I continue to solicit discussion about "multiple issue" campaigns versus "root problem" campaigns. See Roy Cho candidacy: Root problem vs. multiple issues.
My campaign was a "root problem" campaign, and I am continuing it.
The news of the past two days of, first, the "historic agreement" with China about emissions, and, then, of "top" Republicans "slamming" the same, offered me the opportunity to do this campaign post: Time to revisit "Is global warming real?".
As I have said, my message to voters in my "root problem" campaign has been: "The common enemy of average Democrats, average Republicans, and average independents is the political class in Washington DC."
The above entry I have done (Time to revisit "Is global warming real?") pushes hard on that message.
I solicit comment on this (as I desire comment on most everything I put in The MAYDAY Supporters Blog).
Thank you.
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Roy Cho candidacy: Root problem vs. multiple issues
Today I became aware of Roy Cho's candidacy in the New Jersey 5th Congressional district. This came about by my seeing Roy's October 28th #lessig tweet, which gave a link to Prof. Lessig's instagram supporting Roy.
Roy ran a "multiple issues" campaign, as reflected on his Issues webpage, and on which webpage Campaign Finance Reform is placed first.
As described in From the AL 6th Cong'l district: I am not crushed, I ran a single issue ("root problem") campaign.
What did my "root problem" campaign gain?
What my "root problem" campaign has gained is the establishment of an incontrovertible and blatant record that the relevant powers that be for my Congressional district refuse to give any public recognition to the possibility that there is something fundamentally wrong with Congress.
These powers that be categorically will not discuss this possibility in a public way and seek that no one else (such as myself) is successful in bringing about public discussion.
Thus far, these powers that be for my Congressional district have managed to get away with giving no recognition to any possibility that something is fundamentally wrong with Congress and with keeping the matter from getting in the public eye.
How long can these powers that be in my Congressional district get away with this?
If I continue to push on this in the Alabama 6th Congressional district, and more and more persons in the district became aware of the stark unwillingness of the powers that be to entertain any discussion, at what point will the powers that be start to look bad in the public eye in my Congressional district?
Perhaps I can never make meaningful headway.
For now, look at the record of what I have done to date, and think about what might be done in the coming 2016 election cycle.
What would happen in other Cong'l districts?
What would happen if similar campaigns were mounted in other Congressional districts?
My Congressional district is very Republican.
Would the powers that be for a Democratic district be more amenable to giving public recognition to the possibility that there is something fundamentally wrong with Congress?
In my campaign, I said: "The message of the other six candidates to you is that your enemy is Obama and the Democrats. My message to you is that the common enemy of average Democrats, average Republicans, and average independents is the political class in Washington DC."
I don't know to what extent you agree with the foregoing and whether you would agree that a "root problem" campaign in a Democratic district would call for a campaign message to the effect of: "Your enemy is not the Republicans; rather, the common enemy of average Republicans, average Democrats and average Independents is the political class in Washington DC."
If the latter is the message if a campaign such as mine is conducted in a Democratic district, then I think the powers that be will be equally resistant to a candidate purveying that message, as the powers that be in my Congressional district were resistant to me.
I am of the belief that Congress collectively will not give public recognition to the possibility that something is fundamentally wrong with Congress.
Thus, I would make a general prediction that, if a "root problem" campaign such as mine is carried out in other Congressional districts, the powers that be in those districts would refuse to discuss the matter and would seek for the topic not to gain public attention, similar to what occurred in my Congressional district.
The goal would be to make those powers that be look bad in their Congressional districts, and for this to happen in as many Congressional districts as possible, and ultimately to make Congress look collectively bad throughout the country, as would materially help MAYDAY in achieving its goal.
Roy Cho's candidacy
The purpose of this entry is to try to generate discussion about which can achieve more in pushing forward MAYDAY's goal, i.e., "root issue" campaigns versus multiple issue campaigns.
Maybe both types need to be pursued.
I would like to hear what Roy Cho has to say.
I would like to hear what you think.
Thank you.
Update 11/13
Roy ran a "multiple issues" campaign, as reflected on his Issues webpage, and on which webpage Campaign Finance Reform is placed first.
As described in From the AL 6th Cong'l district: I am not crushed, I ran a single issue ("root problem") campaign.
What did my "root problem" campaign gain?
What my "root problem" campaign has gained is the establishment of an incontrovertible and blatant record that the relevant powers that be for my Congressional district refuse to give any public recognition to the possibility that there is something fundamentally wrong with Congress.
These powers that be categorically will not discuss this possibility in a public way and seek that no one else (such as myself) is successful in bringing about public discussion.
Thus far, these powers that be for my Congressional district have managed to get away with giving no recognition to any possibility that something is fundamentally wrong with Congress and with keeping the matter from getting in the public eye.
How long can these powers that be in my Congressional district get away with this?
If I continue to push on this in the Alabama 6th Congressional district, and more and more persons in the district became aware of the stark unwillingness of the powers that be to entertain any discussion, at what point will the powers that be start to look bad in the public eye in my Congressional district?
Perhaps I can never make meaningful headway.
For now, look at the record of what I have done to date, and think about what might be done in the coming 2016 election cycle.
What would happen in other Cong'l districts?
What would happen if similar campaigns were mounted in other Congressional districts?
My Congressional district is very Republican.
Would the powers that be for a Democratic district be more amenable to giving public recognition to the possibility that there is something fundamentally wrong with Congress?
In my campaign, I said: "The message of the other six candidates to you is that your enemy is Obama and the Democrats. My message to you is that the common enemy of average Democrats, average Republicans, and average independents is the political class in Washington DC."
I don't know to what extent you agree with the foregoing and whether you would agree that a "root problem" campaign in a Democratic district would call for a campaign message to the effect of: "Your enemy is not the Republicans; rather, the common enemy of average Republicans, average Democrats and average Independents is the political class in Washington DC."
If the latter is the message if a campaign such as mine is conducted in a Democratic district, then I think the powers that be will be equally resistant to a candidate purveying that message, as the powers that be in my Congressional district were resistant to me.
I am of the belief that Congress collectively will not give public recognition to the possibility that something is fundamentally wrong with Congress.
Thus, I would make a general prediction that, if a "root problem" campaign such as mine is carried out in other Congressional districts, the powers that be in those districts would refuse to discuss the matter and would seek for the topic not to gain public attention, similar to what occurred in my Congressional district.
The goal would be to make those powers that be look bad in their Congressional districts, and for this to happen in as many Congressional districts as possible, and ultimately to make Congress look collectively bad throughout the country, as would materially help MAYDAY in achieving its goal.
Roy Cho's candidacy
The purpose of this entry is to try to generate discussion about which can achieve more in pushing forward MAYDAY's goal, i.e., "root issue" campaigns versus multiple issue campaigns.
Maybe both types need to be pursued.
I would like to hear what Roy Cho has to say.
I would like to hear what you think.
Thank you.
Update 11/13
Thursday, November 6, 2014
From the AL 6th Cong'l district: I am not crushed
I am not crushed in the Alabama 6th Congressional district.
I am on to 2016.
If you look at what happened in the Alabama 6th Congressional district this year, you would think I should be crushed.
I want to tell MAYDAY supporters why I am not crushed.
I think I created a campaign that has latent potency. I think my campaign should be studied by reform candidates in other Congressional districts.
Let me put this out there, and you can decide for yourself.
The conundrum
The starting point is that there a conundrum about conducting a single issue campaign or conducting a campaign with other issues besides campaign finance.
The problem with a campaign with other issues is that the candidate risks losing large percentages of voters because voters have strong views opposite from the candidate's positions on other issues and will not vote for or will even be strongly against the candidate for that reason.
A candidate who tries to run a single issue campaign (the campaign finance issue) has a great problem that most voters won't accept and vote for a candidate who declines to take a position on other issues.
This a big conundrum for MAYDAY and for any candidate who wants to identify him or herself as a MAYDAY candidate.
This conundrum could even be sufficiently great for MAYDAY to decide its plan is impossible.
I went the single issue route.
I think I developed a strong logic and strong tactics in constructing my campaign.
Make no doubt that I am still at about zero in the Alabama 6th Congressional district.
But please hear me out, follow what I constructed, and think about it.
My campaign's construction
I started by asking, "Is there something fundamentally wrong with Congress?"
I thought there was reason to think that persons who should answer that question would not answer that question and would avoid answering and ignore me.
I started with the Alabama state Democratic and Republican parties. See Letters to Alabama GOP and Democratic parties.
