Climate activist, Tim DeChristopher, has been transferred to solidary confinement at behest of an unknown US Congressman. DeChristopher’s crime was that he wanted to return money donated to his defense fund by a corporate executive who’s moving jobs out of the US. Tim DeChristopher is a Utah citizen who has a large following. You don’t suppose Rocky Anderson could do something to help him? It would create a lot of good will.

Could the Terry Wood interview be posted on utube?

My point is that the point could be made more succinctly. The point can be made in less than 4 pages of text.

Rocky:
I got your “An End To Plutocracy” email. I think it’s great, but it’s way too long for the average American.

The American system ensures that this kind of campaign will have the perverse effect of helping the worse candidate (Mr Republican) to be the next President, by depriving democrats from a chunk of their potential votes. (see Al Gore’s effect…)

Rocky would be better advised to first campaign for a referendum to change the US Constitution.

“the campaign is very aware of the bylaws, and they are equally concerning to us. We are running on the Justice Party’s ticket irrespective of Americans Elect”

Sleeping with the enemy is sleeping with the enemy.

Doesn’t matter whether you’re “concerned” about the methods of the enemy. Doesn’t matter whether you’re working “irrespective” of the enemy. You’re just sleeping with the enemy.

Sweet dreams!

Calvin Leman: “No more suspect than either the Republicans and Democrats.” is an abject failure of a statement, when it comes to a candidate who, less than a week ago, was saying, “Obama’s legacy will be the art he’s made of the juxtaposition between populist rhetoric and corrupt corporate action. Will you stand up to the pretense of a people’s movement by joining a real one?”

Unless Rocky pulls a very sudden 180, and stops paying lip service to the notion that AE is something other than a hopelessly corrupt influence-peddling scheme, I guess I’m going to have to take his advice, and stand up to the pretense of of a people’s movement (AE) by joining a real one (Green Party).

Rocky,

How will you know that they DIDN’T hand-pick their nominee? The process is a black box.

Your campaign should be fighting for transparency with the process NOW, rather than passively hoping they run a fair process. That’s leadership, and it’s what we expect to see as voters.

Regards,
Corporate Dog

Rocky Anderson for President: Why Americans Elect? http://t.co/Xkksx3N0 via @rockyanderson

Willber, the campaign is very aware of the bylaws, and they are equally concerning to us. We are running on the Justice Party’s ticket irrespective of Americans Elect, but in the case that they run a fair nominating process, it would be game-changing in the 2012 election if we had national ballot access. If it turns out they’ve ensured that whoever is nominated is hand-picked by their in-house committee anti-democratically we will be the first to decry their process for what it is.

Rocky, what about the Americans Elect rules that are “unnecessarily anti-democratic”? Those are OK? I recommend you read the Americans Elect Corporation bylaws, as amended yesterday.

Calvin, it’s a matter of historical fact. It’s implicit in laws that are unnecessarily anti-democratic all throughout the nation. I recommend the book “No Debate” by George Farah.

http://rockyforamerica.com is a good site for introducing Rocky to newbies.
Check it out.

Mr. Anderson, I can respect your assurance that you would not be indebted to Americans Elect should you win the election. But that is not really the issue which has so many of us so disappointed by your decision. Rather, it is this:

I and many of my fellow Americans Elect delegates of long-standing have been fighting for a year now an uphill battle to democratize Americans Elect. If you have thoroughly vetted AE, you’ll know that it was founded by Junk Bond Prince Peter Ackerman and his hedge fund/private equity pals, that its Bylaws are despicable (as but one of many possible examples, the corporation’s Board of Directors (chaired by Ackerman and stacked 5/4 with people who are financially dependent upon his continuing goodwill) reserves “extraordinary power and authority to take or compel any action”…up to and including nullifying your nomination should you win it, and nominating someone else in your stead. It is an organization purpose-built to achieve Peter Ackerman’s goal (a goal no one can claim to know). Ackerman’s prior history of illegal tax shelters and efforts to manipulate California law for his sole benefit (see: http://ow.ly/9ID0N) plus, of course, the massive fraud on his watch at Drexel Burnham (for which he paid $75 million in settlements) leave us no reason to believe he has had his Road To Damascus moment and has suddenly become one of the good guys. Indeed, the skilled anti-democratic craftsmanship of AE’s bylaws, reserving omnipotent powers to Chairman Ackerman, leaves us every reason to believe he is still up to his same old tricks.

My point is that by getting in bed with Ackerman Elects…by diving head first and eyes open into that honey-trap…you give Ackerman what he most needs right now: credibility. You become a useful stage prop for his Democracy Theater. Previously, with only “Any Party Will Do” Buddy Roemer as AE’s sole name-brand declared candidate, Ackerman chafed under the lack of validation his theater was receiving from name-brand politicians. What few concessions which we fighters for the democratization of Americans Elect have been able to wrestle we have gained only because Pete Ackerman’s democracy theater had attained no credibility. By becoming his stage prop, you undermine, and thus oppose, our efforts. And so you leave many progressives who were excited by your campaign but appalled by Americans Elect Corporation to choose one or the other fight. If you follow IrregularTimes.com at all, you’ll know that many are now re-thinking their support for you, because you have undercut an effort which is important to many of us.

