What is the Middle Class
Political Accountability Research Center
and What Exactly Does it Do?
1) What is the Middle Class Political Accountability Research Center?
The Middle Class Political Accountability Research Center (or Middle Class PARC) Is a non-partisan “Think-Tank” specifically focused on America’s Middle Class in support of America’s Middle Class (see Who is the Middle Class?)
We fill an important informational void that exists today by documenting and analyzing Congressional votes to show American voters how their national representatives are either helping or hurting the Middle Class. This is important election information since America’s Middle Class is, by far, the largest voting bloc in the US representing approximately 60% of the voting population.; With accurate information, America’s Middle Class can change the paradigm of influence in Washington because, despite unlimited campaign contributions by special interests, politicians still must get elected by appealing to the Middle Class.
Our secondary focus is investigating how money in politics affects voting in both Houses of Congress, how this political influence affects public policy, and how public policy helps or hurts the fiscal well-being of America’s Middle Class. The Center’s effort is aimed at creating a better informed voter so they can become a more intelligent voter. The result of this effort is designed to create a more responsive government once elected officials in Washington know someone is documenting, analyzing and presenting their votes to investigate how those votes affect America’s Middle Class.
Unfortunately, the American people take for granted the institutionalized and “legalized bribery” that goes on every day in Washington through special interest-related campaign/lobbyist contributions. This is because the American people do not really understand how the influence of these contributions permeates every decision made in Congress that affects special interest donors, and consequently how decisions made focused on special interests affects the fiscal well-being of America’s Middle Class.; Because of this, members of the Middle Class routinely vote for incumbent politicians that do not support the fiscal well-being of America’s Middle Class and consequently, these voters regularly vote against their own best interests.
Through two websites: (MiddleClassPARC.com and TheMiddleClassisWatching.com), the Middle Class PARC has the potential to change the dynamic of political influence of our Congressional legislators. Through our two websites, we will create permanent records of votes by our national representatives and identify these votes as either helping or hurting America’s Middle Class with detailed explanations so you can make informed decisions. We will then explore creative ways to inform America’s Middle Class of our findings.
The American people can access our information before making the decision to vote for or against an incumbent Congressional politician and we will encourage all voters to do just that (this important window of opportunity to inform potential voters is believed to be only 24-48 hours before an election vote).
2) What Exactly Does the Middle Class PARC Do?
There are many American corporate-funded conservative think-tanks specifically designed to create draft legislation in support of the Corporate Elite in this country. They pay Congressional politicians and their staff through campaign contributions and other forms of “legalized bribery” to introduce that legislation into Congress. This is why over the past 30 years there has been a noticeable shift in America for tax relief away from the Middle Class and towards helping the upper income levels in America. It is no accident that over the past 30 years the upper 1% has become much more politically influential and at the same time wealthier than the lower 99%.
Strategy of the Middle Class PARC
American Corporate Elites play with a different set of rules than the rest of us because their wealth and influence allows them to do so. That won’t stop and we have to start playing by their rules if the Middle Class is ever going to become more influential. But we have to do it in an honorable and truthful way. That is the overall strategy of the Middle Class PARC, to use the current rules of the political influence game that have been created by those who now control Congress and use those rules to the advantage of the Middle Class. And what are those rules? Basically, paying Congressional politicians through campaign contributions to initiate legislation that benefits the contributors. It’s not pretty, but that’s American politics today.
However, we have a secret weapon that typical “special interests” do not have and it’s called VOTES. Despite their lack of support for the Middle Class, politicians still need our votes. We’re the largest bloc of voters in America, by far, representing 60% of the population. We’ll use that power to influence politicians in addition to campaign contributions. And if a politician doesn’t agree with us and votes against legislation that benefits the Middle Class, we’ll make that known to Middle Class voters.
Here are the four specific areas the Middle Class PARC will pursue:
1) The Middle Class PARC will become the Lobbyist for the Middle Class. We’ll create legislation that is based upon specific ideas to help America’s Middle Class. We’ll lobby our Congressional politicians to implement those ideas and tell you which politicians support our ideas and which do not. We’ll use our VOTES the way “special interests” use their money to influence politicians. This is how the Corporate Elite get things done in Washington and it will be the way we find out who is for us and who is against us (yes, we’ve learned from the conservative think tanks).
2) The Middle Class PARCwill help you learn what your Congressional politicians are doing to help the Middle Class or what they may be doing to hurt the Middle Class. With this knowledge you can make more informed decisions on who to vote for and who to vote against. We want Americans to vote for those who are helping the fiscal well-being of the Middle Class and vote against those politicians that are not. It’s as simple as that.
3) The Middle Class PARChas created a Middle Class Protection Pledge that we’ll ask every Congressional politician to sign. It simply states that they will consider the consequences of every form of legislation BEFORE they vote for or against that legislation to see how it affects America’s Middle Class. (Click here to see the Middle Class Protection Pledge) Yes, you’re right - we borrowed this idea from Grover Norquist’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge.
4) The Middle Class PARC will explore creative ways to inform America’s voters about Congressional politicians that help or hurt the Middle Class. These methods will be coordinated through our website: theMiddleClassisWatching.com. Our purpose will be serious, but we’ll have some fun with the ways we’ll reach out to the Middle Class and advertise our findings and recommendations.