To start, let us say – maintaining the status quo in American politics is no longer working for many middle-class Americans. As a result, many are either moving towards candidates and ideologies with extreme opinions, or just not voting at all, as evidenced by the fact that 89 million Americans eligible to vote in 2024 did not. The reasons for so much voter dissatisfaction are too numerous to list here, but all go back to the fact that Congress has made a host of bad decisions, especially since the 1970’s, that affect the economic wellbeing and quality of life of America’s middle class every day. The Middle Class PARC wants to change that.
What is the Middle Class PARC?
The IDEAS found here are meant to form the foundation for a non-partisan organization, without political or ideological bias. The organization’s goal will be to advocate in Congress on behalf of America’s middle and working economic classes. We’ll call this organization the Middle Class Political Accountability Research Center, or Middle Class PARC, and it will be considered a “think tank” by many since it will develop IDEAS that are meant to be transitioned into congressional legislation. The Koch organizations and other conservative groups have been doing this for decades by lobbying selected members of Congress to propose pro-conservative and pro-business legislation crafted in-house by such “think tanks.” Our difference will be that all of our efforts will be focused on benefiting America’s middle and working classes as a benevolent, public-service lobbying organization.
In addition, we will fill an important informational void that exists today by showing potential voters how their congressional politicians are voting in order to document and reveal how those votes may be helping or hurting America’s middle class. This is potentially important election information since the middle class is, by far, the largest voting bloc in the US, representing approximately 60% of the voting population, and it has been shown that many in the middle class routinely vote against their own best interests during elections. With accessible voting records, America’s middle class will be able to make better decisions on who to vote for because, despite wealthy and influential campaign contributors, politicians must still get elected by appealing to voters; and that’s us!
Why do we need the Middle Class PARC?
Unfortunately, the American people take for granted the institutionalized “legalized bribery” that goes on every day in Washington through lobbyist contributions into political party campaign funds. This is because it’s difficult to fully appreciate how the influence of these contributions permeates every decision made in Congress, especially those dealing with fiscal matters that affect special-interest donors. But reality is decisions focused on special-interest donors often affects the fiscal well-being of
America’s Middle Class too. Congress employs a complicated and confusing system of voting though committees and floor votes, and because of this, it is very difficult for citizens to figure out who is voting for what. As a result, members of the Middle Class routinely vote for politicians that do not support the fiscal well-being of America’s Middle Class and consequently, all of us at times vote against our own best interests.
Goals of the Middle Class PARC
The main goal of the Middle Class PARC will be to help America’s job creators, the middle class, by easing some of their challenges relating to a host of topics in the categories of taxes and other fiscal issues, as well as quality of life. For a variety of reasons, we believe the quality of life of America’s middle class has been in decline for the past 40 years. Therefore, our goal is twofold:
1) Reduce the burden of taxes and other fiscal challenges on America’s middle
and working economic classes; and
2) Increase the quality of life for America’s middle and working economic classes;
Quick sidebar on lobbying – we acknowledge that many bad congressional decisions have originated from Washington lobby organizations. But we are realists and also understand that only lobbyists give congressional politicians what they need for election cycle survival – money to buy advertising and campaign staff to reach out to potential voters before an election.
However, the PARC can give them votes in addition to money, something most lobbyists cannot offer. We don’t delude ourselves thinking we can change the lobby-culture of Washington; that’s just not realistic. But we can learn from it as conservative organizations have, and use it to help America’s middle and working economic classes, instead of its usual benefactor – narrowly-focused special and business interests.
The much-maligned lobby-culture of Washington actually works quite well; it just doesn’t work for ordinary people because they have very few entities advocating on their behalf. There are, of course, exceptions to this as can be seen with some public-interest organizations and individuals. A most notable exception is Jon Stewart who is a hero to many for his “lobbying” on behalf of first responders and veterans on a host of issues that are ignored by Congress. Mr. Stewart is an example that lobbying can work for the betterment of all when done for the right reason. We understand today’s political system is designed around the process of lobbying so, simply put, we need to accommodate that reality and steer it towards making things better for the many, rather than exploitation for the benefit of the few.
