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Our Pledge for 2017

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Written by David M Goodman   
Thursday, 05 January 2017 09:02

Here is what the Central New Jersey chapter of Represent.Us commits to do:

1. We will provide reliable information. In the words of NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen, "For a free press as a check of power this is the darkest time in American history since World War I, when there was massive censorship and suppression of dissent (http://pressthink.org)."  The explosion of fake news promotes propaganda and sows doubt where citizens need to act wisely in their own best interest.  This affects us all, across the political spectrum from left to right.  We are not a news organization and our focus is mainly state and local, but we will provide reliable, unbiased links to investigative reports, like Jane Mayer; non-profit organizations, like ProPublica (https://www.propublica.org); and other pro-liberty groups, like Take Back Our Republic (http://takeback.org), on the threats of dark money and unrestrained special interests to our democracy.

2.  We will build on past successes and work with others to do more in the future. Our successes have happened by drawing local citizens and towns together to support anti-corruption resolutions.  These send powerful messages to state and federal legislators representing New Jersey on the commitment of their constituents opposing corruption.  The towns of Princeton, Ewing, South Brunswick, and Lawrence have shown the way.  In 2017, we hope -- and will work hard -- to add more towns to this group.  And, there's more.  We have embraced and will be advocating passage of a bipartisan New Jersey Assembly legislative package for campaign finance reform, summarized here: (http://observer.com/2016/06/bipartisan-move-to-simplify-pay-to-play-law-and-increase-disclosure-by-indie-groups).

Beginning in 2017, we will also work with other groups and legal centers on "fair districts" reform and against hyper-partisan gerrymandering, as we look to the 2020 census and redistricting.  We will need volunteers to raise their voices and stand with us in these efforts.

3.  We will continue to fight the effects of Money on politics but take none ourselves. Our commitment is to small donor-funded elections (primaries and general).  This encourages the greatest number of citizens to participate in the political process.  Running for office will always cost money, but Big Money distorts the process in favor of special interests -- the oligarch and plutocrats -- and against broad-based democratic government.  All the work locally that we do is voluntary and at our own expense -- and with help from others in our chapter and elsewhere.  We neither seek nor receive financial support.  Represent.Us, as a national organization, accepts donations to its main operating unit (501c4) and to its tax-deductible education fund (501c3).  We, in turn, receive technical support from national but again no funding.  Donating to national helps but is not required to join our chapter.  As a grassroots group, the strength of our chapter (and the others across the country) is our volunteers.

4.  We will listen.  This is probably the most important thing we do -- listening and responding to you.  Listening for us is proactive, not passive hearing.  It means acting on your requests whenever we can but also asking you to help, whenever you can, to recruit new volunteers.  This is part of the American experiment, putting hope and optimism into action for a better future.

David Goodman, PhD

Represent.Us/Central New Jersey

https://www.facebook.com/RepresentUsCentralNJ

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