Exclusive: Book Review : Get Out Of Our House: Revolution! By Tim Cox
by MARTHA GIES-CHUMNEY
June 11, 2010
Get Out of Our House: Revolution! A New Plan for Selecting Representatives by Tim Cox is, indeed, revolutionary. He delineates his blueprint for an election process which would enable Americans to retake the House of Representatives. GOOOH (pronounced GO) encourages Americans (nonpoliticians) with common sense, with an ability to learn, and with a commitment to the American electorate to run successfully for public office. The author’s plan would enable campaign money to be limited and controlled, term limits would be enforced, and pertinent issues would be addressed. Cox’s innovative campaign financing would allow the average American to run for office with his campaign financed by GOOOH. This process would break the hold of the politicians, lobbyists, and other special interest groups.
Cox discusses at length America’s decline (the high rate of fatherless children, the lack of health care, the continual rising poverty rate, the high imprisonment rate, our dependence on Middle Eastern oil, the illegal immigration problem, and the increasing number of Americans (40% ) who pay no taxes. The author blames this decay on the takeover of our government by politicians rather than patriots, especially in the House of Representatives.
“If we do not act soon, we will become a broken country ruled by politicians who are more powerful, parties more corrupt, lawyers more controlling, aristocrats more wealthy and extremists even more extreme. We will soon be a country that is politically correct, morally bankrupt, and financially ruined.”
Cox explicates clearly the causes of this American decline. Foundationally, the United States is not a pure democracy, but a “forgotten Republic.” Our principles have degenerated into legalese and convoluted technicalities. Common sense has long been deposed. Equal rights are trumped with special rights. Additionally, religion has been driven out of our society to be replaced with secularism. James Madison, primary author of the Constitution, warned, “We have staked the whole future of civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”
GOOOH is an evolving, nonpartisan, grassroots process which is intended to produce at the end of a multitude of Candidate Selection Sessions, a candidate for each of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. The five-hour discussion and voting sessions would begin locally with pools of 10 participants. The top candidates would bubble to the top with each advancing round. Ultimately, the final winning 435 candidates would run for election; their campaigns would be orchestrated and funded by GOOOH. (For a detailed structure analysis, consult the GOOOH website).
The comprehensive Candidate Questionnaire is the most outstanding component of GOOOH. Each potential candidate must commit legally to his questionnaire answers. These questions, available on the GOOOH website, brought amazing clarity to my own political thinking. Cox’s questionnaire alone is a worthy construct applicable to all House candidates even those of the political parties! The questions are detailed, precise, and demand study and understanding of governmental issues. This component would enable candidates to define themselves by their core beliefs- what a boon to the voting public!
The author finds himself at issue with the anti-rich sentiment fostered by political groups, the popular big government mantra of the minimum wage, the income tax system, and the bankruptcy laws. The solution, he feels, is to get the debt under control, to lower taxes, and to keep the economy growing. “If we do not, bankruptcies could begin a chain reaction that would lead to a recession, which, in turn, could lead to other, more serious problems.” Currently, these “more serious problems” have descended upon the United States with a fury.
Our present political and economic crises make it imperative for Americans to engage in government. Tim Cox warns Americans of the urgency of their involvement in the election process before it is too late for the restoration of our American Constitutional Republic. He echoes the warnings of Plato who said, “Those who do not take an interest in public affairs are doomed to be ruled by evil men.”
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Martha Gies-Chumney is a retired educator. She spent 43 years of teaching at the secondary and college levels in the United States and in South Korea. She has traveled extensively and writes both fiction and nonfiction. Currently, she lives in the Los Padres National Forest at Pine Mountain Club, California, and her present focus is political activism at the local, state, and national level.
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