The bottom line is this – It has been recognized for many years that both political parties in America have failed to adequately support the middle of the country because moderate voters in the middle of America’s economic and voting spectrum had few advocacy groups pushing legislation that benefit them. The Middle Class PARC will play by Washington rules to benefit the middle class realizing there are twenty lobbyists for each congressional politician today and they are all vying for special favors that have the potential to hurt the middle class. We have to even the playing field. The Middle Class Political Accountability Research Center is designed to do that.
Please see “What We Plan to do with 50 IDEAS” for further details on how the Middle Class PARC will work.
Many bad decisions enacted by Congress over the past 40 years have changed the economy to the benefit of America’s wealthy investor class at the expense of the middle and working economic classes. Voters that are influenced by a “Make America Great
Again” message are actually looking for a time when things felt more “fair” in America, especially when it comes to the economy.
We believe moderate ideas, that some will call “populist,” can make our economy fairer for everyone, and our 50 IDEAS are designed to start that process. Our plan includes creating and advocating for specific IDEAS meant to help everyone in America, but especially America’s middle and working economic classes. Furthermore, we believe that our IDEAS will help all Americans because it will also help lower wage earners attain middle class incomes. Helping America’s workers is the sole purpose of our
IDEAS.
The Plan
With the above as background, here are the steps necessary to implement a benevolent-focused lobbying process through the Middle Class PARC:
Step 1) Come up with IDEAS to support America’s middle and working economic classes and prioritize them;
Step 2) Create a non-profit organization to advocate for the IDEAS and employ a dynamic spokesperson-led office to promote the organization; spokesperson and staff will visit congressional politicians and participate in cable news programs as representatives of Middle Class PARC;
Step 3) Raise funding to initiate think-tank and lobbying functions;
Step 4) Analyze and prioritize IDEAS and write draft legislation to implement the top IDEAS; continue this process every year with input from the public;
Step 5) Lobby congressional politicians to become an advocate for each IDEA intended to move forward;
Step 6) Tell voters who in Congress is voting for and against each IDEA and how it affects them; document voting records on-line through the 50 IDEAS website and publicize results through participation in cable news programs and unique local advertising;
Discussion of the Plan
In summary, we plan to accommodate America’s current political system by creating anon-profit “think tank” that will be public service-oriented in its focus to create legislation for America’s middle and working economic classes. We will then lobby congressional politicians from both parties to vote for our IDEAS. If this process sounds like the system created by the Koch brothers to support business and right-of-center agenda issues, you’re absolutely correct. We realize America’s lobby system is nothing more than an elaborate scheme to influence politicians by funding elections, but until it changes, we plan to work within that process to enact change for the good of the many, rather than the few, as the system is now designed.
As an integral and very important part of our process, we will advertise to voters duringelection cycles the politicians who vote to support America’s middle and working class IDEAS and those who do not. We believe this step is sorely missing from current politics and news programing and could be a political “game changer” if done correctly. This is because many Americans routinely vote against their own best interest simply due to the fact that they do not know what their incumbent politicians are voting for (or against). Congressional legislation created as a result of our IDEAS will be written to be definitive and specific, and meant to show quite clearly who supports America’s middle and working classes and who does not.
This process will certainly not be easy or quick because some IDEAS will go against a special interest or activist group that have spent their time, money and influence molding Congress to benefit them. A good IDEA for the middle class will sometimes be a bad IDEA for a special interest. So, we anticipate they’ll be plenty of push-back from congressional politicians supporting their corporate backers regardless of the consequences and visibility to voters. We realize it’s nothing personal; it’s just business as usual. Until it’s not, of course! Furthermore, we will be creative with unique ways to tell voters what their politicians are actually voting for and against.
The bottom line is this – it’s time for America’s moderate middle and working economic classes to get more aggressive, decisive, and get “in the game” to tell Congress what they want and what they expect to change.