Change a Law John Thibault

Chet Campanella talks about H.R. 1706 and H.R. 1707, (Mistreatment of Italian Americans during WWII) These are bills in the 115th Congress; To authorize the Secretary of Education to provide grants for education programs on the history of the treatment of Italian Americans during World War II and to apologize for the treatment of Italian Americans during World War II.

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We help voters figure out their stories so that they can change laws
because your present policy decisions shape your political and
economic future. We want to empower you to change laws so that you
can improve your community, influence your country and impact the
world.

This podcast is about how to change a law using iLobby. It is based on
the book How to Change a Law. http://amzn.to/1XyrWu6

You can learn how to vote, argue, debate, pledge and share a campaign
at the iLobby free video proving ground. http://bit.ly/28MQ0qW

-- Transcript (partial) --

The Party Is Not Much of A Party

The party is a brand. But all brands need to evolve. As brands, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party do not adapt and change quickly enough to meet the needs of their audience. Also, because we only have two brands we flip back-and-forth between (R) and (D).

Since neither one satisfies effectively, we have a lot of independents. I saw today on CNN where someone started a party called the “Party Party.” But every party needs a platform. If you ask anybody who is an advocate for an existing establishment party what their top issues are, they probably can't list very many. And the issues that they can list are probably only vague generalities.

The key here is that issues are dynamic but parties are not. If the party is a brand, then it needs to adapt to the changing issues. The party usually puts out a policy platform on a periodic basis. This is a high level think tank paper that people are expected to believe in and follow. But since the party doesn't adapt well to the needs of every individual, it only sort of fits the things that you want, but not entirely. The one thing it is sure to do however, is leave you out.

And maybe you're not sure why.

Often the party is not connecting with you specifically. There are several reasons for this. For example, the party platform may not encompass the issues that you think about or are concerned with. Or maybe the party only covers issues that occur on the national level but doesn't capture issues on the state or the local level where party is much less relevant. Sometimes even when the party names some of the issues that you care strongly about, it does not clarify or identify where you stand. So what does this mean?

Your position on an issue is the point of view or side that you support.

And this is where the whole party platform thing begins to break down. The party has a general idea of what their position is on a particular issue and for your allegiance; they demand that you adhere to their same position. However not all issues are black-and-white anymore. Times have changed. Science continues to advance, new facts emerge, technology is changing and the economics underlying most of the issues we face have a complexity that goes beyond what the parties’ issues are.

So you could have people in Washington supporting the party platform but nobody really gives a damn.

Does that mean you should create a new party that has its own fixed ideas about what the top issues are and a general idea of where it stands as far as positional alignment?

Not necessarily.

As I said earlier, parties need to adapt.

Why are they called parties anyway? Isn't a party supposed to be fun, engaging, interesting, and community oriented?

But the parties of today are none of this.

Have you ever noticed that there is no real instruction for people on how laws are made? When you search on the Internet for how laws are made, you will usually find diagrams. These diagrams show where the laws start....

We help voters figure out their stories so that they can change laws
because your present policy decisions shape your political and
economic future. We want to empower you to change laws so that you
can improve your community, influence your country and impact the
world.

This podcast is about how to change a law using iLobby. It is based on
the book How to Change a Law. http://amzn.to/1XyrWu6

-- Transcript (Partial) --

Have you ever noticed that there is no real instruction for people on how laws are made? When you search on the Internet for how laws are made, you will usually find diagrams. These diagrams show where the laws start, usually in one chamber of a legislative body, and then how they go from committee to sponsor to legal counsel for review and a vote etc. However, nowhere in these diagrams does it show where the voters are involved in the process, except sometimes at the very beginning. So basically you are not included in the lawmaking process, if you're an average person.

Why is that?

Well for starters, the passive wording, “How Laws Are Made” makes it sound like an anthropologist is studying the Argentinian beetle in 1805. For example, “Please observe how these laws are made.” It makes it seem like the laws have feet, get up on their own and walk from committee room to committee room and scream out “please vote on me.”

That's what these diagrams show us. But that's not how the process works.

So don’t you think we need a place where citizens can come together to come up with ideas for improvements that they think the government should implement? I think so. The title should not be “How Laws Are Made” but instead “How Do I Make A Law?”

Or change a law, fix a law or repeal a law… You need to be in the picture.

Right now, all the power is left to whoever is familiar with the process and is on the inside. However, an individual voter can affect most of what needs to happen.

Imagine making laws was like the Kentucky Derby. Instead of only showing the horse race from the track on the day of the race, what if we showed how the horse owners, trainers and everybody else spent years developing their horse for the big race? In other words, instead of just showing the bill once it enters a government legislative chamber, what if we showed the entire process from the beginning to the end; how an individual needs to nurture an idea, build a coalition, gain followers, refine and debate the idea, and then finally move it toward a sponsor or representative?

Then you don't come in at the last minute with a half-baked idea. We know that when people are involved in a process early on, they are much more likely to support and nurture the idea to which they have contributed.

No contribution, no interest.

So is it any wonder that when a 2000 page omnibus bill is passed and then implemented, such as the Affordable Care Act, that the citizenry looks at it in complete disbelief and wonders why they were never involved in the process.

This is Day 2 of the video series, Navigate Your Issue. This is a seven day
challenge where you figure out your most important policy issue and
create your story. bit.ly/2a4cwdv

We help voters figure out their stories so that they can change laws
because your present policy decisions shape your political and
economic future. We want to empower you to change laws so that you
can improve your community, influence your country and impact the
world.

This podcast is about how to change a law using iLobby. It is based on
the book How to Change a Law. amzn.to/1XyrWu6
You can learn how to vote, argue, debate, pledge and share

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Take our free 7-day policy + challenge

This is Day 1 of the video series, Navigate Your Issue. This is a seven day challenge where you figure out your most important policy issue and create your story. bit.ly/2a4cwdv

We help voters figure out their stories so that they can change laws
because your present policy decisions shape your political and
economic future. We want to empower you to change laws so that you
can improve your community, influence your country and impact the
world.

This podcast is about how to change a law using iLobby. It is based on
the book How to Change a Law. amzn.to/1XyrWu6

You can learn how to vote, argue, debate, pledge and share a campaign
at the iLobby free video proving ground. bit.ly/28MQ0qW

This is the introduction to the video series, Navigate Your Issue. This is a seven day challenge where you figure out your most important policy issue and create your story. http://bit.ly/2a4cwdv

We help voters figure out their stories so that they can change laws
because your present policy decisions shape your political and
economic future. We want to empower you to change laws so that you
can improve your community, influence your country and impact the
world.

This podcast is about how to change a law using iLobby. It is based on
the book How to Change a Law. http://amzn.to/1XyrWu6

You can learn how to vote, argue, debate, pledge and share a campaign
at the iLobby free video proving ground. http://bit.ly/28MQ0qW