A post by "Jeff Monks" Jeffrey S. Monks is the Founder and Executive Director of Citizens Opposing Incumbency. He is also the owner/GM of The Monks Media Radio Network and a Sales and Marketing Director in the Nondestructive Testing Industry. Jeff encourages all Americans to Join COI-PAC and be a part of this citizen based Grass Roots organization to end the #1 problem in our Government: Self Perpetuating Career Politicians and their obscene terms of incumbency.

As the founder and ED of COI-PAC I am obviously passionate about this organization and our mission. In honor of Pastor Tom’s first weekly blog article, I am putting on the preacher’s hat for my article this week and going back into time…….

The year is 1981 and I am a very active member of my church’s youth group which has been growing at great strides in the most recent two years. Our youth group at the First Christian Church of Lansing, Illinois is up to approximately 25 kids. In a church with a membership of perhaps 100 adults, this is a great youth group! In fact this is a social and worship group as we all are basically best friends. Many of these same people are my facebook friends today!

Anyway, on the 4th Sunday evening of each month, the youth group is in charge of the service. In charge means not only song worship, but offering, communion and the sermon. We all dreaded the day we had to give the sermon, but this particular service I drew the short straw and had to give the sermon. My message was taken from the following passage: How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? (Hebrews 2:3).

I recall the message was focused on the urgency to make a decision in accepting Christ if indeed you knew him and the gift he gave us by paying the debt of our sins. I also recall a story I related of a great war-battle in which one army fleeing the opposing Army while following a river path chose to not cross at the first opportunity to ford the river opting instead to wait for an easier crossing. This decision was repeated multiple times until finally they found themselves at a sharp turn in the river. The opposing Army was closing quickly and the river was too wide to ford at the turn which trapped them. The fleeing army was destroyed. They failed to accept the opportunity to save their lives by fording the river at the previous crossings presented.

In much the same way, the message: “How shall we escape, if we neglect …” can be applied to the Citizens Opposing Incumbency today. We have the opportunity today, unlike any in the history of our country, to finally rally all the disenfranchised, disgruntled and ignored citizens of the country to work with a common cause of saving ourselves from the government who continues to cause us to flee along the river… passing the opportunity to ford “The river of out of control power seeking career incumbents” who strip away more of our liberties, freedoms and opportunities with each election cycle.

We choose to neglect the opportunity to accept our salvation at the ballot box to change the direction our life is heading and to improve our future, in fact the eternity of our country (at least as eternal as the world can be described as). How shall we escape if we neglect this opportunity to unite as regular citizens and “take back our government”. How shall we escape if we continue to neglect the opportunity to demand and vote for a government of the people, by the people and for the people? How shall we escape if we choose to do nothing but to continue with business as usual?

Like Salvation in the Christian faith: the opportunity to make a decision is only limited by your limited time, which you alone do not control. Let’s not leave it to others to make the decision to join COI-PAC and take a stand to make a change. We may be near that last opportunity to ford the river flowing with the power which has been taken from the people. I for one will not stay on the current course. If I must cross alone, at least I have not neglected the opportunity for my salvation from the current state of our government much in the same way my decision to no longer neglect the salvation Christ offered was one taken alone, by myself. Won’t you, today, make the decision to do your part to save ourselves from obscene incumbency and the chance of government tyranny? Won’t you join COI-PAC today and no longer neglect what is put before you?

A post by "Jeff Monks" Jeffrey S. Monks is the Founder and Executive Director of Citizens Opposing Incumbency. He is also the owner/GM of The Monks Media Radio Network and a Sales and Marketing Director in the Nondestructive Testing Industry. Jeff encourages all Americans to Join COI-PAC and be a part of this citizen based Grass Roots organization to end the #1 problem in our Government: Self Perpetuating Career Politicians and their obscene terms of incumbency.

Dear friend:

Firstly I want to apologize for this appearing to be an impersonal form letter. I call you friend because you are, but in haste I must send this plea to many friends.

As you are aware, I have recently formed an organization with a mission to demand better governance from our elected officials. We intend to accomplish this by ending Self Perpetuating Career Politicians’ advantage and lifetime seats in Congress. We see that the #1 problem, which is the root cause of all that is wrong in our government, is this obscene incumbency. There is no accountability and typically the voters are not presented with a choice against these incumbents. Our organization is named Citizens Opposing Incumbency (COI-PAC).

This organization is being structured as a non profit organization which will allow us to accept donations from individuals, businesses and other organizations; however I have maintained that we DO NOT desire any special interest, business or organized donations for our COI-PAC. In order to maintain purity in our mission, we must do this as individual citizens. Thus we need Americans, across the country to join us. Our funding to combat career politicians will come from individuals’ membership fees only and these fees are only $25/year.

Considering that the average congressman spends between $700K-$1 million for re-election, you can easily understand that the only way we can hope to achieve our goals is to have millions of members. Our process will be to engage every Congressman (and Senator) to inform them that their extended incumbency is morally wrong, selfish, and egotistic and that it is a disservice to their constituents and our country by making government stagnant, devoid of fresh ideas and almost always causes outside influence and corruption to occur.

They will be asked to not seek further terms in their current office if they have already served 12 years. Based on a US Senator’s term this is 2 terms. COI-PAC has coined the phrase, “2 AND UP or 2 AND OUT” meaning that it is perfectly acceptable to COI-PAC for a politician to ask for election to a “higher” office after the 2 terms in the current office are completed. His/her efforts and diligence while in that office will determine if the constituency allows this next career move. It is unacceptable however for any politician to serve more than 12 years in an office.

We will request all candidates to sign a 2 and up-2 and out pledge. Those that refuse will be our targets. We should not send career politicians to Washington, regardless of party affiliation, ever. According to our plan, we will be able to accomplish our goals if our membership of like minded Americans grows to 10 million. In the 2008 election, 110 million (roughly) voters cast ballots. We need 1 out of 10 voters to join us. This in a staggering number to contemplate, but one out of 10 is not. In that light, I am requesting you to become a COI-PAC member, “Right Now” and to ask 10 family members or friends to join us as well and if that 1 new member asks 10 friends, like the old Faberge commercial: “and so on and so on…” We can grow virally to 10,000,000 members before the next General Election in 2010 and be capable of removing these self-perpetuating politicians starting immediately!

With your help and your support and your shameless promotion of our cause, we can do this. The first step is to become a paid member of COI-PAC and then invite 10 others and continue to speak about the mission of COI-PAC to everyone, everywhere. In the Declaration of Independence it states, “experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. “

I believe we no longer need to “suffer the sufferable” and I am prepared to work “to right ourselves by abolishing the form we are accustomed” by eliminating the self perpetuation of career politicians. If you agree, won’t you please join us today? I cannot do this alone, nor can you, however: together we can forge a Patriotic Movement that will be an unstoppable force of Citizens demanding honest Government and assuring it by actively working against the #1 cause of all corruption, indifference and arrogance of our government: Incumbency.

J. Monks
Founder/Executive Director
COI-PAC