How Does Bottom Up Politics Work ???

How does Bottom Up Politics work?


As I’ve preached over the years about Bottom Up Politics the one stumbling block in most people’s mind takes the form of a question. What can one person do to change the country? A corollary to that is what good will come from entering into local politics, what change can I make?

The cornerstone of Bottom Up Politics is that only change that comes from the bottom and works it’s way to the top is the only change that can last. The reason is that through the process of “filtering up” through the smaller branches, the change will have gone through a repeated process of refinement.

Here is a link to an article in Capital Confidential by Ken Braun.

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http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/15768
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This article shows how one Township has dealt with the overwhelming unfunded debt problem it had, namely with pensions. The Township did what it thought it had to do in order to try to start to get its financial house in order.

This type change at the smallest level of government in Mi. can have a profound change. That change however will be tweaked refined and studied as other Townships wrestle with the same problem. There are 1242 Townships in Mi. When all those Townships create their versions of the same thing, as they feed off the others and make changes as they see fit; an even better and stronger solution to the problem will emerge. From this experimentation the upper levels will draw their own conclusions. As the article above shows the State of Michigan has already taken some of those ideas and introduced legislation that reflects the changes made at a local level.

This is what I call the “Free Enterprise of Ideas” and just as in Free Enterprise, the more input from the Bottom Up, the better and stronger the product or idea will be.

So, next time people tell you not to bother to get involved at a local level because the problems are too big and complicated take the above example to heart. Take to heart also the idea that America is the one shining example in the world where the Federal Government was limited enough to allow for the flourishing of that same “Free Enterprise of Ideas”.

Remember that on Election Day. Remember, your vote matters.

Before Election Day remember too your ideas matter, talk to your friends, talk them and yourself into going to the polls on Election Day.

Get involved; remind the world and the bureaucrats in Washington that in America one person still matters. That Individual Freedom is the cornerstone of Political and Financial Freedom. It is what our country was founded upon.

To end, here is a quote from Barry Goldwater. “Never forget there was only one freedom on which this nation was founded; that was freedom from government.”

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

A Nation of Free People - or a Nation of Regulations?

Speaker Boehner and his friends have always been fighting against regulation as the #1 job and business killer, not to mention a good source of pork.

http://cfif.org/v/freedom_line_blog/11301/boehner-rides-the-reins/

This gives some background about a bill that may well become critical later this year.

Phil Kerpen of Americans for Prosperity wrote the article “Regulation Nation” in the Weekly Standard here is a link to it.
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http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/regulation-nation_593656.html?page=2
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If you believe as I do that over regulation by the Federal Government is at the root of most of our problems in our economy and lately our personal life then you too will understand the importance of this article.

I think it appropriate here to note the back story of this bill now before Congress. Of special note the crucial role Speaker John Boehner and his fellow conservative House members played in getting this up and going in the House. Note also the role of Sen. Jim DeMint in being the tip of the spear in the Senate for this legislation. With the support of Rand Paul the Tea Party is well represented. This was and is a positive step in restoring accountability to those who make law.

The individual back story of Mr. Rogers working his anger into something positive is inspiring for would be activists like myself. I will be putting on my thinking cap on to try and figure out what to do to help pass this one. Already springing to mind is a rally featuring burning the 163,000 pages of new regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations. Maybe a bonfire with a pig roast thrown in. Talk about feasting on Cutting Pork in the Federal Government.

I believe this is a God send for the Tea Party to flex its muscle and unite behind and push it as far as we can. Now is the time before the election to help move this bill and draw a line in the sand over. This would solidify and help define our opposition to the Obama administration’s current policies. All the things Mr. Obama said he was for such as Transparency, Accountability, balancing the budget and especially creating jobs-these are all tied up in this bill.

Well the Pig roast might be a bit much, but a fire or a brush chipper would be great along with a press release about the legislation and Tea Party support. Along with getting signatures to send to Debbie Stabenow to do what’s right.

To argue otherwise would be to say that the voice of the people told through their elected officials is no longer in charge of the government and that bureaucracy is.
It’s downright Anti-Freedom, Anti-Constitutional and Anti-American.

How do you like Them apples?

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

Why Bottom Up Politics is Hard

Doing things from the Bottom Up is hard.

Our country is like a mighty tree, it grows from the Bottom Up. Stop that flow and what made our country great stops flowing and the tree dies.


People accepting the responsibility of Individual Freedom are those juices. But it’s hard.

If you ever were in a spot and couldn't afford or justify buying something or paying somebody to fix something and decided to do it yourself then you know the meaning of the term; "Trading Time for Money".

