All this creative & occasionally smart talk about Really Taking America Back is nice and all, but it won't happen until we peel the $$$ monkey off the back of candidates. I'm completely convinced that public campaign financing is the only effective way to do that, and made the case as well as I could in "You Should Pay for My Campaign," chapter 1 of As If We Were Grownups (if you comment on this post and ask to see Chapter 1 I'll send it to you).
Public financing is getting traction faster than I would have guessed. There's a really good website tracking it's progress, and a break-through column in this week's Newsweek. If you have any doubts about the issue's importance, or its political viability, go to these links. Please.
Does anyone doubt how core this is?
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What would you if I told you that I see nothing is wrong and that I have all of my power back including a totally functional democratic government? Also that any individual in our country can attain this position if they want it? No trick, no gimmicks, no money.
What would you do Jeff?
Well, anonymous, first I'd ask you to be less cryptic and give me a clearer idea of what you mean. Jeff
Ok.
I do not know how much time your request may take for me to satisfy...."be less cryptic and give me a clearer idea of what you mean".
Is that ok?
BTW-
you can call me Lee
SUre it's ok, Lee. I'll be interested in reading your thoughts whenever you get around to giving them. Jeff
I thought about your request Jeff, and I did not really understand it.
Could you expand on your question for me?
Thanks
Lee
Jeff,
Thanks for the interesting links, I also wanted to pass along the following:
Center for Responsive Politics
http://www.opensecrets.org/
CRP does an interesting job of tracking public campaign contributions and gives us some indication of where the money is.
Lee,
You had asked: "What would you if I told you that I see nothing is wrong and that I have all of my power back including a totally functional democratic government? Also that any individual in our country can attain this position if they want it?"
I would respond to your question by saying "Tell me how you have done this"
Dan,
Thanks, I appreciate your input. My question was framed to Jeff as hypothetical and I had my own reasons for that.
Obviously the ability to have all that I mentioned is possible, or what is the point?
However as Jeff and many have pointed out, the arrival at such an ideal cannot be gained through another individual who leads everyone else. That is the frame that has taken us to this point. We may desire to have another be our director because we want it to be that easy. But sharing and connecting from where we all are seems to be the best we can do. Gaining everything I queried Jeff about in my "what if" question seems to be the desired outcome for those on the journey, but there is an agreement that the way to this seems to be self-direction, not directions from another.
There are certain things I feel I can share through connection that will actually contribute to this.
Dan,
How would you feel about finding everything right, that you have your power back, and that your government is presently a fully functional democracy?
Thanks again Dan,
Lee
Lee,
Thanks for re-framing the question and I will do my best to respond as articulately as I can.
How would I feel about finding everything right, that I have my power back, and that our government is presently a fully functional democracy?
Honestly, I would feel relieved, I would feel inspired and I would feel more than a little bit overwhelmed for the tasks that we have ahead of us as a democracy, and the responsibilities that I have as a participating member in that.
And I suppose that in order to alleviate some of that sense of "wow this is really big, how can I address and participate in all of this?" I would probably take comfort in the fact that there are senators and congressmen and other elected officials that I can share/address my concerns with and know that our collective voices are being heard.
And I in my opinion that is the challenge of being a republic rather than a true democracy, because "we the people" add up to a lot of people now.
In 1776 the US population was approximately 3 million, now we are upwards of 300 million and as a nation we depend and rely on those we elect to look out for the greater good as well as the common good, and respect the majority. Maybe we've come to depend on that too much, maybe we've come to depend on getting "our candidate" in, in order to help facilitate our concerns and needs.
Once money becomes an issue and a means of leverage, either to help get "our candidate" into elected office and to help keep him/her there, then those with larger pockets could be able to draw more attention to their goals and concerns, and possibly draw a proportional amount of interest an attention to their concerns.
And I think with that in mind, campaign finance reform is an issue because as long as money does a significant part of the talking, some great ideas on both sides of the fence are going to get drowned out.
But to answer your question Lee, if I was to wake up and be in an environment where I could affect change, here would be the areas I'd hit first, in order of importance.
Again, these are just my beliefs and opinions:
1. Education - Bring up the current acceptable minimum from a High School diploma to at the very least an Associate's Degree, preferably a Bachelor's Degree. I am astounded in this day and age that nobody is addressing this. All roads lead from education.
2. National Security - I believe we should lead first with diplomacy while maintaining a strong military, which when needed to be used should be used within the quantifiable and measurable tenets of the Powell Doctrine.
3. Health Care - the system doesn't really work as it stands, and I've no idea how to fix it and I've yet to see a clear case by anyone on how it can be fixed, but it seems to work out in other countries... maybe now would be a good time to forge some of those diplomatic relationships?
4. Trade/Energy Independence - not everyone can be the CEO of a multinational corporation, but that doesn't mean people should be limited to greeting people at Walmart or flipping burgers. We put a guy on the moon, we invented the airplane and the automobile, we should continue to innovate and again if we can increase the level of education across the board, we will.
5. Immigration - this is probably the safest and softest issue that politicians are dancing around about, and in my opinion it's total fluff. We've got guidelines in place for people to work in the US and if they like, to apply for citizenship. Let's have a look at the guidelines, and revise them as we need to.
That's my 2 cents Lee, and that's what I'd love to see happen.
Lee, Dan, I'm so glad you've engaged in this discussion. Really good stuff. Dan, the list you compiled in the last post is brilliant, IMJ. I also appreciate your reminder that one appropriate reaction to getting our democracy back, after the cheers subside, is some amount of intimidation at all the work that lies ahead. That's very clear minded.
Interesting bit of history, heard this morning on NPR:
Neither George Washington nor the next five or six presidents campaigned for office. After Washington was unanimously chosen by the electorate twice, he agreed to take office.
This resembles the procedures of members of the B'hai faith when chosing a council (?) leader. If one wants to be leader, that one is not chosen. Everyone in the position of choosing simply selects the person who seems best qualified.
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