2000 how little the Party did for us. Then again in 2004, our side was caught off guard again.
"Fool me once and shame on you, fool me ....well you better not be fooling me again."
We were fooled twice. Are we doing ANYTHING about it?

Mr. President, you assure us that the election will be fair and we will handle it from there.

[Flatpicker]

19. We have to

Start somewhere.

I don't care about the party as much as I care about the progressive agenda.

Let's for a moment say, you are right and the vote is rigged. If we can make the average voter see that their voice hasn't been heard, then the public outcry will ensure that it won't happen.
What I want to do is get the message out correctly. That's what we 'can' do.

Say, for a moment that Romney wins, then we would have the organization to be able to call out the hypocrisy. Our message still remains the same. Then we also "if we are a legit news org" get to ask the hard questions and do the real research to show the people what is really going on.

I'm being a little naive, but we have to start somewhere.

[rhett o rick]

23. If the election is stolen AGAIN, it will mean that our party

dont give a shit. We need to insist on fair elections. That isnt unreasonable. That's where we start.

[Ghost of Huey Long]

51. we have to do both

While we are waking people to the real, the ONE real issue that needs to be addressed RAISE TAXES ON THE WEALTHY NOW!


We can also inform people that although the vast majority want this, we might not get it, because the wealthy are using the vast amounts of money they have been hoarding to buy off the media to manufacture consent, and to buy of Tech people to fix the elections, because it is so simple to do.

We just need to explain to people how easy it is to steal elections, and they will understand what we are up against, because we all know what these fascists Republicans will do to make more money...anything and everything required!

We have to be ready, we have to prepare people so that when the time comes, they will not blindly trust the media.

No one trusts the corporate media so they say, but then when it comes to big issues, like elections (9/11, the wars, the bailouts, Big Government programs)...people always fall right back in line believing everything the corporate media tells them. It's crazy.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

4. Ah....the question around here since 2004 when I found DU. What an enormous amount

of knowledge and like-minded thinking in one place. Why not harness it? Why don't the PTB
in Dem politics somehow "use" us? Why not solicit our campaign strategy ideas?

Such a waste. But, trust me, if we couldn't get our act together for unified good back in 2004,
we never will.

If I were you, don't ask, just do. Keep posting it everyday. And whoever kicks, get them to
kick it the next day.

I love your idea.

[Flatpicker]

5. Ok

So let's look at this link for a min.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002844446

Why can't this become an ad for the 2011 POTUS election?
I realize we would have to make it less explicit in language, but the info is good stuff.

If the Republicans can have a Veterans group who was not officially in league with the RNC launch swiftboat ads, why can't a Progressive group who is not officially in league with the DNC make some ads that show what the Republicans really mean. I don't think we need the PTB's ok for that.

Use the internet wayback machine and show how R-Money was for HCR until it became Obamacare.

Maybe we can't compete with Koch money. But we, all of us together, could do the one thing that all dirty dealers don't like. Put a big ol' spotlight on them.
Use their words against them. Pull up all the stuff they have ever said or done and make some kicking ads that bring it to light.

It has to get out of the forums and onto the Television stations. It has to be big, loud, and most importantly correct.
You don't have to massage the facts with these people, their own words and actions should condemn them. We just have to get it out there in an organized way.

[KakistocracyHater]

57. go facebook it, tweet it to

but I look at Dem's with suspicion because they seem to be the 'other right' too much.

[sabrina 1]

6. We should incorporate. Everyone is incorporated, taking advantage of Citizens United. We are

entitled to those benefits also, that was the point made by the ACLU. Maybe instead of trying to fight it, join it.

I did write an OP once about incorporating the American People. If the people were incorporated, wouldn't they be 'too big fail'?

Individually we are not represented in Congress. Everyone except 'we the people' has lobbyists whispering in the ears of our Representatives, except for the People. But if the people were a Corp, since that's the game now, no more democracy, then the People could send their lobbyists with bags of money to DC to get done what we want done. At least we'd have a hearing.

