The Journey to Alter America

Strewn with Failures

Stopped by Roadblocks

Notable Failures

·         Popular Movements

·         Single Issue Protest Groups

·         Third Party Political Candidates

·         Litigations

·         Personal Failures

Major Roadblocks

·         Corpocracy Power

·         Divided/Conquered Public

 Personal Failures in Mobilizing*

·         Reignbow Coalition

·         U.S. Democracy Corps

·         Peace Coalition

·         Twittersod Campaign

·         Numerous Petitions

·         Numerous Luminaries

Reignbow Coalition

“Reignbow” is a homophone for the Rainbow Coalition, a generic term for any coalition of groups or parties opposed to any current regime anywhere. The Reverend Jesse Jackson, leader of the Rainbow Coalition in the U.S., garnered over 3 million and 6 million votes respectively in his 1984 and 1988 presidential bids. While his coalition is mostly of historical significance today, I give him credit for what he did. He, like Ralph Nader, was simply up against the corpocracy.    

“Reignbow” is meant to connote a peoples’ movement intent on wresting reign from the corpocracy and returning it to the American people. Several years ago I attempted to mobilize 20 some segments of the  public into the Reignbow Coalition. It never got off the ground.

U.S. Democracy Corps

America has a Peace Corps but no peace. Several years ago I created the U.S. Democracy Corps and recruited hundreds of American citizens who have in their own ways been promoting peaceful and lawful means of reclaiming social and economic justice in America and establishing peaceful relations with other nations (see October 4, 2014 post). The Corps also included a group of honorary members who are distinguished Americans. The Corps still exists on paper but has never been activated.

Peace Coalition

More than a hundred antiwar and peace NGOs were invited to join together as a coalition to provide political pressure behind each proposed initiative to end America’s endless warring and spying. Only a handful of NGOs were interested. War sustains even NGOs proclaiming to oppose it.

Twittrsod Campaign

The “sod” in twittersod stands for save our democracy. There are millions of Americans who tweet but only a few hundred joined.

Numerous Petitions

Numerous petitions to be sent to political leaders were circulated on the Internet but there were not enough signers.

Numerous Luminaries

Besides the many luminaries who agreed to be named “Honorary Affiliates” of the U.S. Democracy Corps, many other luminaries (including a famous third party presidential candidate) were contacted over the years. Nothing materialized from these efforts.

Personal Failures in Organizing*

·         U.S. Chamber of Democracy

U.S. Chamber of Democracy

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce (USCC) is one of the most powerful and wealthy lobbyists for Corporate America. The core mission of the USCC is “to fight for business and free enterprise before Congress, the White House, regulatory agencies, the courts, the court of public opinion, and governments around the world.”

In the fourth chapter of my book, The Devil’s Marriage: Break Up the Corpocracy or Leave Democracy in the Lurch, I proposed a counterforce organization and named it the U.S. Chamber of Democracy. My intent was for it to be an “organization without bricks and mortar,” that is, a virtual Inter Network of existing organizations with the overall purpose of developing and carrying out a comprehensive strategic  plan in unison with a second source of “double-fisted” democracy power to be developed, a new and very large coalition of the corpocracy’s adversaries that I called the “People’s Reignbow Coalition” (see above) that would be a melding of many different segments of the populace and would provide the political muscle/pressure behind each and every strategy.

I asked over 100 NGOs to join, numerous wealthy foundations for funding, including one purportedly devoted to antiwar causes, and scores of local Chambers of Commerce that had left the USCC.  Very few organizations were interested. They would not exist if the corpocracy did not exist.

Post Mortem

So far corpocracy power reigns. Large corporations and the big banks dominate America’s business affairs, and America’s endless warring and spying has yet to end.

Next Blog in the Making

Real America’s Future if Alter America Fails

*My own failed, naive attempts to move Real America toward Alter America