There are times in history when the impossible becomes possible, when the pace of change quickens, when the very foundations of conventional wisdom are shaken and shattered.
For many reasons that some are calling a polycrisis, we are now living through one of these moments.
The 2024 election is zooming forward packed with financing, messaging, and institutional infrastructure designed to protect an increasingly plutocratic and oligarchic form of government. The two ruling parties are poised to nominate two deeply reviled standard bearers as their presidential candidates. The two parties in Congress, awash in corporate cash, continue their political theater and ever-intensifying spectacle.
They do not represent We the People. It is not even close.
With a backdrop of despair rippling across the declining US Empire, and a build-up of hostilities in the Middle East and beyond, it is time for We the People to turn Congress into the People’s House.
Rather than begging or waiting for our elected officials to get with the program, ordinary citizens must now find ways of finding each other, pooling together in small circles and larger networks to put forth alternative choices for peace, liberty, justice, and compassion.
One such effort is the Ceasefire Coalition Candidate Pledge, which as of April 4th had endorsed 13 Democratic Congressional candidates, and 9 independent or Green candidates.
But what if there were a coordinated grassroots effort to flip the entire script, to take the very concept of the House of Representatives as somehow being the closest thing we have to a “people’s house”, and actually making it so? What if there were an effort to find 10 people in every single House district who could work together to put a name on the ballot? Not necessarily to find the sharpest, most prepared and experienced candidates that could make a compelling case for the seat — but simply to ensure that our deeply uncompetitive Congressional election system gets competitive, for a change.
10 people in a district could commit to getting the signatures to place a name on the ballot.
All of those signature collection efforts could simultaneously collect signatures for Jill Stein, or even Cornel West, Claudia De La Cruz, or (supposing you didn’t truly care all that much about genocide) Robert Kennedy Jr.
Say we managed to get 100 names on the 2024 general election ballots across the country. 100 candidates for #ThePeoplesHouse. By sheer luck (e.g. stumbling into a George Santos-type fraud), we believe a small handful of these could end up being competitive races, at which time national resources and energy could be mobilized.
Indeed, there are already 12 such candidates running, that we’re aware of:
CO-03: Adam Withrow (I) (www.withrowcd3.com) (@withrowcongress)
DC: Kymone Freeman (G) (https://freeman4congress.com/) (@guerillartist)
IL-08: Jorge Alberto Briseno (I) (www.jab4the8th.org) (@jab4the8th)
IL-13: Chibu Asonye (G) (https://chibuforcongress.nationbuilder.com) (@Chibu4illinois)
MA-01: Nadia Milleron (I) (https://nadiaforcongress.com) (@NadiaMilleronMA)
NC-02: Michael Dublin (G) (ncgpcandidates.org/michaeldublin) (@Dub4Congress)
NJ-05: Beau Forte (I) (https://beauforcongressnj.com) (@Beau4Congress)
NY-01: Ryan Kalata (I) (www.ryankalatany.wixsite.com/ryankalata) (@KalataNY)
OH-07: Dennis Kucinich (I) (https://www.kucinich.com/) (@Dennis_Kucinich)
OH-10: Michael Harbaugh (I) (www.harbaugh4congress.com) (@MHforCongress)
TX-10: Stefan Medley (I) (www.stefanmedley.com)(@SMedleyForHouse)
WA-02: Jason Call (G) (www.callforcongress.com) (@CallForCongress)
Let’s see what we can do to expand from 12 to 100 this year.
Let’s find people willing to run for 3 consecutive cycles.
Let’s grow from 100 candidates this year to 250 in 2026, the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
Let’s turn that into 435 candidates in 2028, and a serious shot at turning the off-the-charts-corrupt U.S. Congress into #ThePeoplesHouse, once and for all.
Add your name if you support this idea, especially if you’d be willing to collect even just a handful of signatures to put a name on the ballot in your district.
Spread the word on social media with the hashtag #ThePeoplesHouse.
Let us know if you’re aware of other candidates that we should add to the list.