I agree with the OP, we have to think differently. Just reacting is not working. AND we could have our own press/spokespersons as the OP says.

Good idea. All this energy for all these years has been wasted. Let them tell a huge Corporation such as 'We The People Inc' that their ideas are 'retarded'. They would not dare say that to Goldman Sachs. As a Corporation We The People would have benefits we do not have individually. Maybe that's the way to beat them at their own game. If you can't lick'm, join'm.

[Flatpicker]

7. I can't tell if you are

Joking, but that is close to what I was thinking.

Why shouldn't we use Citizens United, to actually become "Citizens United".

'We the People Inc' is a great name too. I really like that. It sounds professional and patriotic and all that good stuff.

Just imagine an add that shows what we believe and at the end, "paid for by We The People".

It's 2am my time and I'm going to bed.
I hope this thread is still alive and kicking in the morning.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

8. Need to spend/raise $1000, get a website, email address and elect officers. Here's the

form to complete

http://www.fec.gov/ans/answers_pac.shtml

Of course, you have to have a mechanism for collecting funds.

Have no idea how much an ad on a website costs. Putting it on a left wing website is a waste of
money so we would have to look at other places. course, you could post a link to it on twitter for free

[Laura PourMeADrink]

9. website advertising costs

Website Advertising Costs

There are as many places on the Internet to advertise your website as there are rocks on the moon. So where do you start advertising your Internet business web site?

If you want instant website traffic right now, and you want to avoid all the hard work incorporating the necessary elements of website advertising design, then you're going to have to advertise your website "as is" on high traffic volume websites. Period.
If your Internet web business sells used motorcycle parts , you're going to have to pay to have your website link, graphic and/or banner ad deployed and noticed on high-traffic, used motorcycle parts related websites- in high hopes that they'll be able to produce a significant, new stream of web traffic.

Website advertising this way could run you as little as $30.00 a month on some sites- or you could pay as much as $300.00 per month and more to advertise your website on high-web-traffic volume used motorcycle websites. "And where will all those hits come from", you ask??? Answer; a website that shows up on page one or page two on Google, Yahoo or MSN search engine results.

Advertising on a moderately high-traffic website, charging you $50.00 per month, may bring you in a few hundred hits a month, whereas paying $300.00 per month may bring you in 30 thousand hits a month. You only get what you pay for.

[sabrina 1]

35. No, I wasn't joking, I was serious. I wrote an OP over a year ago in desperation, I guess,

wondering if we should try to Incorporate since we were told that nothing could be done about corrupt Corporations as they were 'too big to fail'.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/sabrina%201/75

Ideas take a while to catch on. So keep talking about it, imo, we the people have no representation in DC, we have no lobbyists, the only thing close to collective representation were Unions, and the Right has succeeded in reducing them to half the number, maybe even less, than they were.

[TheKentuckian]

58. Incorporating has no magic to fix anything without the money, access, and connections to make it pay

There are probably millions of flat busted, ignored except to be nickeled and dimed, and powerless incorporated entities.

Incorporating does not negate "small people" status and it does not even mildly address the wealth and income differentials. Even if we could magically band together 80% of the population and they were willing to give every single cent, it would not touch the resources of string pullers.

There is no plausible path to "fighting fire with fire" here, the math will not bear it out.

I guess The People, Inc could be a rallying point, an area of focus but the money isn't there for an effective direct assault utilizing the very methods used to defraud us of our government and institutions. I wish it was but we have slept too long while our wealth and the fruits of our labors were funneled into the hands of the greedy few.
Congressmen may seem relatively cheap but a bidding war would change the numbers very quickly and our ceiling is orders of magnitude lower, not even comparable assuming some defection in the top half percent and higher.

[treestar]

10. Would be worth a try

Rather than just assuming Faux gets to call the shots and that the mindless millions can be controlled. We should control those mindless ones, not Faux. Is that what we're getting at here?

We do have free speech in the U.S., so you are right. Nothing stops us from speaking out against whatever Faux is pushing.

