Paul Jacob - Citizen Activist

I just found out about an important meeting that everyone in NJ should attend.  The meeting, sponsored by the “Citizens in Charge” organization, addresses several major problems that citizen’s face.

(1) We do not have enough useful citizen-oriented choices on the ballot.

(2) Most elected officials do not care about us.

(3) By design, the courts do not pursue or care about justice for citizens.

But there is a citizen activity that makes sense – binding initiative and referendum (I&R).

Here is how it works:

We start by asking politicians to enact the legislation that is needed to fix our problems. When they refuse to help, we organize a team of citizens to collect the  petitions needed to get the issue on the ballot. Then we campaign for the citizen votes needed to enact the initiative at the voting booth. When passed, the initiative becomes  law.

This is the only way to fix our runaway NJ legislature within the limits of our current circumstances.

Paul Jacob of Citizens in Charge has agreed to come up from Washington on February 4, 2010 to discuss the I&R process with New Jersey citizens. Columnist Robert Novak called him “the most hated man in Washington” because he has successfully organized citizen actions around the country for many years.  It is Paul’s kind of help that we can use in NJ.

No reservations are needed to attend.  Just show up with your pencil, paper and questions.  There is no admission (free) and Prestige Diner offers first class food at normal menu prices.  This will be a good night for the people.

Post this information on your web sites and bulletin boards

Meeting Date

Thursday, February 4, 2010 – 7:00 PM

For up to date recorded snow/weather information on this meeting, call 609-528-4979.

ADDRESS

Prestige Diner

610 Route 33, EAST

EastWindsor, NJ   08520

Diner Phone: 609-443-1211

Directions

From NJ Turnpike

Take Exit 8 toward Twin Rivers/Freehold

Proceed to Route 33 East toward Twin Rivers

Travel 2 miles to the 3^rd Light – Lake Drive

There is a Shell Station at the Lake Drive Corner.

Prestige Diner is located next to the Shell Station.

If you pass the diner, go into the shopping center and return to the diner.

Related Information:

Wiki Article on Paul Jacob

Jacob’s description of the initiative process

Governor Christie I&R campaign promise #28

This web update was posted 01-25-2010 – 10:59 PM.

Facebook Link

Click Here for the Updated Article

The following quote sums up the major problem in a few words.

“We do not have two political parties in this country, America. We have one party; called the Big Government Party. The Republican wing likes deficits, war, and assaults on civil liberties. The Democratic wing likes wealth transfer, taxes, and assaults on commercial liberties. Both parties like power; and neither is interested in your freedoms.”

- 11/06/09  Excerpt of Blog written by  Judge Andrew Napolitano from his Fox News blog page.

Click here for the entire article

Related Article –  How will we save our Dying Land?

It wasn’t supposed to happen.

But it happened.

Shall Thou Steal?

The voting majority will always get what they think they want, regardless of their needs, regardless of the Constitution, and regardless of the natural rights of others.

The sad fact is that the majority of eligible voters are not informed enough to understand that they’ve selected the government officers who’ve caused the problems that they are experiencing. The electorate has been deceived into giving us a government that ignores the natural rights that it was supposed to protect. Consequently, we’ve lost an America that could have continued to lead the world to real freedom and prosperity.

Example of the Problem

During the 2009 NJ Assembly election, citizens complained about overpriced schools, the highest property taxes in the nation, and a bad business climate for jobs. But they re-elected the legislature that caused these problems.

There were about 92 challengers, each with different degrees of wisdom, different tactics, and different levels of political expertise. Every incumbent won re-election.

Then there were the citizens who spoke about the need to break the addiction on high taxation and irresponsible spending caused by the monopoly parties. But, out of fifteen independent Assembly candidates, all, except one candidate, received one percent of the vote. There was one candidate who received three percent of the vote. That was hardly a resounding cry to break the stronghold.

Blind Votes

The voting majority votes for winners, not problem solvers. They will elect an incumbent because they believe that he or she has the best chance to win, as if choosing a winner will somehow reward the voter.

The voting majority behaves as if it is unpatriotic or sinful to vote for anyone who is not a member of a monopoly party. Consequently, most candidates who run on monopoly parties are guaranteed 95% or more of the votes that they need to win, regardless of their quality, regardless of their campaign tactics, and regardless of their potential to properly represent the best interests of the public.

