2016 WORD: The most potent weapon people have is not in Washington DC. It's the ballot, and the ballot belongs to the people!

People keep talking about what's missing from the debate on reauthorizing ESEA (NCLB).

All I think is who is missing?
Students!
Parents!
Teachers!

First in my blog tonight I have decided to share just a few images of the people I have met walking to DC. There are too far too many to share. You should know people of all colors, all faiths, and all political affiliations have come to share their stories of testing and punish pain. I want you to see how beautiful they are. This is the America CNN, MNBC and FOX never see, never put on the airways, this is the America mainstream media knows nothing about.
Second, at the end I want to share my analysis of the scam ESEA debates going on in our nation's capital. I want to lay out a simple truth about how to take our government back.
Readers I would love to hear you thoughts.

A simple truth, this is our nation. It's a government for the people by the people. These are our public schools, and they are not for sale. High stakes testing in our K-12 schools has to end. The time for test and punish is over. 
William J. Barber, II, Moral Mondays Leader and President of North Carolina's NAACP said: "We don’t send our kids to school to become skilled test takers... wrote in an op-ed in the Hill. "We pay our taxes and send our kids to public schools because we need future corporate CEOs, cardiologists and aerodynamic engineers, university presidents and school principals, urban planners and architects. Our sons and daughters can’t reach these heights when accountability in our education system hinges on standardized test scores, not cultivating intellectual opportunity."
Rev Barber gets it, Washington DC doesn't.
People say to me, Walking Man have you contacted mainstream media about your historic walk?
Yes I have reached out.  Let me be perfectly honest I do not expect them to come rushing to cover this walk against abusive high stakes testing in our public schools. I have come to see them as part of the problem, and in the service of the test and punish lobbyists. After all who are their sponsors?
We don't need to reach out to them. If we want them to pay attention then we should:
1. Start boycotting their sponsors.
2. Start protesting outside their studios.
3. Start asking your cable/dish companies to drop their news channels.

People always ask me, have you reached out to the Democratic party about your walk?
I have reached out to both political parties. Again to be perfectly honest I do not expect politicians to wean themselves from the massive test and punish political donation money tree. We don't need to reach out to them. We need to remind them we are their boss! If we want them to pay attention then we should:
1. Stop giving them political donations.
2. Start protesting outside their local offices.
3. Stop your party line, and start voting your conscience.

I am not walking for our Mass Media,
I am not walking for politicians,
I am walking for our nation's children,
I am walking for our nation's teachers,
I am walking for our nation's public schools.

I am walking, not begging to be noticed by the wealthy, the powerful, or the connected.
I am walking, because our nation's children, their parents, their teachers, and their public schools are suffering an injustice endless testing and punishment.
Trust me no one in Washington is listening.
I have heard children, parents and teachers crying.
I have offered a shoulder to lean on.
I have listened deeply to their truths.
I am delivering one message only at every stop at this point of my walk.

You are the ones we have been waiting for,
You are the heroes who can save our children,
You hold the most potent weapon in the history of any democracy!
You hold the ballot box!
That ballot box is our most powerful weapon, and it can change things on any given election day.
You are the people,
You are the power that gives power to every leader,
All you need to remember is, this is a government for the people by the people.

So I am no longer reaching out to the Mainstream media.
If we want their attention we must occupy our streets, our courts, and our schools. The key word here is "OUR" that's right these places belong to the people not them.
I am no longer reaching out to Political Parties.
Truth be told if we want their attention then we must use the ballot box.

I have listened, read and followed these sham discussions and debates about NCLB and reauthorizing ESEA act.
Listening to them on C-SPAN daily, I become convinced that these men and women represent not the people, but the lobbyist of the test and punish industry.

They have not heard the testimonies of:
Our children,
Our parents,
or our teachers,

My message is system is broken in Washington.
My message is the system is unjust.
My message is these elected officials have forgotten who they work for.
My message is ballot matters!
My message is we need to rally the people to our nation's capital in massive numbers.
My message is we need to be in their face at every turn.
We need Washington to understand the scam is over.

It's time to take the people's government back.
It's time to remind these elected officials we put them there, and we can kick them out.
In 2016 it's No Justice! No Votes!

If you like to know what I am listening to on my next 10 miles in the morning. It's Mankana's "We are the many, you are the few" https://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=aaplw&p=we+are+the+many+you+are+the+few+youtube+song

I owe no alliance to any political party. No Justice! No Votes in 2016

Reflecting on yesterday's sell out in the Senate by Democrats to the keep on testing and punish lobbyists I find myself determined to take back our government from these money changers occuying our political parties.  https://gadflyonthewallblog.wordpress.com/2015/07/17/the-democrats-may-have-just-aligned-themselves-with-test-and-punish-we-are-doomed/
The truth is I have never looked to Washington DC, our governor's mansions for moral leadership, or mainstream media for moral leadership. There is a price paid to enter their elite circles. The price they pay for power, wealth, and fame is their souls. Morality is not a compromise, and politics is all compromises. I hold no politician to any hero status. I pray to no political party. I am a man of faith, and I am guided by prayer not the media. 
Mother Teresa said: “At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done.We will be judged by "I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in.”
The model of our leaders is locked into "we can't" even when they say "We Can".
It's always we can't to:
Saving our manufacturing jobs,
Lowering the cost of going to college,
Ending poverty,
Cover the sick medically,
Even our returning war veterans have to beg for medical coverage.

