Saturday, March 22, 2008 was a typically busy day for O.U.T.R.A.G.E. members across the nation, and at the organization's headquarters in St. Kitts. One of the most important pieces of legislation was the result of Article I, the very first non-binding resolution that had been introduced on Wednesday, January 23, just six days afer the explosions that had rocked America.
Entitled "Tke the 'Con' Out of Congress". the resolution called for dramatic changes the status of elected members of the Senate and the House of Representatives. These "honorable" people would no longer be treated like some kind of royalty, but instead be treated as what they were supposed to be: public servants. In 1992 when H. Ross Perot ran for President and captured 19% of the popular vote, one of his most endearing and emphastic statements to the voters was, "I will be your servant." He chastized "career politicians", and - out of sheer fear of losing - incumbents quickly joined Perot's bandwagon, claiming they, too, were not "career politicians". Suddenly Presidential candidates were being photographed in farm fields wearing blue jeans and plaid flannel shirts. Some touted their family heritages, coming from hard-working families who toiled in American factories, paid their taxes, and went to war when their country called.
Many, such as Congressman Mark Souder from Indiana, promised to voluntarily limit their terms in office, only to renege on that promise once they'd comfortably settled into the extravagance of public office. Souder, who claimed Amish roots,easily was re-elected to a political life of privilege, wealth and status, apparently in blind denial over the Amish community's adamant resistence to materialism, war, and all things modern. Hubris, greed, arrogance, and sloth easily trumped the Amish beliefs in humility, simplicity, honor, and hard work. Souder, of course, was one of the 533 members of Congress who had perished in the 'Rebellion of '08", viewed by O.U.T.R.A.G.E. as one of those Americans who contributed little to society while squandering the wealth, power, influence and status they had achieved, all on themselves, their families and friends without regard to the hundreds of millions of 'common', 'average' American citizens.
Members of Congress disdained those 'common folks' and invested very little time with such average people unless there was the possibility of a photo opportunity. Most average American citizens held the same kind of disdain for their elected officials, knowing politicians - even the 'decent' ones - to be snared in a snakepit of salacious sanctimony. Voting was not the answer; most Americans only viewed voting as a means of replacing one cesspool with another. Votes were traded for favors; lobbyists, special interest groups, wealthy elitists, and big business guaranteed the votes in return for beneficial legislation. The American Medical Association, AARP, big tobacco lobbying firms, agribusiness interests, the National Rifle Association, pharmaceutical companies, and the giant media conglomerates were all sucking off the taxpayers' teat thanks to the power they held over politicians. Corporate welfare was alive and well in America, costing taxpayers hundreds of billions more than all of the social welfare programs combined. Yet, every time someone tried to pass a bill that would help a single mother raise her three children, or give the lowest-paid workers a raise in their minimum wage, it was drowned in defeat.
Political corruption was the most banal of public outrages against the federal government.
Now there was an opportunity to start all over, electing new members of Congress who would dedicate themselves to being public servants instead of corporate lackies.
Across America, people with little or no political experience were being recruited, being asked to run for Congress in the upcoming November elections. These would be people from the local communities with records of community service. Perhaps they'd served on the City Council, sat on the Board of the local Chamber of Commerce, or had been a volunteer member of the local Lions Club. O.U.T.R.A.G.E. scouts searched for people with a deep sense of community and concern, people who not normally would have ever even considered running for public office simply because they didn't want to attach themselves to the stench. Many prospective candidates may have run their own successful businesses; some may have been managers or supervisors at local factories. Some had successfully raised a family and managed a household. One thing was evident: those exhibiting even the slightest appearance of having extended political ambitions were immediately suspect. The goal was to limit an elected official's term in office, send him (or her) back home, and keep the entanglements of political nepotism from resurfacing. In fact, the most sought-after candidates were often people who had no interest in becoming involved in the political system.
To repeat Thomas Jefferson's old adage was appropriate. The tree of liberty was about to be refreshed. The blood of patriots and tyrants had been spilled. Now was a time for renewal.