Painting ones house comes to mind. Anytime we trade “time for money” we not only learn how hard it is, but we also learn a lot about the real world. In this example we have a new appreciation of painters. The shining truth in my book however is the knowledge we learn about ourselves. Granted we may learn that we don’t want to quit our day job to paint houses, but I find an inner joy in learning what I am capable of in a pinch to take care of myself.

In other words when I exercise my individual freedom, I feel more confident in myself.

Getting around to the point of this blog, I saw the link below about a $35,800 a plate fundraiser for Obama to be put on by Warren Buffett.
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-warrent-buffett-to-host-fundraiser-for-obama-in-chicago-20110921,0,2294.story
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Then I tried to imagine what I’d do in the political arena from the “Bottom Up” with that kind of money. I started drooling about all the things I could do with that money. I thought of huge rallies with guest speakers and great music and food. I would put this on for free to the public.

But if you read what I just wrote count the number of I’s in that paragraph. It sounded like an Obama speech. It also goes against the basic concept of bottom up politics.

That concept is based on individual people doing what they decide is best, with what they have, according to what priority they place on it. The sad thing is that we now need to take back from an over bureaucratized government the freedoms we have lost: and force them to listen to us and as Grover Norquist’s book title says, “Leave Us Alone”.

The Buffett article above reminded me of the benefits of “Bottom Up Politics” and trading my time for money. People learn through the doing, and that gives them skin in the game. But be careful, it can be addicting – this doing things for yourself. You find yourself thinking for yourself more and having more control over what you do.

As you get more self individualized you find yourself more critical of slogans. Remember JFKs “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country”. As a practicing “Free Individual” I now would amend that slogan to fit our country and the freedoms it was based upon, better. “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can and want to do for your own damned self.”
The whole point of Bottom Up Politics is asking each and every day,” What can I do today?”

This is not about money but rather about getting your hands dirty. This is about getting your heart, mind and body involved. This journey to freedom will give you motivation to take it to the next step. From our experiences we will learn what the next step is.

No one accepts a leader until they have fought for it. Until they have made the journey, we call it wisdom. I.e. until they have skin in the game, they have not earned it. Money is a surrogate for that but it is a cheap copy, lacking substance and real value.

When a volunteer from our Oceana Tea Party goes out door to door and hands out a cheaply done 1/3 page black and white flyer on regular paper from their home computer which someone else in our group made and cut themselves; they are getting skin in the game by using what they have and asking what can I do today. When I see this I feel better than when I receive a robo-call.

Bottom Up is people power; Buffett and Obama are about “money Power”, and in Obama’s case “Other People’s Money”.

So I’ll be happy with what I’m doing, if I get some extra money to spend I will keep doing what we are doing only maybe a little easier, or for the flyers we can use card stock and use a paper cutter instead of scissors, If I do otherwise I will become what I fear and I will stop learning.

I will have started abusing my freedom and holding it too cheaply.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

Presidential Primary Date and Changes passed in Senate.

Presidential Primary Date and Changes passed in Senate/the Importance of getting our vote out.



SB 584 passed the State Senate. Below is a link to Michigan Votes

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http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=140727
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Below is a link to the actual bill including amendments in the form as it passed the Senate. Note the Bold faced font indicates the actual changes made to the existing law.

I'm assuming this will pass the House in pretty much the same form.
Then again you know what they say about "assume". Assuming sometimes makes and ass out of u and me. LOL

Note also the date in the link is the 4th Tues of Feb., which would be the 28th.

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http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2011-2012/billengrossed/Senate/pdf/2011-SEBS-0584.pdf
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I Just received this through email. Below is a link

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http://www.ballot-access.org/2011/09/15/michigan-senate-passes-bill-converting-presidential-primary-from-a-secret-open-primary-to-a-public-choice-open-primary/
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The main points clarified in this bill is the date of the primary which is the 28th of Feb. and that all who vote whether in person or by absentee ballot will have to sign a form indicating which major party ballot they want to be given to vote on, and that a record of that will be kept by the SOS for 22 months and will be made available to the public on line.

The new bill simply changes the existing bill to reflect the mechanics necessary to make the change from one multi party ballot to the choice of ballots in the Presidential Primary. This is the stuff that our SOS down through County Clerks through City, Village and Township Clerks will have to deal with to make happen.

As for this bill, any griping of whether we have a closed, open or caucus form of primary is simply sour grapes as the closed primary has already been decided. Again this is more of a mechanical bill correcting the existing bill.