[Flatpicker]

16. I hate to say it like that, but yeah. nm

[turtlerescue1]

11. The team exists, isn't it called "Stone Soup"??

The team logo exists. Talking the talk is not the same as walking the Walk.

We lost our right to privacy, before '9/11".

For what it's worth, the idea of "re-birth" of an $18.33 savings bond wasn't about investment profits. If may be "chump-change" when $money no longer counts the pennies, not even the single dollars, only the LARGE bills. There are likely a lot of $18.33 potential bond holders among we, the 99%. Would keep things "non political" superficially, yeap like the Super PACS supposedly do, support a "perspective", a "cause", a "purpose".

As much as I've fallen in love with DU, am sure it is being "observed" for the "sake" of National Security.

With the numbers that post here, let alone the numbers that simply read the posts, its a bloc worth weight and impacts. Like-minds for the most part.

Perhaps we need to be "DUers" not just thinkers eh?

[Wild_Dog]

12. Coalition of Natural Allies

Gather together groups that generally agree who will work together.

[Flatpicker]

15. Probably is

But it doesn't matter.
We're not thinking of doing anything wrong. If anything, we're trying to use the system as it exists to make our voices heard.

I'm not sure where to begin, but, I'm thinking and am very willing to work with people who want to create something. Maybe it's as simple as starting a new web-news site where actual journalism can be done.

I'd say to anybody interested, to send me a DUmail and we can start talking.

[Wild_Dog]

25. I just offered an Idea

Coalition of Natural Allies

Take over the Democratic Party from the inside by organizing voters.

Do you want to talk about this idea?

[Flatpicker]

31. Sure

Let's get some organization together and then we can take all ideas in.

[Wild_Dog]

49. Organize what?

We have to have a direction or approach first!

If you accept my approach; work to change the Democratic Party from within then that leads to doing certain things. If you see the path thru a 3rd party then other organization is required.

The only way I see is inside the Dem Party sort of like the Tea Party taking over the GOP!

[sendero]

17. I think that is an excellent idea...

... I've noticed in recent years that few Democrats even try to counter the lies and idiocy on the right.

If they won't do it, maybe we should. We can be our own Super PAC sans the big bucks but with a big message.

[Sirveri]

20. Because we have no money and spend all our time at work?

We also don't have the same training/skills that they already have, and they have total market saturation and control of all points of access.

Great, you have your own TV channel, now can you get comcast to pick it up, and if you can, they'll probably just bury it somewhere or constantly shift your channel. Unless of course the corrupters get to it first.

The game is rigged, you can't play inside the rules because of that, you need to find a way to play outside the structure of the game, and hopefully destroy the game.

[Flatpicker]

21. How's that worked out for you so far?

The only thing they have is money.

You're making it harder than it really is. We can buy ad-time just like they can.
There is no destroying the game without looking like a paramilitary nut. I'm not into that.

I'm talking about playing the game. We haven't done that as of yet.

[Sirveri]

37. They can buy 4 times the ad time.

Also, who is we, that was supposed to be the democrats, and last I checked they've been buying plenty of air time and playing the game. The issue is one of cycles. They buy up the media, so they can divide the populace, with the populace divided you can't get organized, without organization you can't get the right politicians in so, they rewrite all the rules to dumb down the populace and control more of the media. Rinse and repeat. We've been going through that cycle since at least the 1980's. You can't fix the system without having the right people in place to fix it. But you can't get them into place because they've trashed the education system and constantly pump out propaganda to brainwash the majority. So where do you break the link? 5 minutes a week of prime time ads can not compete against the rest of the brainwashing they spew (and they're not required to accept the ads). The system IS stacked, it would be like going into a casino that uses loaded dice and trying to win.

So we have to figure out other methods. Crashing the system is always an option, but difficult to control what comes out of it, especially with the residual propaganda brainwashing the populace. The issue is ultimately one of education, but education has trouble competing against propaganda and white noise, so without eliminating that you can't really make progress. I'm probably just going to leave, because at this point I don't see a peaceful way back (at least for America), go North and hope global warming and peak oil doesn't finish off the species.