Because they are guaranteed most of the votes that they need to win, the monopoly can limit their campaign to swaying a few votes rather than earning them all.

To keep all of the votes within the two-party illusion, candidates alter the perception of the electorate in such a way that voters reject candidates from non-monopoly parties.  They promote voting for the better of two evils so that everyone believes that evil is their only option. They create laws that make it impossible for serious challenges from outside the monopoly.

Contrast this with candidates who are not affiliated with a monopoly party. They must earn 100% of every vote that they receive. If monopoly candidates were required to compete for votes the same way as non-members of the monopoly (third parties), almost none of the current elected officials would be re-elected.

The Solution

This voter mindset must be broken before we can kill the political beast that destroyed our country.

That’s why voter education is more important than ever. Voters must understand that their votes or non-votes count. They must understand that they can bring us a good government as long as they get together and vote for a good government. And they must also understand that voting does not matter if they do not cast their vote for a good government.

We do not know what tactics will work (if any) to convince voters to elect candidates with the ability to restore freedom and prosperity for America. That’s why it is necessary for each one of us to choose the tactics that we believe will make the best use of our talents when addressing this problem.

My Intention

For the future, I will keep my eyes open for opportunities to develop or promote techniques that can be used by citizen candidates to get elected. And that is where I will focus my limited amount of available time and energy. Among specific tactics, I will offer my assistance to the Modern Whig movement. I believe that the Whigs have a bright future as a major contributor to the saving of America.

The name “Gene” in votegene.com represents all potential candidates throughout America who are willing to do whatever is necessary to restore our land. This web site – Votegene.com – will make a slow transition into a discussion group and clearinghouse for techniques that can be used to break the deadly monopoly.

Gene Baldassari
Former Modern Whig Party Candidate
NJ 14th Assembly – 2009

Gene is the author of “Survival of the Slickest: Everyone’s Risk of Being Terrorized by Lawyers”.  The book describes the need for a free market in the legal trade.  It cries for a legal system that can be used by citizens to challenge a runaway government.  It also outlines many other  suggestions on how we can take back America.

Click here for related post “The Problem in a Nutshell”.

We know the problem.

There are millions who want it exposed.

There are thousands willing to help fix it.

Visit this site often for updates on how we plan to participate in the movement.

Also see What’s Next? How will we save our Dying Land?

The following analysis is based on preliminary information and will be expanded in a future article on this web site.

Chris Daggett, an unaffiliated independent for Governor, was polling as high as 20% about ten days before the election, but received 6% in the vote. Mr. Dagget had the best of the third party political advisors, the endorsement of the largest newspaper in the state, ran an intensive campaign, and spent the most money of third party NJ gubernatorial candidates. His 6% was the highest percentage of NJ Third Party voters received in any of the State Races. Only 6% – an obvious rejection of third parties.

The Assembly races tell a more interesting story.

Based on a quick scan of all the races, it looks like every incumbent was re-elected. In another words, voters rejected every challenger, even though it is the legislature that has given them the laws that they have been complaining about.

I followed two third party Assembly races closely during this campaign.  My own in District 14 and that of Jim Poesl in adjacent District 19.

In my case, I got about 1% of the vote and Jim also got 1% of the vote.  There was also another Independent candidate in the 19^th on the same ticket with Jim, and he got 3%,the most of any Independent Assembly candidate in the State.

Just as a control – the Libertarians that ran in the 15^th District, another adjacent to mine, also received 1% of the vote.

One final comment on this day after the election. Both Jim in the 19^th, and Baldassari in the 14^th, campaigned heavily. We both made a serious attempt to win.

Due to this massive rejection of third parties and the voters statewide refusal to throw out any of the incumbents, it would not have mattered how much any of the challengers spent.  None of us would have won.

But when it comes to my campaign, there was also a personal rejection of my candidacy, beyond the general voter rejection. I was relatively unknown in the northern part of my district.  But I was very well known in the southern part of my district. In fact, I had the best name recognition of all the other challengers.  I spent hundreds of hours, meeting thousands of voters for the past 7 months; I had good press in the southern part of the district, and ran businesses there since the 1960’s. But I only received 129 more votes in the known portion.

