The Presidency: it would be absolutely imperative to make necessary changes to the president's war-authorization powers so that this nation could never again be drawn into totally unjustifiable wars such as Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and a host of others. This authorization must be given to this Congress which then would have the sole power to send this nation into war and that, only in the case of an imminent, unavoidable attack by an enemy, could the president issue the order.
Trying to create just another
third party, call it the Populist Party, could be likened to trying to scale
Mount Everest without using a Sherpa guide; the chances of going up against the
power and money of the two embedded parties and being successful are very slim.
Therefore, the best course would be for this new movement to initiate this
grass roots process by assuming control of the current Democratic Party
establishment and then, over a period of time, installing significant reforms. Then again the leaders of this movement might want to change its name to the Populist Democratic Party.
In the shorter term, could we see a 2016 Democratic presidential ticket with Warren running for president and Sanders as vice-president or vice versa? Could this country be so fortunate? Once these two brilliant statespersons would get their campaign underway I think it could steamroll any Republican challenge. Can you imagine presidential debates with Warren and Sanders taking on Republicans such as Cruz, Christy, Paul or Rubio? That would be like professionals in baseball's big leagues competing against class D minor leaguers.
The biggest question of all is how to get this movement going and build momentum. There is no easy way to accomplish this except through a lot of hard work by a dedicated group of individuals who have the ability to create, organize, motivate and attract others to the movement. Once the enormous power of the people is harnessed this movement would become unstoppable; the people are desperate for positive change, they need and will respond to problem-solvers and they will be motivated by their inspirational messages.
I see this movement as emerging at the exact right moment in this country's history when the frustration of the American people has seemingly reached its limits, and its faith and trust in this government is plummeting. This is the perfect time for this Populist Movement to catch fire and return this nation's government to one that is of, by and for the people.
Michael Payne
(Article changed on June 26, 2014 at 11:25)
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