[sabrina 1]

22. Individually we may not have money, but collectively as an organized group, money can be raised.

How do you think they do it? All those right wing think tanks didn't start out with money either, they started with a goal, which was to destroy the left and they've done a pretty good job of it. They built their own noise machine, they had zero opposition, the Left just sat there looking down their noses, thinking it was beneath them to get down in the dirt and take them on where they reside, or better yet, step over them, which I think is what the OP is talking about and build a bigger and better 'mouse-trap'.

All we do is react to their latest salvo, ie, Citizens United. How about taking what they create now and use it against them instead of doing what they intend for us to do, spend years fighting every next invention they come up with?

Eg, the ACLU and Glenn Greenwald were attacked for pointing out that Citizens Unitied could be used by smaller Corps too, to get it passed, it had to include all Corporations,, which is why I suggested the People Become a Corporation, we would be the biggest one ever, too big fail, entitled to collect and use our money under the New Law THEY invented, to buy OUR OWN politicians.

We have zero imagination, all we ever do it seems is complain that they are doing what they are doing instead doing better.

After a while, if we let them spend their time and energy coming up with all these ideas, then USE them against them, THEY will be the ones calling for an end to Citizens United.

[Flatpicker]

32. You've got it

"How do you think they do it? All those right wing think tanks didn't start out with money either, they started with a goal, which was to destroy the left and they've done a pretty good job of it. They built their own noise machine, they had zero opposition, the Left just sat there looking down their noses, thinking it was beneath them to get down in the dirt and take them on where they reside, or better yet, step over them, which I think is what the OP is talking about and build a bigger and better 'mouse-trap'."

That's what I'm talking about.

I'm tired of complaining about how unfair it is. If we organize, if we have a goal, we can make a difference.
If they lobby congress, we lobby congress. If they launch attack ads, we can too. We have more ammunition than they do because they have their hypocrisy on youtube, in official transcripts, and most useful, in their voting record.

Why do most people like HCR items, yet don't like Obamacare? Because they have been misinformed by the MSM and their owners.
Why does Romney even have a chance in this election? Because nobody has used his statements against him and the MSM need a horse race.
Why is it that Republican Voters don't know that they are being led along a path by the likes of Grover Norquist? It's not reported on.

But,
Faux Pimps destroy Acorn and Faux Covers it.
Holder get's hammered and Faux Covers it.
Clinton had a Beej? and Faux Covers it.
Kerry's Purple Hearts in question. and Faux Covers it.
etc etc.

It's sad that you get better reporting from Comedy Central than the News Stations.

[Sirveri]

34. The bottom 40% has .3% of the wealth.

The top 20% has 83% of the wealth.

So when I say we have no money, I mean it. Even assuming you could get everyone in the bottom 80% to actually cooperate, you'd still be outspent over 4 fold. And if you could get everyone to cooperate, then why bother retaking the media, just vote them out and dissolve them politically. They control the media so that they can pit those at the bottom against each other, so that you can never actually organize to remove them. And if you do organize they send their pit bulls the police to crush you.

You can't play in a system when they own the system and have rigged it against you. It's an act of futility.

[sabrina 1]

36. Well, that happened because the people allowed, sometimes even collaborated in making it happen.

There way more of us than there are of them. Take, eg, the two groups who have succeeded in getting this President's attention. Gay Rights Activists and Immigrants Rights Activists. Initially they, like the rest of us, were ignored, but they did not give up and their passionate activism gathered support and over the past few years, succeeded in achieving some victories. They could have said, considering the hate-mongering and opposition to both groups, 'it's an act of futility', but they did not.

Now, the president has done the right re the Dream Act, he went above the heads of Congress and did what was right. Why? Hopefully at least partially because it was the right thing to do, but I would say mainly because an election is coming up and the calculation was that to win, he needs the Hispanic vote.

