Is Trump Really Wealthy?

We all know that Trump was born rich. But did you know when his father died, he inherited so much money that he was superrich? Ok, so you probably knew that too. 

Born Rich and Incompetent

Yes, in 1978 Trump was worth $100 million. So he should have been able to bankroll any projects he was involved in all by himself, right? Of course that isn't the point, is it? Trump reminds his crowds regularly that using 'other people's money' is the way to go. So even though he had the money to start any kind of business he could ever dream of, or back up any loan he ever took to do just that, so far six of his hotels and casinos have filed for bankruptcy. 

Trump started a mortgage company once and that crashed 18 months later. It was called Trump Mortgage. He started an airline called Trump Airlines that defaulted on a $245 million loan forcing him to surrender ownership. Like ALL of Trump’s investment opportunities, people walk away burnt, while he gets money for putting his name on it. No seriously, every time you investigate, or ask, you hear the same thing. He even invented a board game called ‘Trump: The Game’ that is so stupid that it’s delivered 60% less sales than projected. He couldn’t even figure out how to market a kids’ game.

His Trump Steaks so underperformed that Newsweek reports the steaks were pulled 2 months after being put up for sale in Sharper Image catalogues. Donald started Trump Vodka, but production was stopped on Trump's vodka because they both lied about their kosher status and also failed to meet distribution requirements.

Trump Magazine was an actual thing and it FAILED in its 2^nd year. Trump even had a Travel Website called gotrump.com and it was shut down in a year. How do you fail at a Travel Website??? He tried to go up against 'The Tour de France' with a little something he called 'The Tour de Trump' and he failed. After two years that event took his name off of all marketing materials completely. 

Whatever He Touches Fails

He tried to go up against the NFL with the USFL. He made so many blunders in that area, overpaying players, and insisting the league move their games from fall to spring, that he single-handedly destroyed that league and now they too are nonexistent. 

He created something called The Trump Network, it was a multi-level marketing scheme that he so mismanaged the project closed down after two years. He tried to go up against Pepsi and created Trump Ice (water in a bottle). The only place you can find his water is on his properties but he brags about it like it is somehow a real brand. 

$100 Million x 40 Years Equals

So what did he turn his $100 million into? I mean he started with a bundle, where exactly is he now? Well, we don’t know that yet because he is playing the dance of the seven veils with his tax returns. And depending on how things play out, we may never know. What we do know is this. He isn’t worth billions. We also know that if he had just left his money in mutual funds, and not lifted a finger his whole life, he would be worth billions. So instead, he seems to have spent a lifetime starting companies that have failed, offering investment opportunities where investors lost money, and starting huge projects that have repeatedly gone bankrupt…leaving the employees and subcontractors screwed.  There is nothing about this one man’s credentials that bears merit. Not one thing.

He is Comprised Financially

And worse, much worse, he is indebted to so many foreign based individuals, and hundreds of foreign based businesses, at this point in his businessman career that there is literally not ONE decision he could make in the White House that would not directly affect the amount of money in his pocket or in the pockets of his children. He has been blackballed by United States banks because of his incompetence and so for some time now has had to depend on the kindness of foreign nationals to pay for his lifestyle. And despite that very obvious fact, Donald J. Trump the GOP candidate has made no effort to diversify himself from this predicament at all. 

So, wow, GOP. Great job. We count on you to come up with worthy adversaries. We count on you to elevate the conversation and help run the country. But once again you disappoint. And this time you have let this man - who is financially incapable of leading a scout troop - be in charge of our national conversations of leadership. You let a convicted bigot and hate monger get to the microphone. Shame on you. You can't even use the excuse he is really good at business to justify it either.

What's Up With Hillary Clinton?

What's Up With Hillary Clinton?

I have been paying attention to Hillary Clinton my whole adult life. No politician I have ever watched has ever gone through what I see her going through and yet she is still standing.

 

Occassional Repost: Free Advice To The Democrats

A compassionate Policy Geek knows another policy geek when she sees one. Here is an article by our writer/friend Brent Kincaid. Enjoy.