Now that you’ve dived into the honey-trap, there’s only one route to victory left open to you. Distinguish yourself from Buddy Roemer by joining us, by actively opposing Americans Elect’s anti-democratic structure, by demanding an elected (rather than self-appointed) board of directors, by demanding revision of the bylaws (at a minimum, to strike the despised “extraordinary power and authority” clause), by demanding that AE reveal the identities and donations of its major donors. Unlike Buddy, don’t merely make such demands and then fall silent when Ackerman Elects simply ignores your demands — fight for them! Join us! If you do, we’ll flock to your side by the thousands, because you will have shown real guts, and will have answered decisively the otherwise damning question: “If you can’t reform Americans Elect, how can you reform American politics?”

@Aaron Kahn-Bork: The question is more, “How do you and Rocky feel about being the tools by which Americans Elect controls an election?”

I’m not squeamish about voting third party. I don’t buy into the garbage notion that a vote which ISN’T for the Democratic incumbent might as well be a vote for the Republican. My vote was all but granted to Rocky, before he opted to pursue this strategy.

I’m also not going to lay into you too heavily, if you still feel that your vote belongs with Rocky.

The thing is, if Rocky becomes the Presidential candidate for AE, whatever showing he ultimately achieves in this contest will be tainted by his backers. Whatever message you’re trying to send to Washington will be overshadowed by the fact that it took a lobbyist and hedge-fund backed corporation to put him on state ballots.

His victories won’t be seen as a citizens’ uprising against the status-quo, so much as they’ll be seen as astroturf.

Ultimately, you’re right: Rocky won’t technically owe AE anything. But the perception will be that he owes AE everything.

And if AE strings him along with just enough funding and support to put a dent in Obama’s votes, while still “permitting” Obama to win a close contest, guess who Obama is going to feel he owes something to in his second term?

Regards,
Corporate Dog

People are complaining about the record of Americans Elect, but does Rocky really have any obligation to them once they get him ballot access? The people who vote for him there vote for his platform, and his platform is the only thing he has an obligation to carry out. Let Americans Elect be nothing more than a tool to get Rocky ballot access. That’s what the people voting on it expect.

Rocky Anderson for President: Why Americans Elect? http://t.co/f7dDQnre via @rockyanderson

Very sorry to learn of your decision, Rocky. Americans Elect is a well-established corporatist influence-buying scheme that is merely an end-run around the already too-crowded corporatist traditional parties. If a corporatist duopoly is bad, a corporatist triopoly is even worse. I’ll have nothing to do with it.

Oh well, I guess there’s still Jill Stein.

Here’s the thing: I get the WHY of it. Ballot access is important.

I’m more concerned about the HOW of it.

AE’s leadership has an extremely poor track record when it comes to keeping money out of elections. Quite often, they’ve shown a distinct disregard for the political process as it SHOULD be, and have worked to subvert it through the acts of taking or facilitating lobbyist cash.

I’ve mentioned Eliot Cutler and Christie Todd Whitman before. Here are a few more AE “luminaries”:

http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2011/09/22/chairs-of-americans-elect-rules-committee-a-coalcasino-gop-lobbyist-and-a-lieberman-democrat/

And here’s a little more about the organization in general:

http://ouroregon.org/sockeye/blog/americans-elect-truth-behind-corporate-scheme-swipe-2012-election

I don’t trust these people at all. I don’t care for their ridiculous rule that forces the campaign to take on a running mate of a “balanced” ideological bent. And I believe that when all is said and done, they’ll be giving the campaign juuuust enough support to act as a spoiler, but not nearly enough support to ensure a victory.

The two-party election cycle has been great for folks like those who run AE. They use an unapologetic Republican president and Congress to push for more corporate largess, fewer civil liberties, and less spending on programs that help the poor and middle-class. This, understandably, draws the ire of citizens and watchdog groups, until Democrats are elected, at which point those same citizens and watchdog groups let their guard down just enough, to allow the Democratic administration to cement the gains of its predecessor.

I have little doubt that AE intends to use its candidate as a pressure relief valve on the election, and not as an actual, viable candidate. Don’t like the words coming out of Obama’s mouth? Give the AE candidate some juice via media buys and favorable reporting, until Obama turns it around, and proves he’s back in the pockets of the wealthy. And if Obama DOESN’T turn it around, they can just cut their losses, grant their candidate a few more ad buys, and install Romney when the Democratic/liberal/independent vote is split.

It’s not about winning or losing so much as it’s about pressure and influence. If Candidate Anderson of the Justice Party take’s a large chunk of Obama’s vote, that sends a very specific message from the people. But if Candidate Anderson of Americans Elect take’s a large chunk of Obama’s vote, that sends a message from the corporate stooges who run AE, and the special interests they represent.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I want to send Obama a message, and I DON’T want that message to be subverted by those who already have too much of a voice in Washington.

Regards,
Corporate Dog

@samseder Rocky Anderson gives up on building a "Justice Party", jumps to trying to win the Americans Elect nomination: http://t.co/FnzsfeHW