*Escaños en Blanco*

collaborators of seats in white *Escaños en Blanco* wish you a "unemployed politicians" happy 2013. The white pawns are organized. Escaños en Blanco

"Express a willingness to be exploring the unfamiliar, for it fits more acceptably in your reality now, and the familiar does not fit as well any longer. " Elias.

"frightened people do not want freedom, mental or physical. They want shelter, a definite set of rules. They want to be told what is good and bad. They seek out leaders — political, scientific, or religious — who will order their lives for them." Seth.

"there is a cooperation of many expressions of manifestations collectively, which are projecting energy in a specific expression of direction to be creating a mass statement for the attention objectively of other masses, and to be beneficial to all within consciousness." Elias #711

"In a manner of speaking, in a small analogy, it may be likened to yourself powering a boat. You have directed this boat and set its course to pull you through the water, and along the way, many other individuals are attaching themselves to your boat also, for it shall pull them through the water easily also, rather than create their own boat and have their own boat pull them through the water. Why shall they expend the energy and create another boat, as they may attach themselves to your boat and allow it to pull them through the water? (Much laughter throughout this) Their reason for being pulled through the water is their reason. Their destination is their own. It may not be the same destination as you. They are merely attaching themselves for the ride temporarily."#711

*Escaños en Blanco* is genius, and it's gaining ground in Spain. A computable vote for the political seat to remain empty of politicians for the term. Escaños en Blanco voting option now in 23 provinces.

Happy New Year from Spain

MANIFESTO OF ESCAÑOS EN BLANCO (WHITE SEATS) "Many citizens feel unhappy with politicians and the political class. Too often we've witnessed sterile debates far removed from the situations we, the citizens, really care about; we've witnessed election campaigns full of empty messages and promises that are systematically broken without decency. We suffer the consequences of a dreadful management of the public money, and no one assumes responsibility for it. We feel used when they only remember us, the citizens, every four years. Periodically, we must listen to insults and defamatory remarks that are quickly forgotten when it comes to making pacts to distribute councillorships, offices or ministries. We find ourselves helpless witnessing how the plurality of alternatives is avoided, keeping the privileges to the regular parties. All in all, we're tired of living with the feeling of being fooled. In light of this situation, many citizens want to show their uneasiness through blank (NOTA None of the Above) or spoilt (void) votes, or abstention. These options, nevertheless, have proved to be ineffective for 2 reasons: a) The limited impact in the media, in spite of the not insignificant numbers they reached. b) The lack of definition of these options, due to the electoral regulation, as it assigns neither representation nor concrete meaning to these options, and that renders any attributable meaning diffused among a vast number of others: punishment vote, indifference, hesitation, oversight, political instruction, etc. With the idea of providing an answer to this situation, a group of citizens have decided to address the elections with the intention of leaving empty any seat we can, and thus avoiding any kind of remuneration or personal salary derived from it. With this initiative, we want: 1) To make visible, obvious, and leaving no doubt, the discontent and dissatisfaction that this large part of the population feels about the politicians and the political class, who do not represent them. 2) To catch the eye of the mass media and general society with an original and innovative action, a democratic action that initiates public debate focused on the deficits of our representation system. 3) To press the politicians and their parties to work harder in developing their activities with ethics and respect, promoting goverment and legislative procedures to encourage the participation of the citizens beyond the election every four years. This process should result in a modification of the Electoral Law, establishing the right of voters to have an accountable blank vote, meant for all those democratic citizens who, unhappy with the work of their representatives, can find no other satisfactory alternative. This vote should be accountable as if it was a regular list of candidates and, if they get some representation, this should be materialized in void seats. After this goal is achieved, "Escaños en blanco" will be auto-dissolved." Juan Antonio Herguera