Free Advice To Democrats

by

Brent Kincaid

Until November the fifth of this year: 2014, I thought I had a handle on what was happening in the United States Congress. I felt the poor Democrats were being swamped by a bastion of slobbering, neckless inbred baboons from The Old South who, along with their wannabe supporters in the Republican Party, were outnumbered by one member which allowed them to commit treason.

True, it is not regarded as treason by way of the arcane and nearly rationale-free rules of the Congress as it stands today, but only a fool could assimilate a situation in which one party drove the Congress to lock itself up and then lock itself down so that every member was making a salary for literally doing nothing for their pay. That alone cost the taxpayers millions and created a hardship for government workers who were not paid on time. They granted themselves raises, refused to give a break to citizens who wanted something close to the same insurance benefits Congress granted itself, and who would love to have had even half the pension they granted themselves in perpetuity and then denied benefits to veterans that fought to defend our country. It stands to reason many would, and in my paltry opinion, could look upon this as villainous and treasonous malpractice. I felt so sorry for the poor Democrats, and any well-meaning Republican who disagreed with their Tea Party leaders.

I was sure the voters, having seen two years of the stupidest, most unhelpful, non-productive high level shenanigans, and an astounding list of times in which Congress not only did not move in favor of the people it was meant to represent, but instead it moved against them, would cast these bums out on their ears. We also watched Congress vote forty-one times, to reverse the Affordable Care Act, long after it was a law and not a bill before them. They consistently calling it Obamacare and thus confusing the less intellectual of their constituents who couldn’t quite cope with the idea that they were the same thing, thus voted ‘no’ on Obamacare and ‘yes’ for the Affordable Care Act. They were, again, wasting our tax payer money on what was essentially a tantrum on their part. With all that I was sure we were watching the death knell of the not-quite official Tea Party and the Republican control of Congress.

Also, all the numbers were up since Obama took office: unemployment was down, but the rest were up. Any economic indicator you could think of had improved by leaps and bounds. The recession was being reversed. It took eight years for George W. Bush to drive us to the dumper in his SUV with horns on it, and in four years of the Obama administration, that trend had been reversed and our lot was better.

Almost every seat in Congress was up for return or to be filled anew. We had a chance to fix things. We had a change to begin to help everyone in the country achieve The American Dream.

That was before.

Now, I really think I have stepped into some Bizarro World; some alternate universe where logic doesn’t quite exist, where a Saturday Night Live skit has been substituted for American life today.

A decent margin (more than just that one seat) in the House of Representatives, won the election and to my horror, the Senate Republicans won the election. Suddenly, we are threatened with an entire Congress that can act as if it has no requirement to pay the slightest attention to its constituents, but it also has a brand new license to go after the most accomplished president in recent times. The American voters either stayed away from the mid-term elections for reasons of some snit against Obama or because they were lazy, or stupid, or both, and let about one-quarter of the qualified voters decide for them what was going to be law from there on out.

They had heard the warnings that the Republicans were coming after Social Security, Medicare, the Post Office and the potential voters didn’t care. Or they didn’t believe it. Or they weren’t quite bright enough to tell the lies about the danger from the actual danger. They stayed home and, according to some polls, let the over-sixty set decide what to do.

So, now, starting in January, the worst Congress in history has a blank check to loot and maraud at will. They can enact more laws that will drive a bigger wedge between you and your money. They can gerrymander to their twisted heart’s desire. They can move election boundaries around so neighborhoods where they don’t like the people (especially non-white neighborhoods) don’t get to have their vote count as strongly as those of the white, notably Republican constituents.

Was there any focus on tax and resource inequality, reforming the political system, reforming candidate contribution limits, reforming our strange immigration laws, fixing the many, many, many outdated and outright silly traditions within Congress? Not a word of it.

And, now, nobody gets to talk about them because Congress believes it has a mandate from ALL the people (not just the paltry number that voted this time) to carry on raping this country and stuffing the power into the pockets of the very rich, and very wealthy.

