The Power of the Whip

The new freedom that PowerVote gives you is new power. You have never heard of anything like this before. Forget about donations or lobbying. They are tactics for those who lack real power. Instead, think about a cowboy using a whip to herd cattle. One whip can herd many cattle because they fear the whip. No beast wants to be the one in the rear of the herd facing the wrath of the whip. Why would the cowboy donate his whip to the cattle? Does the cowboy need to hire a friend of the cattle to lobby them? Ridiculous!

PowerVote is FAR more powerful than bundling, softmoney, PACs, petitions or donations to a candidate’s campaign. PowerVote is very different.

WARNING: Understanding why PowerVote is superior is probably over the head of the average bear. It was designed by a CPA to free us from powerful campaign finance laws (but not for the purpose of donating...PowerVote gives you more power than that!) The good news is that the only person who really needs to know how PowerVote works is the person you designate as the PowerVote Whip. The Whip is the person whom you most trust to stand for the political action that you want. If you want to skip the mechanics and get rolling, then just contact who you trust as a Whip and tell them to check PowerVote out at powervotenow.com and consider becoming a Whip.

On the other hand, if you’re a tad of a political junkie, then read on, this could be fun and it’s really not that complicated.

The key to PowerVote is the scoreboard that appears on the front page. Each line item shows an amount of money under “Deposits,” a name of a political leader under “Whip” and a demand for political action. The deposits show how badly the depositors want action. As already mentioned, the Whip is the person whom the depositors most trust on the issue.

The amount of deposits shows the power of the Whip. The more money, the louder the whip cracks. These deposits will truly be feared by lawmakers like nothing else known to man. There is no legal limit on their aggregate value that the Whip can direct into defeating a lawmaker. If PowerVote shows $20,000,000 in deposits in support of a Whip, then the entire $20,000,000 can be converted into HARD MONEY political contributions. This money can all be contributed to a lawmaker’s strongest challenger during the next election. Again, the defeat of the targeted lawmaker is NOT the goal, but it is what makes the whip crack so loudly. This whip represents almost certain political death for all but a tiny minority of the most famous lawmakers. Who cares about them as long as you can control the rest of the herd?

Unlike bundling, the $20,000,000 of our example is not locked into any one candidate. You can’t drive a heard if you’re locked into whipping just one beast. You need the flexibility to crack your whip from beast to beast in order to keep them in line. Unlike PACs, the entire $20,000,000 is free from the $5,000 per candidate limit that cripples PACs. PACs are the equivalent of driving a herd by giving each beast one small handful of feed or hitting them with a miniature flyswatter.

What makes PowerVote Deposits so free? PowerVote deposits merely prove how much money you would contribute to a campaign targeted by your Whip. Any actual contribution of the deposit (in the rare instance that a beast beating becomes necessary) is totally under your control. The contribution would only be subject to your personal legal limits, not the group’s or the Whip’s. The Whip can direct the deposit into the targeted campaign because you subscribed to receive advice from the Whip that will accompany your refund. Furthermore, as part of the PowerVote process you also subscribed to receive everything you need to send the refunded deposit to whomever the Whip advises.

Here’s why PowerVote should prevail if legally challenged. PowerVote depositors are using their First Amendment protected speech to show how badly they want political action on the PowerVote scoreboard. Proving this can help attract financial support for a cause, determine its financial strength and give lawmakers a chance to take the action necessary in order to avoid the expense of influencing an election. Simultaneously, PowerVote depositors are using their First Amendment rights of free press to subscribe to a publication that advises them on where to make a campaign contribution and whether or not such action is even advisable. In targeting lawmakers, the Whips are merely using their freedom of speech to publically announce what course of action that they plan to advise.

Now, you could ask the FEC if this is all legal and you could do that for free. Personally, I wouldn’t care what they said. This is a First Amendment issue, not a FEC issue. Any American publisher who would beg some agency of Congress, such as the FEC, for permission to exercise the freedom of the press does not deserve that freedom. Of course, you're free to ask them for free at FEC.gov.

