Texan leading growing movement to replace Congress

HOUSTON

We first told you about the movement last December. Since then, it's grown, and become one of the most popular stories on our website.

About 40 minutes north of Austin, in the aptly named small town of Liberty Hill, Texas, a political movement is bubbling, springing forth from the fingertips and mind of Tim Cox.

"We're gonna go and take the parties and the money out of politics and let the people that participate in the GOOOH process choose a true citizen representative," Cox said.

That's right. Cox wants to replace every single member of the House of Representatives with non-partisan regular people. And he calls his plan GOOOH, for Get Out Of Our House.

"It sounds impossible, but we have a very simple way to make it happen," Cox said.

We first introduced you to Cox and his GOOOH movement back in December, and in the six months since, the group now has close to 80,000 followers in all 50 states. The largest memberships are in Texas, Florida and North Carolina.

Since December, Texas' numbers have grown from 2,500 to more than 11,000. Cox credits the growth to his message as much as he does what he calls the ineptitude of those in office.

"Anybody can look at what's going on," Cox said. "Both parties are bankrupting this nation; they're not sealing the borders; they're not improving the education system; they're not fixing the tax code.

"They're not serving the people. They're serving their parties; they're serving the special interest groups that fund them, and they are serving their own political career."

The group recruits new members primarily through its website. From the site, interested people can find out where to attend mock candidate sessions.

From questionnaires, small groups pick the person or people at their table who they'd like to represent them in Congress.

The selections continue until one person from each congressional district gets the backing of other GOOOH members.

These meetings explain that process and what GOOOH represents.

It has struck a chord.

"I'm interested in getting something changed, getting something done in the election system," GOOOH member Greg Humphrey said.

"Don't like big government at all," said Shere Plunkett, another member of the group. "I wish they'd get out of our lives and let us work and make a living and take care of our family."

"My concerns are that Congress is no longer listening to the American people," member Lynne Daniels said. "That they have no regard for what we say; they've forgotten that they work for us."

But to get the point that GOOOH is ready to officially select its candidates for 2010, Cox says they need 500,000 members, at least 1,000 in every congressional district. The deadline for 2010 is the end of June.

"It's getting late," Cox said. "The odds are getting long, but we'll keep pushing. And if we can't make it by 2010, we'll push to 2012."

So one man with a home in the Texas Hills says despite the odds, he'll keep his attention focused on a much bigger house in Washington.

If you want to check out the group, visit http://goooh.com/home.aspx.