Is it any wonder some say GOP stands for Guardians Of Privilege, Gas and Oil Party, Gang Of Patricians, Greedy Old Putzes? Small wonder that I call them Republithugs, Repelicans, Republicrooks and Republithieves, RepubliKKKans and Repugnatants to name a few. It is clear these people have no good ideas for their constituents. It is all about either them or about their financial backers. If they stand against a good idea, they ALWAYS resort to name calling or hiding behind some kind of moral stance derived from a religious book they say they read and understand. They seldom admit it, but they are deriving most of their steam from the Old South Crackers and Good Old Boys that are STILL pissed off that their guy lost the Presidential election…TWICE…and a black guy won.

So, now comes my question and next the advice.

Democrats, WHERE ARE YOU ALL? Why did you let the GOP wander through this election almost without challenge, and why did you say so little? Are you friends with these crooks? Are you afraid to hurt some feelings? They aren’t. They call you everything but human. They don’t respect you and behave as if you don’t exist. So do you.

Is it true what some people say that the Democrats won’t call names and point out the GOP bad behavior because they have an equal amount of their own acceptance of bribes, dark money, and campaign contributions to protect? Are you really what I call you? Dummocraps?

What the hell is going on?

It really is Bizzarro World. These are the most obvious, and proud bunch of carpetbaggers since the post Civil-War Reconstruction era, and you lie back and let them. And some of you make the excuse that you don’t want to be tainted by Obama’s ‘low’ numbers? His numbers are as high or higher than any other lame duck president at this point in his second term and since ALL the other numbers are high, one would think you would have been trotting him out as the number one item in any campaign speech. What wimps! What wussies! Instead of pointing out the numbers that were achieved IN SPITE of opposition from a Congress that was either totally gridlocked, or at least was sitting on its hands, you all fell damn near silent. Did you think your good looks would win you a seat in the next Congress? Well, let me assure you, there ain’t many of you that are all that pretty.

So, here comes my advice. DEMOCRATS: WAKE THE HELL UP!

Before it’s too late.

Brent Kincaid

Visit his blog

Occasional Repost: The GOP Invited Dems to a Red Wedding, the Dems Obliged

We occasionally repost amazing articles from friends who hit the mark, perfectly. Here is David Phillips take on The Great Democalypse that was the 2014 midterms.

Red Wedding In The Capitol

A Red Wedding.

In Game of Thrones speak, this refers to a scene in the HBO series where the King of the North, his wife, and his mother--along with everyone else in their camp--is led into a trap based around a wedding meant to draw the two warring sides together in peace. The king and his crew let their guard down. They relax and believe that everything will turn out just fine. What follows is a massive bloodletting orchestrated by Lord Walder Frey where no one is spared--not even the honorable king's unborn child. It is a gruesome bit of television that has already taken its place in tube lore. It couldn't compare to what happened Tuesday night in the 2014 Midterms. The Senate flipped, the House got housed, and the guvnas got guvna'd.

Still, to spring this trap on unsuspecting Democrats, Lords McConnell, Boehner, Priebus, and Christie needed the unwitting compliance of two groups of people. Democratic voters and pols. They could not have asked for more.

If showing up is 80% of life, as it has often been attributed to Woody Allen, the Democratic voter was well short of that. Somehow, this happens nearly every midterm election and yet the left seems to never learn that the progress often made in presidential election years must be consecrated two years later. It's a common refrain that Democratic voters are lazy. Nothing about last night will make that refrain less common anytime soon. As usual, the electorate in this off-year election was paler, maler, and staler than in presidential years and again, Democrats paid the cost of too many of their flock only being interested in the big show every four years.

As well, we Democrats are an easily dispirited bunch. Susceptible to disappointment and wanting to punish our party for not doing enough while not recognizing the alternative to our way of thinking is more reliable and therefore more than willing to fill the void during our off-year siestas. This lurching back and forth from election to election is made possible not just by the Right's efforts to disenfranchise minorities and young people--although that's certainly a factor--but by our own occasional lack of interest. And if you think voter ID laws are making it harder to get the base to the polls now, just consider the contests for Governor we lost last night. Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts Florida, Maine, Wisconsin and perhaps Colorado are either flipping and going R or are staying that way. All in states that should be either slam dunks (IL, MD, MA) or at least competitive (the rest). Does anyone think it's going to get any easier to access the ballot box in any of these states now?