Polls also showed, mainly due to the activism of Gay Rights Organizations and their supporters, that most Americans had no objection to Gays in the Military. That didn't happen without tough work. Finally they were successful. Neither group has the money that big Corporations have, but they had enough to put up a fight.

Politicians need our votes also, but they take them for granted much of the time. If we were to form a huge Corporation and collect enough money to send 'people's lobbyists to DC' at least we'd have some voice there which we do not at the moment.

And, we can use the Rights own tactics against them. USE Citizens United, if Corps are people now, then don't fight it, BECOME a Corp, until we get the government we want who can dispose of these nonsensical laws.

I did make this suggestion a while ago here http://journals.democraticunderground.com/sabrina%201/75


We The People Inc.

Just a suggestion, lol, I guess I was feeling desperate like the OP.

[Sirveri]

39. The corps/ultra rich don't care about gay rights.

Or abortion. Or a bunch of other hot button issues. They like them as wedge issues to divide the populace, but that's ultimately the limit of their concern about those subjects.

Try to fix the voting machines.
Try to fix money in politics.
Try to fix the drug war or outsourcing, or anything that improves their bottom line.

We've seen the progress made in those areas.

The system is stacked, half the people don't care what happens so long as they get their bread and circuses, the other half are divided by propaganda constantly spewed by the media. So, crash the system. Stop using it, or actively destroy it. Occupy was a good start, build your own community and replace the current one. But apparently illegal camping is a offense punishable by a hospital trip. I'm basically gearing up to leave at this point. Between the total corruption of our system and the numerous man-made systemic failures coming down the pipe things are going to get a lot worse in twenty years than better.

[Flatpicker]

43. Then

Respectfully, you should leave.

If you don't want to help fix the problem then you should not be telling others that they can't try to save their community.

All you are doing is helping the right keep us down.

Truly, no offense, but if you feel as you say you do...

[Sirveri]

46. I'm not quite set up to leave the states yet.

I just think you're wasting your time at this point. Even if you can save the US (or your local community), which probably is past the point of no return at this point, you then run into peak oil. Then peak gas. Then climate change. Then peak food. Then peak water. Those things will do the job for you by spiking food insecurity and sparking domestic riots, that's when money will stop mattering and change can occur, but at that point it's too late. But by all means try, though I would question if we still have a community or a society in the US anymore, seems much more everyone for themselves now.

I'd say enjoy yourself as much as possible until the ride starts. I'm looking at Greenland, Iceland, and Norway. Maybe Sweden or Canada. Lots of space in Patagonia as well, but that's BFEE backyard, rather get as far as possible from those bastards.

As for helping the right, you seem to think that this is somehow a zero sum game. It's not, my leaving neither harms nor helps anyone other than myself (I'm in CA, my vote is statistically irrelevant). There are plenty of times when leaving is the right thing to do, look at the Latino flight from Alabama and the resulting economic destruction that caused. That might be the best way to save America, though it wouldn't be America anymore. Have CA secede from the union. Split the country up, let the Republicans run their side into the ground and turn it into a fiefdom, and pick up all the pieces on the liberal side. They'll have enough eventually, or they'll turn into a third world hell hole, either way you've saved the ones who can be saved with minimal losses. Because you can't save someone who doesn't think they need saving or doesn't want it. American's don't want it, not enough of them to affect real change, not yet. If you want to be peaceful about it, just wait, it will happen later. But like I said above, there is a time limit to avoid major disruptions, which we've already passed, every year after just makes the overshoot exponentially worse.

The guardians failed in the 1980's, we'll pay for their failure within a decade or two (much more than we are now). But it's fine, everything is cyclical, just wait long enough and they'll hang themselves.