This bill follows the wishes of the State Republican party for a closed primary. This bill defines how through the primary a voter list will be furnished to the public/The Party of those voting Republican in this primary. This list while desired by the Party should also prove a useful tool for anyone or group to use. This does not put up any major roadblock to the much hyped crossover vote. The reality and extent of which can’t be predicted. Personally I doubt that the crossover will be more than minimal.

The vaunted Democrat/Union voting machine seems to not be working well lately. Their ability to get out their vote for things that are truly important to them seems to have gotten rusty. Think Wisconsin and Nevada and the NY9th. I doubt they will put much money into a marginal effort such as crossing over to vote in the Republican primary.

The main point to me is that it still is up to the Party and Candidates to get out their vote and as the special election in NY 9th shows; the more a candidate works to get out the vote the larger the margin of victory and the smaller chance that voter fraud will affect the election.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

My Pledge

My Pledge

I am willing to compromise on anything that moves us down the line towards more individual freedom through less government.

I will not wallow in my defeats, nor stay over long at the victory celebration.

I will look beyond hatred and see the “shining Hill” towards which I strive.

I will continue to keep on moving on.

I will remember the little engine that could.

In this crowed political issues environment we are sometimes overwhelmed by the sheer volume of “causes” for which people have become ideologues. As a person of either side of the political spectrum we are inundated by “urgent” messages and causes which need immediate attention.

We have become a nation of Chicken Littles.

I am a conservative so I’ll talk about conservative issues. Right to Life, Right to Work, Constitutional Gov., Right to Bear Arms and the list goes on and on. The same holds true I’m sure on the other side of the Left Right Teeter-Totter.

What the Left has come to grips with in the past at least is that compromising on everything except their core belief is OK as long as what they are compromising on takes them a little further down the yellow brick road toward Socialism. Over the course of the last half century their persistence has paid off for them.

Too bad it was and is the rest of us who have had to pay for their success.

Too bad we on the Right don’t start to learn from their successes and our failures.
It is enlightening to see however that the Left too has started to shun compromise. This is apparent with the ideologues on the Left who are calling out Obama as a compromiser in such areas as our wars, and economic problems. In other words for not taking their causes further down the road. Perhaps there is a chance for us on the Right to take up the slack and start our own march down our own Yellow Brick Road.

Here is a link to an article by Quin Hillyer in CFIF called “What the Non-Political World Understands”
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http://cfif.org/v/index.php/commentary/54-state-of-affairs/1126-what-the-non-political-world-understands
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When I look back for a time when the economy was booming (excluding war time) I see that divided government run by non-ideologues worked. I’m talking about the Clinton/Gingrich time. It was not only the Republican House that came up with the ideas but it was the Democrat President who worked with them to make it happen.

The difference between now and then lies in the Presidency. President Clinton while leaning pretty far to the Left was no ideologue; he was a governor and knew the art of compromise. Today we have as President Barak Obama whose previous job and claim to fame was as a community organizer. He organized the ideologues, he was the head ideologue.

President Obama is far less capable of compromise than Bill Clinton was.

Bringing it down to our State’s level in Mi. and from the other side of the political divide we have the perfect example of this “small step” method. I’m talking about Right to Work. Randy Richardville the Michigan Senate Majority Leader while not supporting “Right to Work” law across the board did say he is supporting Right to Work for Teachers. The article below explains the Senate leader’s desire for right to work for teachers and how it came about. The article is in Bloomberg Businessweek off the associated press; it is written by Kathy Barks Hoffman.
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http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9PLA7AG0.htm
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Through this example we start to see the downside of ideologues with the general public. We see how ideologues on one side can create a backlash from those who are not ideologues.(the vast majority of Americans). The Senate Majority Leader I would say is acting out of anger and frustration towards the MEA which has up till now been unwilling to compromise and has “gone to war” with those who see the issues it likes differently. Whether this goes anywhere he has pushed a conservative issues on down the road. Dare I say “He Has Had Enough”?

I can understand the backlash against the bullying tactics of the MEA having seen them first hand in their protesting of my Rep. Jon Bumstead and the recall against Paul Scott on the other side of the state. The MEA and their methods are what got me off my butt and in a car driving across the state with two others to go door to door for Rep. Scott.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe strongly and am willing to do whatever it takes to make smaller government a reality. I just believe that if we get caught up in the ideological one mindedness we will become lost in the forest of our own making. If we take up the same tactics we will create the same type of backlash.

We must continue to hold firm to our core beliefs, yet willing to take progress for what it is. Simply progress. As conservatives we must be willing to let the people judge us by our actions not just by what we say. We must be willing to be persistent in our efforts and willing to always look ahead and not wallow in our defeats, but rather celebrate our victories. Above all we must always be willing to keep moving on.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative