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Demands for the Candidates
Demands for the Candidates, a nationwide We Campaign group, has one purpose... to let both Barack Obama and John McCain know that we demand they follow former Vice President Al Gore's lead and create a meaningfull plan to produce 100 % of this nation's energy cleanly by 2018.
Hey everybody. I would first of all like to deliver a sincere apology to all of my friends here at We and to all those who have joined the Demands for the Candidates group. I have been inactive the past week-and-a-half due to a severe accident involving my father-in-law. He has been in an intensive care unit at a major hospital in my area, and for a time we were not sure if he would make it. I am sure everyone will understand, but I still feel a sense of regret that I have not been working as I had wanted to originally with the group.
Anyways. Me being in a hospital waiting room for so many hours this past week has allowed me a lot of time to think about the We Campaign and the group, Demands for the Candidates, I have founded here. I would like to share some of these thoughts and opinions which I have had time to formulate. They go something like this...
While I have not had any time to post or write, I have had snippets of time where I was able to check my email. It would be and understatement to say the Demands for the Candidates group has had a significant response. Some of this response has been negative however. I have, so far, 83 emails from people telling me that while they (mostly) support what Demands for the Candidates objective is, their is no way they could join such a group because even though they support Al Gore's plan, they will vote this November for their favorite presidential candidate regardless of whether that candidate has adopted and endorsed Al Gore's plan.
This has been a real eye-opener to me. It made me think a whole lot about the purpose of the group, where it is headed, and how effective it can be in making change. I have come to two conclusions.
Conclusion 1:
The group, Demands for the Candidates, will ultimately be unsuccessful in its mission to affect the presidential candidates environmental policies.
Through a combination of Barack Obama not wanting to endanger losing votes in the 'Center' due to seeming extreme, and John McCain receiving large donations from companies that would be financially damaged by Al Gore's plan, we can safely assume that neither candidate would be willing to move very far at all away from their current environmental policies.
Along with this is the fact that, as I have already mentioned, people will (for the most part) vote for their favorite candidate regardless of whether that candidate supports Al Gore's plan. And the candidates know this.
Conclusion 2:
The continuation of Demands for the Candidates in its current form will be a futile effort.
The Demands for the Candidates group must either be reformed or deleted. After all, isn't the purpose of the We Campaign as a whole to put pressure on not only the presidential candidates, but to ALL public officials? So isn't it redundant to create an organization within another organization that has the same purpose as the first organization?
All that being said, I would love to here from anyone who has any thoughts on what can be done at this point. I will be looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts.
Thank you,
Michael
Anyways. Me being in a hospital waiting room for so many hours this past week has allowed me a lot of time to think about the We Campaign and the group, Demands for the Candidates, I have founded here. I would like to share some of these thoughts and opinions which I have had time to formulate. They go something like this...
While I have not had any time to post or write, I have had snippets of time where I was able to check my email. It would be and understatement to say the Demands for the Candidates group has had a significant response. Some of this response has been negative however. I have, so far, 83 emails from people telling me that while they (mostly) support what Demands for the Candidates objective is, their is no way they could join such a group because even though they support Al Gore's plan, they will vote this November for their favorite presidential candidate regardless of whether that candidate has adopted and endorsed Al Gore's plan.
This has been a real eye-opener to me. It made me think a whole lot about the purpose of the group, where it is headed, and how effective it can be in making change. I have come to two conclusions.
Conclusion 1:
The group, Demands for the Candidates, will ultimately be unsuccessful in its mission to affect the presidential candidates environmental policies.
Through a combination of Barack Obama not wanting to endanger losing votes in the 'Center' due to seeming extreme, and John McCain receiving large donations from companies that would be financially damaged by Al Gore's plan, we can safely assume that neither candidate would be willing to move very far at all away from their current environmental policies.
Along with this is the fact that, as I have already mentioned, people will (for the most part) vote for their favorite candidate regardless of whether that candidate supports Al Gore's plan. And the candidates know this.
Conclusion 2:
The continuation of Demands for the Candidates in its current form will be a futile effort.
The Demands for the Candidates group must either be reformed or deleted. After all, isn't the purpose of the We Campaign as a whole to put pressure on not only the presidential candidates, but to ALL public officials? So isn't it redundant to create an organization within another organization that has the same purpose as the first organization?
All that being said, I would love to here from anyone who has any thoughts on what can be done at this point. I will be looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts.
Thank you,
Michael
Ok everybody, the ball is now rolling on getting our presidential candidates on the bandwagon for change! Demands for the Candidates has opened up shop as a group on WeCanSolveIt.org. I am very excited about the possibilities here.
So far there have been over 1.4 million members sign up on the We Campaign, all of them calling for change in our energy policies. Imagine now if we got some of those people calling for Obama and McCain to ramp up their energy policies or risk losing votes. Do you see what I see? I see both candidates scrambling to try and gain votes by doing exactly what I suggest and trying as hard as they can not to lose any votes by ignoring the issue.
We need to make this election revolve around one thing... climate change! And the only way we are possibly going to be able to do this is by using our power as individuals in a democracy, the power of the VOTE!
Let's send a message to the candidates telling them we demand, not want, but DEMAND that they pay attention to the millions of people out there wanting a shift in the way America works.
Join Demands for the Candidates and help me put some real pressure on those who want the White House.
Thanks,
Michael
So far there have been over 1.4 million members sign up on the We Campaign, all of them calling for change in our energy policies. Imagine now if we got some of those people calling for Obama and McCain to ramp up their energy policies or risk losing votes. Do you see what I see? I see both candidates scrambling to try and gain votes by doing exactly what I suggest and trying as hard as they can not to lose any votes by ignoring the issue.
We need to make this election revolve around one thing... climate change! And the only way we are possibly going to be able to do this is by using our power as individuals in a democracy, the power of the VOTE!
Let's send a message to the candidates telling them we demand, not want, but DEMAND that they pay attention to the millions of people out there wanting a shift in the way America works.
Join Demands for the Candidates and help me put some real pressure on those who want the White House.
Thanks,
Michael
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