It's we Can't over and over again:
We can't bail out students,
We can't bail out home owners,
We can't cloth the naked,
We can't feed the hungry.

Their mantra(s) are always
Tax breaks for the wealthy,
More lives for oil,
We got bail outs for
Banks,
Wall Street,
Billionaires,
Trickle down scams are us,

We hold:
No corporation responsible,
No politician responsible,
No policy maker responsible,
Vote for us people.

I am not a democrat,
I am not a Republican,
I am not a Tea Party,
I am not a Coffee Party,
I am an American, and in 2016 I am going to hold everyone of them responsible.
No Justice! No Votes!
Walking to DC,
Jesse

In the summer of 2016 I shall return to our nation's capital to reclaim the government for the people by the people, to demand our more perfect union. Maybe thousands we join me, or maybe I will be one man holding his No Justice! No Votes! sign. What really matters is not how many join me, but that someone brings truth to our nation's capital. If you want to know what I listened to on my walk today...it's John Lennon's Power To The People" https://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=aaplw&p=song+youtube+power+to+the+people

No Justice! No Votes, calling a 100,000 to DC in 2016

In 2010 I walked to DC to protest high-stakes testing. In 2011 we formed Save Our Schools March, no one knew us, we had no money, we were all members of some other groups like Parents Across America, Teacher Letters to Obama, higher Education faculty members from Towson University, University of Maryland, American University, and Central Connecticut University, teachers, activists and parents. We might have had 12 people at the most. All we had was an idea, we wanted to host an anti high-stakes testing conference, rally and march in DC in July. We were told we needed to raise 150,000 dollars to pull it off. We were told it couldn't be done. Diane Ravitch said she speak, Johnaton Kozol said he speak, Nancy Carlson-Paige said she speak, and our list of speaker grew and grew. Each new speaker push one of us off speakers list, but we were fine, because it was not about us. It was about a just cause, it was about our children, our teachers, and our public schools. 8,000 to 10,000 people came. Our conference spots sold out quickly. Somehow we pulled it off. Plus it gave birth to new resistance groups, new ideas, and new leadership.

It's 2015 I am walking to DC again, and I say we can do it bigger, better, and turn 10,000 into a 100,000. A 100,000 right before the final push for the 2016 elections. A 100,000 that sign "No Justice No Votes pledges. I say this kind of event would scare both political parties. We might just wake up a nation to the injustice our children, teachers and our local schools are facing everyday. We can invite Rev Barber Moral Mondays to speak, education is a key component of the Moral movement. I think Rev Barber would come, and if he did then we will be talking about 200,000 people!
In Washington DC they are in the process of reauthorizing ESEA, (NCLB). I say no one in DC is listening, they are set to continue with their master plan to sell of our schools into testing factories, and to the highest bidders. Rather than reauthorizing NCLB, we should first be investigating and charging people with crimes against America's children, their teachers and public schools.
We can do this people.
We can reclaim our public schools,
We can bring play back into our elementary schools,
We can save recess,
We can bring joy back into learning,
We can give childhood back to our children,
We can make learning relevant to our young people,
We can reject silence,
We can reject apathy,
We can all walk,
We can all speak up,
We can all carry a sign,
We can all vote
We can help a nation become aware,
We make a difference in 2016,
NO JUSTICE! NO VOTES!
Jesse

I am 40 miles from Baltimore, and 70 miles from DC. If you want to listen to the one song on my playlist I am listening to every day...it's Bob Marley's Get up, Stand Up for your rights!
https://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0LEV1M4IqdVVP8ASwNXNyoA;_ylc=X1MDMjc2NjY3OQRfcgMyBGZyA3lmcC10LTkwMS1zBGdwcmlkA2NfYmJmazVlUkUuMmhoRmtWcG5aZUEEbl9yc2x0AzAEbl9zdWdnAzgEb3JpZ2luA3NlYXJjaC55YWhvby5jb20EcG9zAzcEcHFzdHIDYm9iIG1hcmxleSBzdGFuZCB1cCBmb3IgeW91ciByaWdodHMgBHBxc3RybAMzNgRxc3RybAM0MwRxdWVyeQNib2IgbWFybGV5IHN0YW5kIHVwIGZvciB5b3VyIHJpZ2h0cyB5b3V0dWJlBHRfc3RtcAMxNDM3MDE2NjY0?p=bob+marley+stand+up+for+your+rights+youtube&fr2=sa-gp-search&fr=yfp-t-901-s&fp=1