Here are the Results:

Total Votes   Baldassari

Mercer County       (Best known) -      51289              425

Middlesex County   (Unknown)   -       64848              296

Considering the amount of Baldassari campaigning involved in Mercer, it seems like campaigning was useless. One other interesting number. An Assembly candidate in this district in the last election did almost no campaigning and was relatively unknown and he received about 50% more votes than me.

I will have more to write about this in the coming weeks. We need to examine why the voters in NJ have no interest in bringing us fresh blood while complaining about corruption, high taxes, overpriced schools, and a health care system that they do not like.

- Gene Baldassari

Thanks for your help.  Over the next few weeks, I will attempt to personally thank as many as I can remember that helped.  I will probably also miss some people to thank – so take this note as a general thank you.

New Jersey and America is in bad shape.  We do not have enough people to lead us out of this mess.  As a result, we will probably lose our country.

But it is not a lost cause yet.  That is why  I would ask everyone to constantly seek out the real patriots and do everything that you can do to support them.

If you are in my election District – NJ-14 – be sure to get out and vote for me. And remember.  You are allowed to vote for two Assembly candidates.  But if you vote for one instead of two- Gene Baldassari – you will put more power into your vote.  If everyone votes for two – I will need about 27,000 votes to win.  If everyone votes for one – I will be able to win with 18,000 votes.

I have more to say on this and will try to post comments on this site for the next month or so.

Thanks Again,

Gene Baldassari

The major reason for this destruction of our economy and freedoms is a dangerous legislature that is addicted to destroying our wealth. We have a two-party system that focuses on re-election and building political dynasties rather than serving the best interests of those who deserve proper representation.

These attacks on us will never be stopped until we break the legislative deadlock that leads to this destructive paralysis. Our current elected officials have proven that they have no intent on breaking that stronghold. For that reason, the only solution is for voters to reject the status quo and install a brand new legislature.

When we have that new legislature, we must cut taxes, cut regulations, and allow citizens to use those resources to launch new businesses and improve the general economic climate.

This year it is more important than ever to vote for new candidates who have the willingness and capability to motivate the citizen public into forming groups who will pressure the existing legislature to act responsibly. If enough new candidates are elected, NJ might be able to fight its way to survive until the next election.

I have decided to ask the citizens of New Jersey ’s 14 th district to send me to the Assembly so that I can help rip lose the deadlock from these politicians. Their party bickering and special interests will never allow NJ to pass a useful budget with their complicated and meaningless formulas.

The only politically possible way to accomplish this would be to place an across the board capped reduction on the amount of taxes collected and the amount of money spent. Then the legislature will have to be told that they must approve a balanced budget within the restriction of that those capped amounts. With such a measure, there would be no special interests singled out and given another reason to cause more legislative paralysis.

Passing this cap will require an effort to organize citizens into massive lobbying groups that will make it clear to the politicians that their time is up. This citizen driven effort must remind the politicians that they signed an oath. And legislators must be threatened with impeachment if they continue to ignore the interests of the people who elected them.

Finally, as soon as we tame this runaway budget, we will need to modify our election system because it rewards party monopolies and prevents new ideas from being given a chance. Genuine election reform must include the elimination of wasteful primaries, the encouragement of new parties, and term limits to insure fresh ideas. Ultimately, the enactment of these reforms will be the only way to install a legislature that works for us.

Click Here for Platform

]]> http://www.votegene.com/general-position-statement-gene-baldassari/feed/ 0 http://www.votegene.com/biography-gene-baldassari/ http://www.votegene.com/biography-gene-baldassari/#comments Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:46:30 +0000 Blog Editor http://www.votegene.com/?p=1213 Gene Baldassari was born in 1951 in Trenton, NJ. He graduated from Mercer County Community College and The College of NJ with degrees in computer science, media communications, and marketing. As a part time musician, he founded and managed a band that performed at over 500 private parties.

He also volunteered to perform at many nursing homes and charities. Gene was a cost analyst in the cost savings department of Fedders Corporation. Later, he did computer tech support and computer sales in a business that he launched and managed.

Gene was a past president of the NJ chapter of the National Health Federation – a health rights group. He was also a past district director of Fair Tax NJ. He wrote and produced an audio course on bottom line computing in 1988. And he is the author of “Survival of the Slickest by Gene Louis”, a book calling for free market competition in the legal trade.