I escalated my question to Senators Sessions and Shelby, 6th district Representative Bachus, and others in the Alabama legislative delegation in Washington. This foray started with this Open letter to Alabama delegation in Washington. Follow up on this can be found at Representative Bachus' response and through links set out there.
There were six other candidates in the Republican primary. For four months, over and over and over, I kept asking whether something was fundamentally wrong with Congress. For four months, the other six candidates would not discuss or answer the question and avoided it and ignored me. See, e.g., Answer the questions, 6th district candidates.
The avoidance of my question carried over to the local media and local political commentators. See Reviewing the bidding with one week to go.
Dealing with "single issue" problem
The "single issue" problem was difficult for me in my campaign.
I did my best to make the "root" problem argument. (Rootstrikers website says, "The people must recognize that corruption is not just one among many important problems. Corruption is the root problem, that makes solving the others so difficult.")
I said, with a failed Congress that could not properly do its job for the American people, discussion about other issues was academic, rational discourse to find compromise and common ground was impaired, etc.
For examples of the difficulty I encountered with my "single issue" campaign and how I tried to deal with same, listen to this telephone interview of me by Dale Jackson: http://vocaroo.com/i/s0pswxf2GBm4, and see this entry: From a DeMarco supporter (updated)
What I have accomplished
I have a soapbox in the Alabama 6th Congressional district. My campaign did not end on the June 3rd primary election date. I continued as a write in campaign. I am poking wherever I can at the Alabama political establishment. Check out #alpolitics and #al06 from the past two days. See the current posture I am working with in this link The betting in AL 6th Cong'l district.
What is the potential
What is the potential of the campaign I constructed? What if similar campaigns were constructed in other Congressional districts? Could they build on one another to gain publicity and attention that Congress refuses collectively to respond to the American people on the question of whether something is fundamentally wrong?
I have reached the limit of what I can do or push on my own.
It is up to MAYDAY and its supporters to decide whether I have created anything of value which can be built on.
I am on to 2016.
If you look at what happened in the Alabama 6th Congressional district this year, you would think I should be crushed.
I want to tell MAYDAY supporters why I am not crushed.
I think I created a campaign that has latent potency. I think my campaign should be studied by reform candidates in other Congressional districts.
Let me put this out there, and you can decide for yourself.
The conundrum
The starting point is that there a conundrum about conducting a single issue campaign or conducting a campaign with other issues besides campaign finance.
The problem with a campaign with other issues is that the candidate risks losing large percentages of voters because voters have strong views opposite from the candidate's positions on other issues and will not vote for or will even be strongly against the candidate for that reason.
A candidate who tries to run a single issue campaign (the campaign finance issue) has a great problem that most voters won't accept and vote for a candidate who declines to take a position on other issues.
This a big conundrum for MAYDAY and for any candidate who wants to identify him or herself as a MAYDAY candidate.
This conundrum could even be sufficiently great for MAYDAY to decide its plan is impossible.
I went the single issue route.
I think I developed a strong logic and strong tactics in constructing my campaign.
Make no doubt that I am still at about zero in the Alabama 6th Congressional district.
But please hear me out, follow what I constructed, and think about it.
My campaign's construction
I started by asking, "Is there something fundamentally wrong with Congress?"
I thought there was reason to think that persons who should answer that question would not answer that question and would avoid answering and ignore me.
I started with the Alabama state Democratic and Republican parties. See Letters to Alabama GOP and Democratic parties.
I escalated my question to Senators Sessions and Shelby, 6th district Representative Bachus, and others in the Alabama legislative delegation in Washington. This foray started with this Open letter to Alabama delegation in Washington. Follow up on this can be found at Representative Bachus' response and through links set out there.
There were six other candidates in the Republican primary. For four months, over and over and over, I kept asking whether something was fundamentally wrong with Congress. For four months, the other six candidates would not discuss or answer the question and avoided it and ignored me. See, e.g., Answer the questions, 6th district candidates.
The avoidance of my question carried over to the local media and local political commentators. See Reviewing the bidding with one week to go.
Dealing with "single issue" problem
The "single issue" problem was difficult for me in my campaign.
I did my best to make the "root" problem argument. (Rootstrikers website says, "The people must recognize that corruption is not just one among many important problems. Corruption is the root problem, that makes solving the others so difficult.")
I said, with a failed Congress that could not properly do its job for the American people, discussion about other issues was academic, rational discourse to find compromise and common ground was impaired, etc.