How PowerVote works may be a little complicated, but making a PowerVote Deposit is simple. You just send an amount of money into a Whip or somebody else who’s willing to serve as a custodian of the deposits. Half the money you send in is considered a PowerVote Deposit. Watch the value of deposits grow in support of your issue. As the value grows, you’ll notice lawmakers react in one way or another. At first their reaction will probably be “a crackpot idea” and accusations of illegality. Next as the number grows, expect the reaction to turn to condemnation and alarm. If the number keeps growing, you should get what you want as lawmakers one by one flee from the Whip and support the action that you want. If your Whip targets properly, politicians will choose political life over political death. All this should occur at number values far smaller than what a candidate like Ron Paul recently raised for his Presidential bid. For a fraction of the cost of his campaign, his supporters could have seen their political agenda passed as law without anybody spending their deposits.

To finish the description of the mechanics of PowerVote, after you send in your money, the Whip or other party informs PowerVote of the amount of the deposits they hold and we verify it. (Note: PowerVote only verifies the amount for political purposes, we don’t guarantee the deposits will be refunded properly unless we hold the money.) PowerVote posts on its scoreboard the verified amount of deposits in support of the Whip and the corresponding demand for action. To use the amount to herd lawmakers, the Whip would only need to make public his target priorities. Whips can use PowerVote to make this info public if they so choose.

 The Whips can use the other non-deposit half of the money however they choose. Attracting deposits and selling subscriptions costs money, as would returning the deposits in a fashion that would make it easy for depositors to follow the Whip’s advice. A Whip can return deposits whenever he or she chooses. The depositors also can request a refund of the deposit whenever they choose. There is no right of refund at any time for the non-deposit portion of the money.

To get started, you just need somebody who is willing to play the role of Whip. Contact your favorite political leader today and tell them to consider becoming a PowerVote Whip!

Many years ago, a new movement for gun rights attracted my attention. Thousands of people were actually gathering in protest of the assault rifle ban and other gun controls. I thought this a perfect opportunity to promote my new way of influencing government that I called PowerVote. I read that the gun movement was soon to stage a protest rally at the capital of my home state, Michigan. I created some flyers and showed up on the assigned day.

As I scanned the assembling crowd for where I should pass out my literature, the most popular spot for the crowd was a group of men in combat fatigues complete with military boots. A young blonde haired man standing off to the side of this group caught my attention. He was very fit and military looking. He obviously knew the members of the group as they exchanged glances and smiles, but for some reason, the group seemed to block him from joining them. The young man was standing exactly where I wanted to be. His position of banishment from what appeared to be a militia group put him exactly at the beginning of the receiving line of the most popular attraction for this crowd. I stood next to him. He almost immediately asked me, “what’s this all about?” I handed him my literature and tried to explain PowerVote. After a few minutes, I could see his eyes start to glaze over. Somehow, I lost him. As a young CPA, I probably focused too much on the mechanics of the transaction. The young man was very polite and bid me good luck in my endeavor.

I know the group of militia men were the Michigan Militia. I highly suspect the ostracized young man was the notorious Timothy McVeigh. I base my suspicions a little on his looks but more so on later news reports that supported the peculiar scene that I witnessed.

Whether or not my suspicions are right or wrong, I hope and pray that I’ve done a better job here than I did on that day many years ago. Revolution is war and war is hell. Real free speech and press available to the masses, as opposed to the institutionalized news media, should forever prevent the need for war among those who have this freedom.

Finally I would like to add that PowerVote is an advancement of your freedom of speech and press. As such, these are gifts from God. Man is far too selfish and shortsighted to acquire these freedoms on his own. It is in God’s hands whether PowerVote succeeds in delivering more freedom to America. There is nothing we can do but embrace this gift if it is offered to us. If the gift becomes more than a mirage or dream, then the way I see it, you owe praise and thanks to no man on this earth. Your praise and thanks are owed to God.

James A. Todaro, 2/16/08