PAUSE: If any Democratic leader ever lets Martha Coakley (two time loser in sky blue Massachusetts) or Charlie Crist (who has now lost as a Republican, an Independent, and a Democrat) run for office under their banner again, please push them into traffic. RESUME.

As well, many on the left are feeling less than inspired by our current President. We buy into the fears over ISIS and Ebola, even though not a single American has died from either on domestic soil. We are displeased with the rate of economic growth even though we are outpacing every other first world nation post Bush II's Crash of 2008. We don't think he's done enough on immigration, disentangling us from overseas conflicts, and too much on privacy invasion and national security in general. There are reasonable arguments to be made in each of these cases. They are not won by not voting. Even if you think Obama's merely the lesser of two evils, when presented with the two, what idiot would not take that which would harm you the least?

Not to mention, all the state and local issues we failed to represent for Tuesday night. Even if your congressional vote was hopeless (as mine was), would you not at least want to mitigate the damage by at minimum, keeping your own backyard short of insanity? Don't get me wrong, the average voter in even the red states on election night was pretty strange. By and large voting 'yea' on liberal issues such as the legalization of marijuana and raising the minimum wage, while also voting for candidates who oppose both, but we already know these types vote against their own interests. At least they can be bothered to turn out, no matter how much head scratching ensues by us thinking types afterwards.

As irresponsible as the left leaning non-voter was last night, it's quite possible our candidates were even worse. Nearly all of them ran away from any sort of accomplishment Democrats may have won over the last six years. An improving, if fitful economy. A health care law that is literally addressing the needs of millions of people while also bringing down costs, and a country that is embroiled in fewer major conflicts and has not had one terror attack take place in this country from anyone outside of the occasional lone wolf. That's a story one could tell...if one were willing to tell it. See, when you act embarrassed by that which you have achieved, not only does it show, but your avoidance of those successes allows your foe to define those achievements as anything but. Therefore, you had a lot of politicians with a (D) by their name running on...what the fuck I don't know.

A perfect example is Mark Warner of Virginia. A former very popular Governor of Virginia who won his Senate seat in 2008 with more than 60% of the popular vote. This year, he had to scrape by former Bushie, Ed Gillespie, whom the Republicans (thankfully) barely bothered to fund. Warner was once a short lister for VP and even, in some circles, discussed as a future top of the ticket possibility. Tell me this though, what the fuck does anyone know about Mark Warner? What significant piece of legislation has he ever been attached to? Did anyone in Virginia even know what Warner was running on? Much like Indiana's former nondescript Democratic Governor and Senator, Evan Bayh, the only thing I know about Warner is he wins elections--if this year, only just.

Too many Democratic candidates ran this sort of safe race about nothing last night. Some were even worse. Many of those up for a vote on election day pretended we didn't even have a two-time electoral landslide winning Democratic President of the United States until they were asked directly about him. Then they turned into "See and Says." Only instead of pulling the string and having them--like the toy--say "the cow goes moo" or "the rooster goes cockadoodledoo," the candidate went "I disagree with the president" with every jerk of the chain.

Even worse, Senate candidate in Kentucky, Alison Lundergan Grimes, when asked whether she voted for the president she served as a state delegate for in 2012, fell only one denial short of a Peter/Jesus relationship with her party's standard-bearer. This was the norm for the Democratic candidate in 2014. Take credit for nothing, run on nothing, and when asked about your relationship with a guy who knows how to win elections, speak as if that guy was nothing too. The funny thing is, you know who that guy was more popular than? Both chambers of congress.

This sort of weak-kneed campaigning led to Republicans overachieving everywhere. Even in the few places Dems pulled out a win. Take New Hampshire, where the relatively popular former Governor and current Senator, Jeanne Shaheen, barely outpaced the carpetbagging former Senator from Massachusetts, Scott Brown. A candidate so committed to his new state, he could hardly admit to any interest in staying in it should he lose. I don't know what all Mid-Atlantic states have Dems up for the Senate in 2016, but I do suggest they start their opposition research on Brownie now, just in case.