For examples of the difficulty I encountered with my "single issue" campaign and how I tried to deal with same, listen to this telephone interview of me by Dale Jackson: http://vocaroo.com/i/s0pswxf2GBm4, and see this entry: From a DeMarco supporter (updated)
What I have accomplished
I have a soapbox in the Alabama 6th Congressional district. My campaign did not end on the June 3rd primary election date. I continued as a write in campaign. I am poking wherever I can at the Alabama political establishment. Check out #alpolitics and #al06 from the past two days. See the current posture I am working with in this link The betting in AL 6th Cong'l district.
What is the potential
What is the potential of the campaign I constructed? What if similar campaigns were constructed in other Congressional districts? Could they build on one another to gain publicity and attention that Congress refuses collectively to respond to the American people on the question of whether something is fundamentally wrong?
I have reached the limit of what I can do or push on my own.
It is up to MAYDAY and its supporters to decide whether I have created anything of value which can be built on.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Tweet bomb into MN06 for Independent John Denney
Watch the brilliant John Denny, Independent running in Michelle Bachman's seat: http://t.co/fnQ8kGXIw4
— Lessig (@lessig) October 22, 2014
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Tweet bombing for Congressional candidates
At the start of the weekend before New Hampshire's September 9th primary, I tweeted to MAYDAY supporters a link to this: Let's tweet bomb into New Hampshire for Jim Rubens. There were over 600 page views of that link, most of which occurred prior to the Tuesday primary.
I personally sent a couple of hundred tweets (in the form I suggested) to followers of @NHGOP on twitter. I got both retweets and also flak complaining about my tweets being spamming. On balance, I think the positives of my tweeting outweighed the negatives.
I did not become aware that any other MAYDAY supporters took up my tactic and sent their own tweets into New Hampshire.
There are 27 days left until Election Day. This is extremely valuable time to capitalize on the public's attention to electoral political matters.
Please tweet me or email me at rdshattuck@gmail.com if you would like to join with me in doing "tweet bombing" for Congressional candidates in the run up to Election Day.
Thank you.
I personally sent a couple of hundred tweets (in the form I suggested) to followers of @NHGOP on twitter. I got both retweets and also flak complaining about my tweets being spamming. On balance, I think the positives of my tweeting outweighed the negatives.
I did not become aware that any other MAYDAY supporters took up my tactic and sent their own tweets into New Hampshire.
There are 27 days left until Election Day. This is extremely valuable time to capitalize on the public's attention to electoral political matters.
I think "tweet bombing" is an excellent way to publicize MAYDAY and publicize Congressional candidates who want to advance MAYDAY's goal. These can be the Congressional candidates MAYDAY is expressly supporting, as well as candidates MAYDAY supporters identify as being meritorious of their support.
Everything done now to publicize MAYDAY can help looking towards 2016.
The tweet message can be very simple, such as:
#[appropriate hashtag] Support MAYDAY.US. On Nov. 4th, vote for ______ in the ________ Congressional district election. https://mayday.us/I think "tweet bombing" can be more effective if MAYDAY supporters do it in an organized way.
Please tweet me or email me at rdshattuck@gmail.com if you would like to join with me in doing "tweet bombing" for Congressional candidates in the run up to Election Day.
Thank you.
Tweet bombing into CA35 for Christina Gagnier?
The MAYDAY Facebook Group posted a link to a HuffPost article written by Christina Gagnier, who is a Congressional candidate in the California 35th Congressional district. MAYDAY supporters should give consideration to tweet bombing into CA35 for Christina Gagnier.
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Sep 29, 2014 at 5:44 PM
Subject: Tweet bombing into CA35 by MAYDAY supporters
To: team@christinagagnier.com
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Sep 29, 2014 at 5:44 PM
Subject: Tweet bombing into CA35 by MAYDAY supporters
To: team@christinagagnier.com
Dear Team Christina Gagnier,
I am a MAYDAY supporter
I have been endeavoring to organize "tweet bombing" by MAYDAY supporters into Congressional districts to help candidates who show commitment to advance MAYDAY's goals.
You can get a summary of what I have done thus far at this link: Status report on MAYDAY supporters' activities
As the link indicates, I personally have done tweeting, but I have not yet gotten other MAYDAY supporters also to do tweeting (to my knowledge).
