NEW
CONGRESS
Action Center
On the 4th of July, 2015, APaCC's Chairman,
Peter Bearse, began a national tour of visits,
public speaking and old-time-for-a-new-age
political evangelism to wake people up and
build APaCC's outreach and membership. So,
now we'll switch you over to Peter, for what
follows begins his personal log of the tour.
My first stop was in Providence, RI, at a Unitarian service at the nation's first Unitarian/Universalist church in the U.S. What a magnificent church and fine congregation! I was warmly received, gave out many freshly printed APaCC brochures and cards, and made several friends for APaCC.
My 2nd stop was at the office of Rep. David Concilline, where I was allotted little time by the Rep's staff. Notwithstanding, I was able to ask two key questions: (1) What is the Rep. doing to "fix" or reform Congress and (2) What is the staff's person-to person outreach into the district? There was no time to ask a 3rd, more important query: What are the Rep., his staff and his offices doing to empower constituents more than himself?
The staff member did not know the total budget of the office. The average congressional office cost taxpayers about $2 million, and what does the average taxpayer get for that money? Darn little. Congressional offices are part of incumbents' reelection machinery. One of the major offerings of APaCC is the design of a congressionla office that would empower the people of each congressional district.
More on this soon. I'll seek to visit at least one congressional office in each of the 88 places on my itinerary. More important, I'll be seeking out lots & all sorts of people in all kinds of settings, including Rotary Clubs, senior citizen centers, fraternal societies and sisterhoods, civic associations & political clubs, etc.
JULY 12, 2015 >> Too much time was wasted over the last few days of the week gone by because of needs to iron out kinks in the scheduling, travel, equipment and traveling aspects of a tour.
GENERAL OBSERVATION: The positive response was highly heartening and .
WHAT WE DO
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Voter Registration -- in states where people can register citizens door-to-door.
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Citizen’s Issue Circles -- Forming, managing and disseminating findings & recommendations therefrom.
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Alternative congressional offices -- Showing how taxpayer’s taxes can be used to build people power.
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Helping with campaigns for Congress of those candidates who pledge to both represent and empower “We the People.”
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Administering a survey of all candidates for Congress to help people identify which among them would really seek to empower ordinary citizens more than themselves [To see it, GO TO: http://kwiksurveys.com/s.asp?sid=cshc52y9ot25i0d285543 [by shading the blue line and pasting it into your URL line].
ACTIVITIES
POLITICAL and CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
This is the key question we need to face. Most Americans hate politics. Some pick from a variety of other activities to try to do some good and "make a difference" only to find that {pick your choice} their town, state, country or all 3 continue to go downhill. As Aristotle recognized over two millenia ago, "A citizen is he who participates in power." So, seek out or organize a local political committee. You'll make new friends, have some fun and REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
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PARTNERSHIPS & ALLIANCES
One of our nation's founders, Benjamin Franklin, is famous for many things. One is his statement: "We must indeed all hang together or...we will hang separately." In the same vein is Ernest Hemingway's "No man is an island." None of us can accomplish much by ourselves without at least "a little help from our friends." So, we look to build partnerships and form alliances. The Peoples' Congress and its members are no exception. We seek to leverage our resources via a "3C's approach to politics: Communication, Cooperation, and Collaboration across people and groups. Among those with whom we have sought mutually productive relationships are Common Cause, FreedomWorks, Public Citizen, PIRG and the Coalition of Former Members of Congress.
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DEVELOPMENT
Most fundamentally, "Development" is "Learning by Doing." Any organization, if is to survive and prosper, needs to become what MIT guru Peter Senge calls "a learning organization." We have been doing so from the outset -- by building into our schedule of activities the following enablers of learning:
1. Brainstorming sessions;
2. Periodice confessionals to focus on shortcomings so we can learn from failure, coupled with no frowning on failure;
3. Making the People's Congress a model of participatory democracy [partly built-into our cooperative and decentralized organizations structure];
4. Training in new technogies and new approaches;
5. An open door and open ears to learn from voters, constituents and others;
6. Training in P/O: How to be a Participant/Observer.
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PROGRAM EVALUATION
As one of the most basic tools of organizational learning, Program Evaluation will be built into People's Congress programming. Each active member keeps a log of how he or she spends his or her time and budget. Performance monitoring data bases are constructed for individuals, activities and congressional offices. We survey those who are supposed to benefit from our activities annually. Performance benchmarks are established. Data base analyses produce performance analysis ratios and reports that are discussed to find ways to do things better.
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CONSULTING SERVICES
As we learn from experience and from others, we may be able to bring in extra revenue by providing consulting services to candidates, Members of Congress and others. This is a hopeful prospect.