To these short sighted pols, I would like to ask, what did this "safe" strategy net you? Dems lost to a turtle in Kentucky, a man afraid of a circular fan in Florida, and a proud castrator of hogs in Iowa. I'll now share with you my favorite gallows-humored tweet of the night from former Daily Show correspondent, Wyatt Cenac: "For all the Democratic candidates that campaigned by distancing themselves from the President... it worked. They will be nowhere near him."

I will say this for Democratic non-voters and candidates, you did accomplish something unexpected last night. You made a lame duck President more relevant than anyone could have anticipated. Now he's all that stands between you and the policies you despise. I'm sure that's what you had in mind while watching the electoral map run red like the floor of Walder Frey's banquet room.

David Phillips

It’s All About That Base: Each One, Reach One

How Do We Fight Back Against The Kochs’ Money?
This November, like most midterms, represents a turning point in the direction our country will go for the next two years or more. This time, we are fighting an ideology as reckless and short-sighted as any we’ve ever seen.

This time the issues at stake are enormous, as more and more misinformation leaks into the conservative base, and more and more voters disengage from the noisy din where nothing gets done. The less they know, the more they think they know, the more dangerous these uninformed voters can be. They tend to elect Rove/Koch party line misguided Republicans.

The crop of radical clowns they’ve got lined up to join Congress this year as members of the Republican Caucus have been saying things that will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. That is, unless you’ve already heard this mess, in which case, we can only assume you haven’t been sleeping well as it is.

What Are The Messages The Koch’s Want Us To Believe

“Women Shouldn’t Swear”

“Overturning Citizen’s United Will Eliminate Free Speech”

“Climate Science Is A Hoax”

“The Minimum Wage is Evil”

“Entitlements Are Something One Can Apply For, But Not You”

“The Deficit Has Quadrupled Under A Democrat”

“Obama Hates White People”

“Obama Hates America”

“Obama Conspires To Increase The Immigration Rate”

“Obama Has Taken More Vacation Than Any Other President”

“Progressives Are Evil”

“Liberals Are Communists”

“Women Are Always Responsible For Being Raped”

“Women Should Make Less Than Men”

“The United States Is A Christian Country”

“Obamacare Is A Government Take Over”

“They Want To Take All Our Guns, Just Like Hitler Did”

“The Refugees At The Border Have Ebola”

“ISIS Is Coming To Attack Our Oil Through Texas”

“Education Is Evil”

“Gays Want To Behead Christians”

“99% Of Mass Shooters Are Democrats”

“Autism And Dementia Are God’s Punishment For Abortion/LGBT Rights”

“Public Schools Should Teach Students That Humans And Dinosaurs Lived Together”

“Unions Must Be Outlawed”

“Cap And Trade Is Evil”

“It’s Adam And Eve, Not Adam And Steve”

“Abortion Is Killing”

Do we need to go on? No. 
Now you think all that came from Tea Party radio hosts, don't you? You think Rush Limbaugh maybe.... Um, sorry, those are the actual platforms for republican 2014 congressional candidates.

Those nuttier-than-a-fruitcake phrases up above are what they actually say at stump speeches; this is what they are choosing to run on during these midterm elections. Real live candidates wearing buttons with elephants on them say these things.

Why? Because obviously they have no real complaint against the sitting President. No real issues to rail against. Nothing based on facts. If they did, they would surely use that as their rallying cry. But they don’t. So we have to listen to all of this nonsense, nonsense designed to activate their red base with red meat. Garbage in, garbage out.

You can’t be anti everything, you have to stand FOR something. You have to have ideas of your own. That’s how the GOP became the party of “No,” the party of gridlock, the party of obstructionism. They are the reason our Congress is broken, which is keeping our government broken.

What Can We Do About It
Vote. Really. Vote. I mean it. And make sure you bring someone with you. Or this kind of stuff will be minted on our coins.

