No More Incumbents Blog

First, I am not calling the women of Tennessee Guerillas.

However, No More Incumbents is now covering (and enjoying) the blog by the Tennessee Guerilla Women.  They offer a great and slightly irreverent (Purposefully) blog about the fight against the religious super right in Tennessee.  I just wonder if those Guerilla Women of Tennessee are wearing disposable gloves or if they are dealing with all that horse pucky bare handed.

So we added them to our mix on our Tennessee Page here at No More Incumbents for the State of Tennessee - No More Incumbents Tennessee

Shane points out below that campaign donorsget Politicians to vote their way because of the contributions provided.  I think Shane is correct.  I think politicians use the defense that they are attracting like minded contributors, but the truth is that the politicians tend to bend which ever way the money breeze blows.

By the way, I received Shane’s note late at night.  Just for the record an incumbent is a term given to describe the person that is currently holding office.

1. If everything else were the same about 2 candidates, would you vote for an incumbent or a new candidate?
Hmm, well it would be impossible for 2 candidates to be the same if one was an incumbent, as he/she would have no experience in the position, while the current office holder would have some experience.  While experience is important, I do think the incumbent would be the best bet.

2. Why?
they are more likely to have fresh ideas, and probably less corrupted by the system.

3. Do you think that politicians become more corrupt as they stay in office or Washington longer?
yes

4. Why?
Unfortunately the system is built so that you need money to continue to win elections (advertising) and to get that money, you must get in bed with one group or another.  Now your vote is not your own, because you must vote their way, or fear losing campaign money.  Horrible system.

5. What State and Country do you live in?
NY, USA

6. What is your first name and last inital?
Shane M.

7. Do you have a blog and if so what is your url?
yes, www.dontfearthetruth.com

Patrick from Pennsylvania writes that cleaning Incumbents out of the house is an excellent idea.  He makes an excellent point that if you think things are going poorly then we need to fire our leaders.  That’s exactly what would happen to Patrick and every other American that didn’t get the job done and shouln’t be any different for Incumbents.  If you don’t think so, try doing a bad job for 2-6 years, and when your boss comes to tell you that you are doing a bad job and that you will be fired, just try explaining that you should be given another chance and 2-6 more years to fix things up as there ‘is still more work to do’ and you want to ’stay the course.’

Not too likely to work is it? 

Excluding any current Incumbents reading my blog as their boss is the American people and we the people have ceded our firing responsibility for too long.  Its not easy to fire an employee that is doing a bad job.  It make it no easier that our Incumbent Employees are doing a terrible job.  We need to move past that soft spot in our hearts, the one that wants to pet kittens and fire Incumbents that are doing poorly and hire a new person to get the job done!.

1. If everything else were the same about 2 candidates, would you vote for an incumbent or a new candidate?

I have and will continue to vote for new candidates as often as needed.

2. Why?

Take a look around, and if one likes how things are going then the guys who are supposed to be our leaders are doing a good job. If it’s not going good, then we need to fire them. That’s what would happen to me in my job.

3. Do you think that politicians become more corrupt as they stay in office or Washington longer?

I believe that there is little hope for anyone to maintain any sense of integrity or get things done in the current political arena these days.

4. Why?

Anyone who really wants to serve the people either doesn’t last or gets corrupted over time in our current system. That’s why it is an excellent idea to totally clean house from time to time and be ever vigilant in keeping track of what our elected officials are doing. Let them know they are being watched - ALL THE TIME. If everyone just wrote a few letters and made telephone calls to all their politicians then we wouldn’t have half the troubles we do today. When was the last time you called your Senator or Representative?

5. What State and Country do you live in?

Pennsylvania, Blair County, USA

6. What is your first name and last inital?

Patrick Nottingham - feel free to publish the whole thing. I fear not.

7. Do you have a blog and if so what is your url?
Yes!
High Strangeness Altoona
http://www.castlenottingham.com

We are making progress here at NoMoreIncumbents.org.

We launched a very successful feedback survey yesterday, and we had a new writer sign-up to write for us covering the state of Missouri. our columns covering New Hampshire and New Jersey are both doing very well and we are making very significant progress building up our sites within the search engines.

One of our goals is to make it to the top 10 anytime someone does a search with the word incumbent in the keyword mix. That is a tall order and it’s not going to happen overnight, but I am pleasantly surprised at how quickly we are moving up!

Even more importantly the number of our readers is increasing week after week. I need to do more work to make it easier for our readers to subscribe to our columns and to our newsletters. We have a lot to do and a lot of ground to cover. There are so many details that I have to keep up with as we prepare to launch this site that I need to go buy more computer memory for my computer.

Seriously we are making very good progress, and one of the things that is going to make us very successful is the power of the blogosphere. We have contacts with a literal army of bloggers. We have the ability to reach out to over 10,000 bloggers and growing on any single day of the week.

Furthermore any one of those bloggers has the power to reach out to us. The 2004 presidential campaign helped to identify the potential power of bloggers in politics. That potential has barely been tapped by any political party today. We are definitely going to tap the potential and use it to its maximum.

We are going to leverage the voice of tens of thousands of bloggers by the time the 2008 election rolls around to help get our message out, to promote candidates running against incumbents, and to work towards the day when politics aren’t so corrupt that we need NoMoreIncumbents.org.