TPaine. I think you ask some valid questions. I do hope Goooh is successful in its efforts, only for the purpose of cleaning House. I don't think their system is perfect and you raise a number of flaws, Maybe someone from Goooh should try to address some of your concerns!

TPaine:

You have only scratched the surface on the GOOOH phenomenon. There are quite a few more very interesting questions I have posed in private emails with a number of people who are quite active in GOOOH. Alas, most of them have gone entirely unanswered. The usual response is that of the "true believer" so caught up in his initial enthusiasm for a solution to his problem that he cannot be made to face its flaws.

Not only have I corresponded with GOOOH activists and (as you seem to have done) read extensvely from the material on the GOOOH.com website, I have downloaded and analyzed all of the GOOOH National Committee's filings with the Federal Election Commission going back to its formation in mid-2007. I even invested $5.00 in searching for what little was available online from the Texas Secretary of State regarding GOOOH LLC. I will be posting some of the results of that research on my blog in a few days.

When you say - "To begin with I want to compliment Tim Cox and his people for a perfectly developed and organized web presentation, organizational structure, short term tactical goal, (500,000 members), a campaign strategy, controlled talking points, structured campaign tactics including telling their candidates where and when to appear, a candidate selection process limited in scope to Goooh insiders and control of all campaign financing." - however, I think you give Cox & company too much credit.

Yes, the web design is better than you might expect from a relatively new fringe political movement, but Cox is a computer professional (even published a strategy guide for a video game). On other matters, matters of more substance, there is much less tranparency. I couldn't get an answer out of GOOOH activists on what was the structure of the GOOOH National Commmittee, nor on its relation to GOOOH LLC - at least one even denied the existence of the latter even though it figures prominently in the FEC filings and is registered in Texas with Tim Cox's name and address. .

And, how about that 500,000 membership goal? According to all the early hype, that was going to be the trigger to inaugurate the process of selecting and running candidates. Then, early this year, they announced an interim goal of 100,000 members by March 15. That date came and went with membership, according to the counter on the website, still a bit shy of 65,000. I checked several times that day into the early AM and they were managing about seven new members per hour. At that rate, they won't even get to 100,000 until the end of the summer. This dismal math might explain why all mention of the March 15 goal of 100,000 disappeared from the calendar on the GOOOOH site.

Campaign strategy and candidate selection are areas you see as high points in the plan. But here are some of the greatest weaknesses. It is hard to get votes if your candidate's names are not on the ballot, and GOOOH has never yet seriously addressed this issue. The filing deadlines for many states have already passed. GOOOH had been planning a series of rallies at state capitols beginning this spring to demand that state laws be changed to allow their nominees to file long after everyone else has. Now, I can't find those rallies on their calendar. Not that it would have done any good, some legislatures don't even have a regular session this year and most will have finished up and gone home before GOOOH has candidates.

I know they say they aren't a party, but even a movement needs a platform. This is particularly true of one running a multitude of candidates in districts across the country but relying upon a single national media campaign. I really have trouble seeeing how that's going to translate into votes when they are unlikely to even get the name GOOOH on the ballots. I've worked in political campaigns from city council to president, including a lot of congressional races (in OH, PA, NJ, DE, MD, VA, GA, TX) and this GOOOH effort strikes me as not ready for prime time.

It is a shame that a lot of good, caring, patriotic folks are going to get caught up in this thing. They will wasste their time and many will become even more disillusioned than they are now.

OldPolitico:
It’s interesting that you looked at GOOOH from the experience of real front line politics and what is wrong, very wrong, with GOOOH from that aspect.

When I first looked at them as a result of listening to the two part interview on iPolitics, alarm bells went off, but not from a political point of view. My “opinion” was formed more or less on the money trail they were setting up and all the legal mumbo-jumbo on their website.

As an organization it reminded me of the “dot-com” start-ups before the crash. All promise, all “business plan”, no accountability and a premature statement that if they fail; it will be someone else’s fault.

Too bad, I agree with you about all the upcoming disillusionment and wasted time.

Answers for GOOOH.com to an American Federalist

Thanks for your interest in GOOOH (Get Out Of Our House), a Non-partisan plan to replace 435 Career Politicians with Citizen representatives, just as our Founding Fathers intended. This plan targets only the US House of Representatives.

You say this mission statement will unify both parties in opposition to GOOOH. Well sir, that is a TRUE statement. When animals like an Elephant or a Donkey are accustom to roaming, plundering, and scavaging the earth at will, with no restraints and suddenly feel threatened, they will stand up and fight. We GOOOH members/candidates are up to the challenge.

You state that GOOOH has no agenda other than "change", doesn't solve problems, dosen't move us forward as a country. I suggest taking a closer look at the GOOOH plan or rather, I'll explain it in detail.

GOOOH is not a 3rd party in the traditional sense - it is simply the vehicle which allows for a unique candidate selection process which surrounds a 100 question questionnaire. GOOOH has no platform, only a mandate that all members/candidates agree to serve no more that 4 years. Therefore serving for love of country rather than for fame or fortune.