It will be a slow change to turn this Congress around, and get them back on the road to true progress, making way for America to possibly lead once again in the areas of science and knowledge. But you, you can be the trim tab, you can make the difference. Don’t let them make you believe you can’t. Don’t let those conservative talking head whackos enter your consciousness.

You have time. Almost two months. A little less. You have to sit yourself down, and think of someone you know who doesn’t plan on voting this year. And you need to convince them to vote. Pick them up the day of, maybe get some coffee after, but get them to the polls. We have more Democrats in the U.S. than Republicans, so the more people that vote, the better chance the Democrats have of winning. We just have to show up.

Each One, Reach One. Everyone Bring One.

Do You Have Your One?

Conservatives Are Awful Liberal With Their Bias

Happy Labor Day
A lovely three-day weekend is soon upon us. It’s Labor Day, end of summer, yay! and it leads right into midterm election season. It’s that time of year where small and big neighborhoods nationwide kind of ignore whatever could be going on in favor of back-to-school errands, fishing out winter clothes, and looking for Halloween costumes. It’s only a midterm election, after all; how important could it be? So set up them chairs and eat up that BBQ, and then take a nap in the hammock.

You’ve listened to your news. And whichever side you listen to, they’ve told you they will probably come out as victors come election day. Have another sip of beer, and ahhhhh, the kids are in the pool, and, of course, there’s always the uncle, or the neighbor, or the friend who’s chattin’ about Obamacare and Big Gubment while hanging out in the kitchen.

If you have been listening to the news cycle, any old TV will do, you would think Halloween started months ago, dead unarmed kids, planes falling out of the sky and Russia invading people. Maybe you’ve been hoping it was all a dream you had after some bad food, hoping against hope that it’s been April Fool’s or War of The Worlds all along. But no. The scary talk just keeps coming. Syria, ISIS, Iraq, Hamas, Israel, Malaysian Airlines, Benghazi, drones, the IRS, and the NSA, are being name dropped more often than Kanye mentions Kim.

The creepiest manifestation of neoconservative ‘wisdom’ is the glee with which Fox and Friends spews their balanced fare. Each Rovian sculpted phrase is ripped off the word-of-the-day faked white papers popping out of Crossroads or Heritage and broadcast with extra drooly zeal. While there are liberal talk shows and blogs aplenty, the conservative claim that the entire media has a bias favoring liberals is just another piece of misinformation from their exclusive line of facts.

Today
Just in one day, here’s what you heard from FOX:

A top House Republican is charging that the Environmental Protection Agency
secretly drafted highly detailed maps of U.S. waterways to set the stage for a
controversial plan to expand regulatory power over streams and wetlands, a claim the EPA strongly denies.

Message: EPA IS EVIL.

Obama is reportedly plotting end-run around Congress on global climate change deal.

Message: OBAMA PLOTS.

Blame Obama’s anti-business, big tax agenda for Burger King’s Canada move.

Message: OBAMA IS BAD FOR BUSINESS AND NOW WE ARE GOING TO STARVE.

Misinformation is their trade, and they really don’t bother trying to hide their bias. It would be funny, if there weren’t officials just as eager to use the art of misinformation in order to rule over their districts.

Last October, Rand Paul said, “I never, ever cheated. I don’t condone cheating. But I would sometimes spread misinformation. This is a great tactic. Misinformation can be very important.” He went on to describe studying for a pathology test with friends in the library. “We spread the rumor that we knew what was on the test and it was definitely going to be all about the liver,” he said. “We tried to trick all of our competing students into over-studying for the liver” and not studying much else. Lovely. These are our elected officials. And these are the guys who want to home school their children.

Only voting will really tell us how we will fare after November. Getting out and voting. No matter what side you are on, grab someone who wasn’t planning on showing up to vote, or someone who doesn’t have a ride, and get them to vote. It’s the only way the outcome can reflect the will of the people. With as many people voting as possible. Every One Bring One. Seriously. Plan for it now, and bring a buddy to the polls.

From Now On
Here’s what we say. If you are listening to the red meat stations to hear what they are up to, great. Fight The Power. But, if you find yourself there accidentally, for God Sake’s change the channel. Be afraid of these news sources. Be very afraid. ‘Cause this is the stuff of urban myth. These are the lies, once repeated, that are taken as fact. These are the bad guys.