[Flying Squirrel]

24. It`s certainly worth trying.

Of course the first thing you need to understand is that once you move from thought to action, there will be reaction. The people in power will not give up that power without a fight. The moment you come up with an idea that might work, they`ll be trying to stop you. The second you start any kind of organization of people committed to th is cause, there will be infiltrators who will collect information on that organization and find a way to disrupt or destroy it. You may even be putting your very life on the line. Not trying to scare you out of doing it, just setting out the plain facts here. The people we are up against don`t play fair, there is no such thing as a clean fight with them. You sound like you think we can just start playing by the same rules and possibly win. We`ll never be playing by the same rules they are playing by. There are things you and I aren`t willing to do, that they are. I don`t have the ability to take the kind of risks you are about to take. I salute you for your idea, and if you really try it and they take you down, I hope your sacrifice will not be in vain and the ensuing cover-up won`t succeed. Just go into this with your eyes wide open, that`s all I`m saying.

[Ghost of Huey Long]

54. wow, good information

There are more infiltrators than people realize, and their first tactic is 'oh why don't we form a group to discuss this'...then it is divide and conquer time, they are professional time wasters. They probably get paid by Homeland Security for this BS too.

[ancianita]

26. I'm in.

I'll donate.

[demwing]

27. OK, let's start right now

http://uspolitics.about.com/od/CampaignsElections/a/How-To-Start-Your-Own-Super-Pac.htm


Step 1: Pick a Cause or Candidate

Re-Elect Obama? Truth In Media? What's your agenda?

Step 2: Pick a Clever Name for Your Super PAC

Really depends on your choice in step #1

Step 3: Other Essentials for Starting Your Own Super PAC

What bank should you use? Who is your treasurer? Who are the other officers?

Step 4: File the Paperwork

To officially launch your super PAC you will need to file what's called a Statement of Organization, or Form 1, with the Federal Election Commission. Check box 5(f) under "Type of Committee."

Also, write a short cover letter to the Federal Election Commission. Here's a sample. You'll want to be sure you make it clear your new committee will be functioning as a super PAC.

You can do that by including the following paragraph verbatim:

"This committee intends to make unlimited independent expenditures, and consistent with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decision in SpeechNow v. FEC, it therefore intends to raise funds in unlimited amounts. This committee will not use those funds to make contributions, whether direct, in-kind, or via coordinated communications, to federal candidates or committees."

Make sure to include on your Statement of Organization your name, address, contact information, and the name of your super PAC and its treasurer.

Mail your form to:

Federal Election Commission

999 E. St., NW

Washington, D.C. 20463

Step 5: What To Do With Your Super PAC

That's where it gets fun - billboards, radio ads, TV/cable commercials, of much better and more creative ways to get a message across.

If you can't beat 'em outright, then beat 'am at their own game...

[demwing]

29. What about a faux PAC?

A PAC with a stated purpose of electing Romney, but using the most blatant, racist, greedy, sexist, stereotypical Republican messaging imaginable?

Due to Romney what the Troy Library did to it's opponents?

http://bookbash.wordpress.com/2012/06/23/save-the-troy-library-adventures-in-reverse-psychology/

[Flatpicker]

41. Give it a shot

Lets pull together some materials and see what we come up with.

I really don't know where this is all going to go, but, I'd like to try something.

[demwing]

53. Well let's take this 1 step at a time

Step 1: Pick a Cause or Candidate

Re-Elect Obama?
Truth In Media?

Something else?
What's your agenda?

[Flatpicker]

59. My Ideal agenda

Would be to advocate for progressive issues.

I don't know if that's too vague.

[BOG PERSON]

28. people get enough information, they suffer from information

they want what bourgeois democracy will never be able to provide. a grand narrative of history, a politics that seeks an alternative to its own existence, a traumatic acknowledgement of the materiality of existence. etc.

[lunatica]

30. kick'd and rec'd

Because this is a good idea and I want to see it at the top of the threads so everyone can read it. I will check in to keep it kicked.

The real downside to DU is how fast threads sink. Sometimes it's the wrong time of day or the wrong day or just too much competition.

[Control-Z]

33. I've already rec'd.

Now I'll give this a kick.

Great idea. PM me if you all start up something?

