Jason, I would argue that GOOOH is addressing ALL 3 issues you call out: 1) activating the citizenry , 2) informing the citizenry, and 3) snubbing by the MSM. You acknowledge that we are doing a good job of Point 1, so I will not address it here, but let me explain my thinking on Points 2 and 3:

Regarding Point 2, ignorance of the citizenry:  The overwhelming feedback by those that have completed the Candidate Questionnaire is that is was a massive learning experience on their part.  Many members have stated that even though they had definite opinions on ~70% of the questions, they were surprised at how little thought and research had gone into those opinions (much less the 30% of questions they had NO informed opinion on).  They stated that there was a steep learning curve on their part just to complete the questionnaire, and that they felt much more informed - and, in turn, motivated - about the political crisis we face as a nation.  Also remember that every person who attends a Candidate Selection Session must be prepared to defend multiple rounds of 4+ hours of in-depth questions regarding all their answers. My challenge to you would be that you complete the Questionnaire and do the homework necessary to defend your opinions in up to 8 half-day interviews, and if by the time you finish this process you still believe we are not addressing the political ignorance of our citizenry, we'll find a way to address the shortfalls you identify. 

Regarding Point 3, the MSM:  You're right in that the MSM is not an objective participant in the political process, and thus we are attempting to harness the power of alternative media (primarily the internet and radio) to get the word out about GOOOH. Thus, GOOOH's success depends more on YOU (the individual) than us (the GOOOH leadership/promotion team). You bring up Kucinich (a great example, BTW), but I would counter with Ron Paul and his YouTube/Meetup/Blogging approach.  He has been overwhelmingly successful with his 'get the word out' campaign, and we hope to emulate his approach.  The only way to make this approach successful is through viral grass-roots support, and that is why I say that YOU are the most deciding factor in GOOOH's success: unless individuals like you decide to open up their email contact lists and promote our website/YouTube/Facebook/etc. to your friends, coworkers and family, the best we can hope for is to drive short bursts of 1-5K hits on our website through our limited (by funds) promotional abilities - and that's not going to be enough to make a real difference!  We are doing our best to drum up more media interviews - but we're absolutely dependant upon our GOOOH membership to do the heavy lifting in getting the word out to individuals and various media outlets.

So, the question to us all is:  have we emailed all our contacts about GOOOH, and have we made the calls to our favorite radio stations to promote GOOOH?

If not, there's no better time than right now!  Thanks for the support!!

-- 2/10/2008 1:31:39 PM.

I really like the idea of GOOOH but the problems I can see right up front is that to be successful the group needs to acknowledge that GOOOH will need BOTH a functional platform and a media platform.

In other words, GOOOH needs 2 platforms not just one.  It is clear the founders of GOOOH feel that it's just all those BAD politicians in Washington screwing everything up.  That simply is not the case.  To view things from this perspective IGNORES what is happening to Dennis Kucinich.  Observe (from my blog - http://pragmaticidealist-1steptofix.blogspot.com/):

The most recent example of this was the exclusion of Dennis Kucinich from the democratic debates aired on NBC by NBC- even though he too was running for the democratic party nomination.

But why? Dennis Kucinich has the answer for you here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNXP1djL27A. It turns out that GE owns NBC and GE builds nuclear power plants, Raytheon is also owned by GE and is a military contractor.

In short, GE - has an interest in excluding presidential candidates that will shrink the Military Industrial Complex - GE is part of the Military Industrial Complex. This is the very thing Eisenhower warned us about (last 2 posts). This is NOT DEMOCRACY.

Whether you agree with Dennis Kucinich is IRREVALENT.
Whether you are Republican or Democrat is IRREVALENT.
Whether you have concerns about lobbyists is IRREVALENT.

The question is do you support censorship at this level?

You are ignoring the CENTRAL problem.  It's not that we can't get the right people into office - it's that we can't keep the general public informed enough to hold them accountable.

Another example (http://pragmaticidealist-1steptofix.blogspot.com/):

The inertia of the current system is now so great that all it takes to take this great country to war is some people with a bully mentality to ascend to the presidency, a congress that does not check the power of the executive branch of government -their responsibility, a media that does not want to tell the truth because it will hurt their corporate stockholders too much and a citizenry that is neither alert nor knowledgeable.

You must address these issues (the president, congress, the media and the people) at the same time and we are ALL part of the problem. 

So yes, you DO need an "Active Citizenry" AND you need an "Informed Citizenry" - it appears that you are ready to tackle the "Active" part but you need to look at the total problem (http://pragmaticidealist-1steptofix.blogspot.com/):

...courts being only a refuge for justice for people with money (actually it is cheaper for large corporations to outspend you rather than give you justice), a media that is no longer a refuge for your Advocacy and your point of view (owned by the same people), and a government largely bought and paid for (also owned by the same people). 

In short, if you have a problem because a corporation or government treated you poorly - your options for obtaining justice are quickly disappearing.

The REASON that politicians and r