66 of the worst places you could go to get your news & information.

1. Fox News

2. The Rush Limbaugh Show

3. Glenn Beck

4. Savage Nation w/ Michael Savage

5. Alex Jones’ Info Wars

6. The Heritage Foundation

7. The Wall Street Journal Op-Ed

8. The Neal Boortz Radio Show

9. Sean Hannity

10. Bill O’Reilly

11. Rightwingnews.com

12. National Review

13. The Mark Levin Show

14. The Weekly Standard

15. Washington Times

16. The American Conservative

17. The Drudge Report

18. The Cato Institute

19. Media Research Center

20. Townhall.com

21. Red State

22. Andew Breitbart’s Big Government

23. The American Cause

24. Christian Coalition

25. The John Birch Society

26. Citizens United

27. Freedom Works

28. Tea Party Express

29. Tea Party Patriots

30. The Herman Cain Show

31. News Busters

32. News Max

33. The New York Post

34. Conservative HQ

35. Sirius radio “Patriot”

36. Conservative American News

37. Conservative Daily News

38. Judicial Watch

39. The Source Daily

40. Republican National Committee

41. American Spectator

42. Reason Magazine

43. Freedom Rings Radio hosted by Kenneth John

44. Conservapedia

45. The Right Side of the Web

46. CNS News

47. Michael Reagan

48. Family Research Council

49. Conservative Underground

50. The Hugh Hewitt Show

51. The Heartland Institute

52. The Blaze

53. The Gateway Pundit

54. The Free Republic

55. Anything from Sarah Palin

56. Conservative Post

57. Headline Politics

58. The Capitalism Institute

59. The Political Insider

60. The Daily Caller

61. National Report

62. AmericanNews.com

63. Hot Air

64. American Thinker

65. Tomato Bubble

66. The US Patriot

So if you didn’t know, now you know. You can’t tell the players without a program, and you can’t fight misinformation, if you can’t track down its source. What are your favorite, or least favorite, news sources?

Democratizing Power

The process of turning potential into power

Power. We rail against it. We write about it. We complain about it. We are abused by it. We feel helpless against it.

Why can't ordinary citizens wield that power just as easily? How can just one person, in one town, make a difference?

Let's start with the basics of policy. You know people. You have more influence than you recognize. And influence is all you need. How does a friendship become a subsidiary? When you build on your common ground, and agree to a strategic partnership, anything can happen. The power of the people, once organized, is boundless.

It has to be ok for each of us to be each other's teachers and each other's students.

How does a symbol inspire a people? The Tea Party was able to take a symbol, the Don't Tread On Me flag, to rally and activate a portion of the citizenry. A fear based, anti-government section of the population, but engaged now under a single banner. They think together, and they vote together.  This strung together quilt of crazies, of fringe militias, and martial law expecters, created a power block that has worked to shape policy.

How does a bias become a policy? Incideously. Like stop and frisk. Or racial profiling.

There are some millenials who want to opt out of voting all together, and simply engage in volunterism. There are techies who think all we need is more data and transparency. There are liberals who think voting is for the blind, the sheeple, the lost followers. They've disengaged completely, and tend to advocate no political party over any political party.

Each side is blinded by their selective outrage. The fortunate and the unfortunate alike who think they get what they deserve, that's the status quo we need to shake up. All generations of citizenry in the United States need to wake up and realize that civic engagement, civic awareness has fallen into the hands of so called "professionals." Professional message makers like Karl Rove, and his predecessor Lee Atwater. It's Crossroads, FOX, the Kochs, and The Heritage Foundation who have accessed the public dialogue, and run with it. Their poster boys Sen. Ted Cruz, and Rep. Eric Cantor, and let's not forget the ladies like Rep. Michelle Bachmann and former Gov. Sarah Palin, raise tons of money just appearing and talking smack. They belittle, demonize, and name call with abandon. There is very little push back, and that's why they have so many followers repeating their words, exactly, word for word. Obamacare is horrible. Big government is the problem. Never compromise. That's against God's will. Never negotiate. The founders wanted us to be obstructionists. And it goes on and on and on, with the benefactors being mostly carpet baggers selling gold, safe rooms, and disaster shelters, trying to rewrite a country's history by spewing out a constant barrage of misinformation.