[Ghost of Huey Long]

38. this is a great idea, we need to take the lead

And maybe we don't want to pay money to the corporate media who spends the rest of their broadcast lying.

Maybe we can do it here on DU, create our own materials, videos, Pics for Facebook and everyone focus on spreading the word from here.

We spend way too much time here reacting to corporate media led nonsense stories meant to divide and distract.

If we focused our efforts on the proactive, realized that we are the ones we have been waiting for, we might be able to wake everyone to the obvious truth about this corporate takeover of our federal and state governments.

Unfortunately too many are wrapped up in learned helplessness, but this post gave me hope..Thanks!!

[Flatpicker]

40. It's a start

What can we come up with here?

Lets start a thread where we can compile original material for dissemination to the web.
Those of you who have skills at video editing, try to create truthful campaign commercials using the facts that the right has etch a sketched away.

We don't have to worry about how the DNC views our material, as long as it's truthful.

I guess that's a start?

[nadinbrzezinski]

42. Here is an even better idea

FIND your local independent media and SUPPORT THEM. No, not NPR, before you ask. Here in town I have at least five indie papers, I freelance for one of them. I get to do city council, comicon, fires. but I got off my duff and found how to do it.

I am betting that you have a local indie SMALL, probably web based, media. Look for them. They exist... and trust me, some of the people nodding right now, will be the first ones to throw stones at that labor, mostly out of love.

[Flatpicker]

44. That's cool

But,
Isn't some organization required? Otherwise you have multiple agendas and multiple orgs, too small individually to get anything truly done.

[nadinbrzezinski]

45. What truly done? We have our agenda

we do local politics, we do local fires, we cover sections of the county that the major media will not.

We do some old fashioned, it is still done, JOURNALISM.

So do the other four. One is far more editorial than anything else, but all these share one goal. NEWS.

[demwing]

47. Why is that a "better" idea?

It's different, but why better? Why the judgment?

[nadinbrzezinski]

50. Because the OP assumes nothing exists

We have things in place, that a lot of people really do not know are even there. If you want to build media, start with is already there, that is half the fight, establishing that media.

But seriously how many local papers are in your local area that you do not even know exist? I know here locally we have five.

[demwing]

52. You have enthusiasm for your idea

and that should be encouraged. I also think that the OP should be encouraged to achieve what s/he has envisioned. There's room in this world for everyone to pursue a goal.

To answer your wrap up question, I have absolutely no idea how many local papers exist in my local area that I do not even know exist. If I knew about them at all, then the answer would be zero. If some exist that I don't know about, how could I tell you how many there were?

[nadinbrzezinski]

55. Start doing an online search

here in San Diego we have a few... most of our citizens are not "in the know" so the first fight is letting them know they exist.

But here is the problem. Have you ever tried to start a fire? No, not with gasoline and a match. I mean with any primitive method. We have embers now, we need to encourage them.

What the OP wants to do is start that fire... we have embers. So the first thing I sugest is that he finds out where those embers are and add oxygen to them. Otherwise he is trying to get even more diminutive fires started...

For the record, the RW started their take over of media with those very small fires in local places. It is part of a long view strategy.

By all means, if you have the time and resources, go ahead and start your own paper... or what have you... but doing actual journalism is personnel, time and money intensive.

Here is an example, heard of the Trans Pacific Treaty? If you have, and you should (Go to Salon, they have a good article on it), well it has people's hair on fire and we have some stories floating around, a few not even close to reality, but hair on fire... it is taken a few days to find out about it. and find out what is who and what. Tomorrow it will be a day of making calls, both locally and with senators and congresscritters. That TAKES TIME...

Why we need to get those small fires fed with oxygen.

Suffice it to say here is what a lot of people keep missing, why has media consolidation mostly killed local nooz? Because they control local politics, it is part of a strategy, so to counter that strategy we need to start building local media that will well, keep an eye on your city council, for example.

[lame54]

48. Lead us

[lunatica]

56. kick'd and rec'd