If you email or IM me please use your name. Many people use these funny handles which look like junk mail

I would like to talk to you and Robert.

Mike Rothschild

847.644.3940

http://www.eng-i.com/E-Newsletters.htm

I have worked on campaigns for others. I could not see myself running either. I am a computer programmer, an introvert profession. I have a 97% hearing loss. I also have a heart problem. I would have been happy being the guy who helps someone else run.

No one who would take a stand against outsourcing, excessive legislation, etc. stepped forward to run. So I did. I did not spend any money, and I got more votes than any non-Democratic candidate in history of this District. I still lost. But now an editor of a weekly paper seems to be repeating some of the points which I have raised. I am also finding some of my remarks being repeated in various local forums. I am also finding my URL being posted by others in local forums.

People have to start standing up for themselves.

Everyone involved with United Professionals is educated. There must be a way to organize and to create economic viability for ourselves. I can’t see myself running for office, but I could work for someone who runs. We do need alternatives to the two-party system.

I Went Through the Same Process.

I went through the same process myself. I did not expect to be unemployed for so long.
I am now accept the fact that the solution will be political. We are not uneducated people. We and our families and churches and country have donated generously toward educating the third worlders who are now being used by international corporations to undermine our very existence. The problem is we had our heads in our technical disciplines and did not learn much in the way of history and political science.

The Democrats, most of whom are millionaires, take the vote of working people for granted. The Republicans are more honest about representing the interests of corporations. You have learned what many have yet to learn, none of the major parties care about us nor out predicament. Their policies will turn us into another third world banana republic. That is a disaster for the rest of the world because the relatively wealthy American Middle class has exported its ideas on freedom of speech, democracy, science, etc. , not perfectly, but it has had a positive effect.

The free press is not really free. Presses and distribution systems cost money and they are owned by vested interests and may also profit from cheap illegal labor. I am surprised that Barbara Ehrenreich’s books get published at all. I think she is trying, but she is not Moses or Christ almighty and can only do so much without others taking some initiative.

So the first thing you might want to do is look at
http://www.pvla.net
Limiting yourself to the two major parties will not change much. I think you already know more than most of the politicians you were helping anyway. The politicians that are any good in the major parties never make it through the nomination process anyway.

By running yourself you get to make noise right up to election day. Maybe even after that with “I told you so” stories from those slow of wit who did not vote for you. I was unaware of the debates you mentioned, and so are most people. The CEO could care less, he has his money. And even if someone agreed with your point in the debate then what should they do? Vote for the incumbent? You need to give people something to do besides beg some politician who does not really want to represent us anyway.

After nine months, I remain unemployed, with no options. BTW, when I worked for the Democrats, for two weeks in December, 2006, I was out on the streets in various Manhattan neighborhoods, talking to people. Each day, I spoke to at least five unemployed professionals, some of whom (men and women) broke down, tears streaming down their faces, as they related their stories to me. I felt that the least I could do was listen. Until that time, I had no idea that so many professionals, in so many different fields, couldn’t find jobs. The people I spoke to looked like me. My field is music and the entire industry is disintegrating, but I thought my experience and my skills could transfer to other fields. I ws wrong about that. During my canvassing days, I spoke to accountants, social workers, etc. I talked to countless New Yorkers, but I also spoke to unemployed people from Ohio, California, Washington, Florida, New Jersey, etc. Quite frankly, I was stunned by my discovery. No one at Grassroots Campaigns, the organization that had been hired to raise money for Howard Dean’s 50-State Plan, and had, in turn, hired me, were interested in my discovery, either.

I contacted the Nation Magazine, the Progressive, etc., and no one was interested in the story. The Progressive labeled my letter to them an editorial. I thought the issue was worth investigating, but no one cared. So, I am not as thrilled with the liberal and progressive press as I once was. I kept a diary of those two weeks. I used names, whenever I could. Still, they saw my letter as an editorial and not as a story. Quite frankly, I would have been pleased if they had dug in and done their own investigating on the issue, but they didn’t.

Through my research and reading, I connected with Barbara Ehrenreich, and I shared the info with her. I joined UP, but so far, I don’t feel as if I am really invested in any real way, other than I paid money to belong, and seven months later, I still don’t feel that there is a real direction. Then, I found Bright Future Jobs in Chicago, which seems to be doing more than any other organization to get to the bottom of things. The co-founders, Donna Conroy and Mike Rothschild, recently, debated a couple of CEO/lobbyists in their Congresswoman’s office, and Donna has been to Washington, D.C. several times lobbying for change. Because of their work, they have been able to convince Dick Durbin that there is a real problem for Americans seeking work. Thus, Charles Grassley and Dick Durbin drafted the abuse/fraud prevention act of 2007 in order to close some loopholes in the laws governing the hiring practices of corporations and other businesses. Donna and Mike discovered that “Americans Need Not Apply.” In other words, the law in 1990 dropped the “equal opportunity” laws that did govern labor laws. Bright Future Jobs is committed to restoring “equal opportunity” to the American work force.

Robert, I think you are doing something very important by running for office. At the moment, I have no security in my life, and I am so distracted by not being able to find work, that I can barely function. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imaged myself in this predicament. In November, 2006, when I lost my job, I didn’t even consider that I wouldn’t find work.

It can be made an election issue if people work hard to make it one. First of all we have to stop thinking of elections as something that happens for president every 4 years. We also have to stop thinking in terms of Democrats and Republicans and look for other parties.

I am running in an election myself. I cannot get to the presidential candidates, nor the US Senate Candidates. But I can make life miserable for their underlings running for the City Council in Springfield Massachusetts. I will accuse them of de-industrializing Springfield and the United States. They may deny it, but in the end the will support Senators Kennedy and Kerry who did in fact support such policies. I will point out that they will also support the Democratic Presidential Candidate for President even though they do not know who it will be yet. I wil then say that they all supported de-industrialization.

I f you want to make an issue of it you will need a stage. The best and cheapest stage is running for office. You will get some amount of media coverage just because you are running for office. In the past I have been interviewed by papers, appeared on radio talk shows, and television, just because I was a candidate for public office. I can then put in a plug for my web site
http://www.pvla.net where I can say just about anything that I want. I got a copy of the city voting list, just because I am a candidate for the City Council. I then have a reason to go door to door collecting signatures, and spreading my message. I could to that anyway, but they what should the people do? Just complain? No, they can vote for me, and they can come t our meetings. No incumbent will admit it, but if I get a sizeable number of votes, it will bother them. When I run for State Representative, the district spans two cities, so I can get voting lists from both of them.

In short, yes you can make it an issue. But you should think of making it an issue yourself and not waiting for someone else to do it for you. Also, election time begins the day after the last election.