It's all too much, all the uninformed voters showing up to vote. It's overwhelming. The general public, the young millenials who need to participate, and those unregistered, are now unmotivated to even figure out how things work. We begin to opt out. Willful ignorance is a cause and a consequence of the power grab of the greedy. We have to wake up before we get left out. Heck, we've already been left out. They control Congress by simply sitting in the middle of the road, blocking traffic.

To start with, there's a need to put an end to all this rage against the machine. What works best, tested by the people in power for thousands of years, is to rage within the machine. We need a real arena where we can plausibly practice the power of decision making. Congress obviously isn't cutting it. It turns out, there is no better arena in our time for the practicing of power than at the city level. Think about a common problem in most cities. Like ...where a streetlamp should go or which library should have its hours extended or cut. Should every business in your town be required to pay a living wage? Should water conservation be part of the planning of your city? Are your bridges safe? Do you need another school? Do your schools require more funding, a better arts program or an after school program? Do you want your local police force to wear cameras while on duty?

Think about the change you want in your city, and then think about how you would get it, how you could make that happen. Here's a list of the possible tools you will need to control or confront:

• money
• people
• ideas
• information
• misinformation 
• threat of force (including boycotting and protests)

How would you activate the tools that you need, and/or neutralize those tools used by your opponents? Power brokers do this everywhere on the planet, and more and more recently, there have been stories of power changing hands. Their is skill and engineering involved that needs to recognized, and some basics you need to know before stepping up to the line of battle. All you need is power literacy. These are the elemental factors of power.

What is your objective?

What strategy are you going to use?

What tactics work most often in your area?

What is the terrain? Will your neighborhood or community support the change required to better the quality of life in your town? With these answers, you can tip the scales in your favor, every time.

Who are your enemies, and who are your allies? Most importantly, who can you recruit as an ally, what groups, what religious organizations, what unions? Are there existing systems of government you can engage? Can you use the marketplace, the media, faith institutions, and social institutions to accomplish your goal? Do you need to resort to sit-ins and marches? It just might be something as basic and simple as getting people to register to vote, and luring them to the polls.

Take Power From Power

As national politics has become more and more partisan, as we deal with obstructionism at every turn, civic imaginations are being activated, emerging from local ecosystems and radiating outward. Finally trickling out instead of trickling down. Things are changing, like where people are moving, what people are buying, what travel sources people use. Things are changing, like people petitioning the White House, turning ideas into laws.

Decide where you want your tax dollars to go. Now isn't that novel. But when you, and those around you, start caring, you can invent systems that allow the local constituents to decide that for themselves. We vote on bonds. We vote on judges. We can decide to vote on whatever we want.

Power To The People.

This is the challenge and the opportunity. Generating a web of power that can take away the strangle hold of those who have had the monopoly until now. We can create something that is powerfully collective. We can become We.

We can proactively seek out those with the same values, we can learn about systems, work within them, and change them. They are just skills that need to be mastered, like riding a bicycle, or doing a handstand. Practice makes perfect. When something is done that works, share that info with the world. When something is done that doesn't work, share that too. We can all learn from our mistakes. We can also learn from someone else's mistakes.

Eventually, you local leaders will tip the balance of power, take the reins. We need to actively negotiate, motivate, frame issues, while navigating diversity and conflict, before we can legislate. That's the slog, But if they can do it with money, we can do it with people, time, and effort.

How does change succeed? Well, we very successfully voted for change. We were told that we had to participate. Well, now is the time.

Figure it out. What are the values of those who can be activated to join you? What could be the sense of moral purpose you are able to stir in those you need to engage? Actually make it your business, your hobby, or your raison d'être, as an American, as a policy geek, as a wonk, to make the change you want to see.

All power to the people and the policy they create.

The Policy Geek