The way one answers the questions determine each individuals platform.
When we reach our membership goal of 500,000 members each member will donate $100.00 and will generate between $40 - $50 million dollars. A small percentage will go to administration cost and the balance will kick off a national advertising campaign for GOOOH candidates. On a given date, on a Saturday morning in every congressional district nationwide, randomly selected pools of ten will interview each other in regards to the way they answered the questionnaire, therefore letting others know how they would vote on a bill if they are elected. At the end of the session two will be selected from each table of ten and those two will move on to the next round the following week and the process will repeat itself until one person bubbles to the top and there will be 435 Citizen nominees for the US House of Representatives.

The "change", "dosen't solve problems", and "dosen't move our country forward"? I'll address those now.
The GOOOH "Process" I just described is a paradigm shift in politics as usual. If we keep doing the same thing over and over and expect a different results - that's insanity - (Einstein).
This GOOOH process eliminates the "political middle-men" - The Party, the Lobbyist and the Special Interest Groups. The influence of these three will certainly be the change our country needs and will stop the road to a socialistic society and on to tyranny it is leading us now.

I ask all that are reading this to think of those you know that are brite, honest, virtuous men and women that would make a great representative, but would not even consider it for two reasons. They don't have or don't want to spend the millions of dollars it would take to compete against the party and two, they don't want to soil the souls by selling it to a Party, a Lobbyist or a Special interest group. These are the people that the GOOOH process will allow to "compete" - these are the ones that will bubble to the top in the GOOOH selection process. This the difference between GOOOH and a 3rd Party.

You mention that the members in congress are not the problem that it's the control of the parties. I say it's both. There are some good representatives and I say help get those elected to the Senate. The founding fathers intended the Senate to be comprised of seasoned citizens and the representatives to leave the private sector, serve a short period then return to their chosen proffesion.

Tim Cox, founder of GOOOH, determined that no term limits was the root cause for the corruption in congress. Criminal indictments were first issued to congressmen after three terms and the more the terms served the higher number of indictments issued. Over the last 10 years between 65% and 90% of people polled would replace congress and yet 95% of the encumbents are re-elected. How does this happen? The system is broke, the system is corrupt, the system is rigged! GOOOH is the solution.

The is the purist form of a grass roots movement and as of this posting GOOOH membership is 73,298 and the site has been visited by 1,288,565. We have a daunting task to reach our critical mass membership if 500,000 for this election cycle. However, 3 months ago, Tim Cox was interviewed on Fox and Friends on Sunday morning at 8am and our membership was 23,500. So our momentum is gainging and we feel we are one national exposure away from being effective this time. If we do not make this cycle, we will take the US House in 2012.

You state that "a candidate selection process is limited in scope to GOOOH insiders". That is not a true statement. I have personally conducted GOOOH mock selection sessions where Libertarian candidates were in attandance as well as Republican precinct chairs.
We encourage all to attend a mock selection session in order to make an informed decision about the process.

Tim Cox has conducted over 3000 mock sessions across the nation and realize that folks in San Francisco will nominate their representative that will be just left of center and those selected in Colorado Springs or East Texas will be just right of center. So come with an open mind and see how the process works.

Regarding those "excluded" from joining GOOOH, some of the questions and exclusions have been modified from when Tim first created the system.

I'm curious how a 3rd party like an American Federalist party could control the influence by lobbyis and special interest groups over their members, thus continuing the "politics as usual".

FYI, a few weeks ago the National Constitution Party endorsed GOOOH and I hope you along with the members of the American Federalist will take another look at GOOOH and consider attending a mock session. Not only is it informative, it's a lot of fun.

In Liberty,

Mark

Hi Mark,
Great piece!
As you say GOOOH has... "the vehicle which allows for a unique candidate selection process which surrounds a 100 question questionnaire."

What's a passing grade?

Also, I'm curious about this statement of yours:...Regarding those "excluded" from joining GOOOH, some of the questions and exclusions have been modified from when Tim first created the system."

The idea for the American Federalist party would exclude nobody and what is the criteria for "modifying questions? Somebody's personal ideas or need to attract money? I'm confused?

In any event go get 'em! Good luck and I wish you and your GOOOH movement nothing but success.

Tpaine 2009

I first became aware of GOOOH here on iPolitics where I listened to the Tim Cox interview. Honestly, I wasn't quite sure what to make of it at the time.

After that interview was posted, I read TPaine's post above, and then OldPolitico's response to that post. I thought both of them raised some very interesting points and questions about GOOOH that needed to be asked. After the interview and these posts on iPolitics, I have been interested in this topic ever since. Today I was glad to see, and really appreciate the above response by Mark answering those questions and taking the time to explain GOOOH even more.

I saw the interview on Fox News and I have seen GOOOH mentioned on Fox another time as well. And GOOOHs membership is off to an impressive start, so this is an important topic for us all. So thanks to everyone involved here. This is the best discussion about GOOOH I have found anywhere.

After reading TPaine's writings, he strikes me as an everyday American who is middle of the road and not afraid to call either side out. Maybe he should take the 100 question survey?

Not a bad idea!

I'll check it out and if the test requirements aren't too invasive, I'll take the time to do it and report back here.

Since I support their efforts, it might be a good thing to do.