I will contact you again if I am able to get more activity going. Please feel free to offer any suggestions you have about this.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Rob Shattuck
Write in candidate
Alabama 6th Congressional district
Friday, October 3, 2014
Problems with MAYDAY's Aaron Lifshin
I have been very active on the MAYDAY.US Facebook page.
Today, I received the below FB message from Aaron Lifshin.
Due to repeated and continued self promotion, we have decided to ban you from commenting on the Mayday.US Facebook page. I asked you not to do that in the group, and you moved to our other forum to continue doing so. Let me remind you once again that Mayday.US is not a vehicle for the self-promotion of your candidacy. Please do not use the Mayday brand for your own purposes.
I find Aaron's reaction to what I have been doing ridiculous and pathetic. I hope you will complain to MAYDAY.US about this.
Thank you.
Update 10/8
I sent an email to Professor Lessig related to the above situation. I don't know what the outcome of this will be and whether I will be allowed to post on the MAYDAY websites or not. There are 27 days left until Election Day, and this is valuable time to capitalize on the public's attention to electoral political matters. I will proceed as best I can under the circumstances as they may be.
Today, I received the below FB message from Aaron Lifshin.
Due to repeated and continued self promotion, we have decided to ban you from commenting on the Mayday.US Facebook page. I asked you not to do that in the group, and you moved to our other forum to continue doing so. Let me remind you once again that Mayday.US is not a vehicle for the self-promotion of your candidacy. Please do not use the Mayday brand for your own purposes.
I find Aaron's reaction to what I have been doing ridiculous and pathetic. I hope you will complain to MAYDAY.US about this.
Thank you.
Update 10/8
Below is my email to Professor Lessig:
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Oct 6, 2014 at 7:25 AM
Subject: My reply
To: Lawrence Lessig
Date: Mon, Oct 6, 2014 at 7:25 AM
Subject: My reply
To: Lawrence Lessig
Dear Professor Lessig,
I appreciate that I am able to send you this reply.
I thought what I was trying to advocate and promote in The MAYDAY Supporters Blog was worthwhile and of value to MAYDAY.
There seem two possibilities.
One possibility was I was badly mistaken in thinking that.
The other possibility is that, while what I was trying to advocate is worthwhile for MAYDAY, a determination was made that I am incapable of engaging in an acceptable way about the same with other MAYDAY supporters.
Things I advocated included (i) MAYDAY supporters "tweet bombing" into Congressional districts for candidates MAYDAY has selected to support, as well as for other candidates MAYDAY supporters deemed worthy of support (I believe you retweeted my NH/Jim Rubens "tweet bombing" tweet, so I would have to assume that you thought that was a meritorious idea), (ii) MAYDAY supporters trying to get their local colleges and universities to hold symposiums before November 4th, (iii) MAYDAY supporters jumping into Congressional races as write in candidates, (iv) MAYDAY supporters trying to appeal to their local chambers of commerce (to try to play on the fact that the business community has its own concerns about a "broken" Congress), and (v) MAYDAY supporters engaging with Congressional candidates to draw them out or firm them up or change their views regarding CFR.
In making the foregoing advocacy, I endeavored to "lead by example." Also, I believed, if one had a "track record" which gave some "cred", that too should be used to be more effective in persuading MAYDAY supporters to do the things that were being advocated and to be more effective with purveying messages to voters.
I started The MAYDAY Supporters Blog after the MAYDAY Facebook Group made clear that it wanted to limit itself to internal discussion by members of the Group and did not want to aim efforts and activities out towards voters at large and did not want to interface with candidates.
You know as well as anyone that to make headway in advocacy requires advocates who strenuously and persistently put themselves forward to make the advocacy.
In some cases, that can be viewed by targets of the advocacy as "self-promotion."
I have been endeavoring to put forth my advocacy forcefully. Apparently, those who have complained saw mainly "self-promotion" and did not give much thought to exactly what is needed for advocacy to be effective.
If what I have been advocating is worthwhile and of value to MAYDAY, I would be more than happy to discuss how to make advocacy that both tries to be effective and at the same time is not viewed as unacceptable "self-promotion." If there is anyone I can discuss this with at MAYDAY, just give me a name and I will proceed to discuss.
If you think no such discussion is possible, well, I guess that's the way it is, and I'll have to find a plan B (or no plan at all).
Thank you very much for whatever attention you give to this reply.
Sincerely,
Rob
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