Before I present my editorial for our traditional Sunday round up I wanted to mention two things:
1). Good luck to all of us in the northeast - the next 48 hours look to be a real "hold on to your hat" weather maker. We are forecast to get five inches of wet heavy snow and this in mid spring!!!
2). My only statement on Don Imus. While the entire nation was focused on an incredibly insulting and stupid shock jock who is no different than Savage on the so called Savage Nation or Ann Coulter, who called for the "fragging" of Congressman Murtha, the following articles about US and Iraqi deaths were published, usually on page two. By my count over 30 US KIA - this while the Nation debated Don Imus. You want to hear an obscene statement? Here it is: 35 US Soldiers killed in a civil war in Iraq while President Bush sees progress.
April 5: 8 soldiers in 3 days; April 6, 2 more, April 8, 10 more over the weekend; Monday April 9, 6 more; Tuesday April 10, 3 more; Wednesday, 2 more; Friday, 3 more; Saturday, April 14, 3 US troops killed.
Last week I wrote about fundraising in a diary entitled Fundraising Realities: People-Powered Politics vs. the Fat Cats. That diary focused on the need for lots of small donors to combat the undue influence of big money in politics and how that applies to the district I am running in, NY-29. This week I want to talk more about what the results are of politics controlled by big money and then what do about it.
Let’s start with this quote from last week from Change to Win dot Org:
Economic conditions for workers are deteriorating so dramatically in the new American economy that an overwhelming majority, nearly 70 percent, now say that basic security - not opportunity - is their number one concern, according to a new survey released today. The finding is a stunning reflection of the anxiety, anger and demand for action rising in Working America in the global economy. Among the other key results of the poll of 800 non-supervisory workers:
- Nearly 80 percent of workers, both college and non-college alike, no longer believe the next generation will be better off. Nearly half think their children will be worse
- Nearly 80 percent of workers view multinational corporations as too powerful, and have driven down wages, eliminated health care and retirement security, and disregarded labor laws.
- Nearly 70 percent of workers feel that government doesn't take action to rein in greedy and unethical behavior by corporations and CEOs.
Corruption
These are the part of the results of government bought and paid for by big corporate interests. As we have noted time and again over the last few years, big business is seeing record profits while the working families of America are suffering. The gap between the haves and the have-nots is growing. And it is being sensed by the people even though you aren’t hearing about it much in the media. Our job is to tie this to the Republican practice of helping those who have and pretending to help those who have not even as you are slowly putting the screws to them.
Karl Rove and company started tilting the scales of justice before they left Texas, looking to put in place judges who were sympathetic to the interests of corporate donors. (link) Their plan was later used by Big Tobacco to accomplish elsewhere what Rove and company did in Texas. (link) Once in Washington, they helped further along the K Street Project and other corruption, as seen most easily in the Abramoff scandals but also including numerous other examples of corruption, some of which was being investigated under the auspices of fired US attorney Carol Lam, among others.
Cronyism and Incompetence, Weakening of Oversight
Another result of Rovian governance is the use of political appointments as a sort of spoils system where loyalty to the White House and Republican dominance is more important than experience or competence. This came out in the open during the FEMA debacle following Katrina but is continuously evident, as in the recess nomination of Bush Crony Fox. There is strong evidence that the Justice Department has been deprofessionalized, especially with the attempted replacement of competent but apolitical US Attorneys with more partisan appointees.
Throughout the government apparatus that is in place to produce competent governance and prevent abuse the Bush administration has used political appointees to weaken the oversight or minimize the effectiveness of government programs (link, link), notably affecting the EPA and the FDA. This sometimes results in seeming incompetence that is actually producing weakened oversight that was exactly what was intended.
What to Do: Just say no to Lobbyists and Big Corporate Donors
There are other examples of how big money has bought influence at the expense of the working families of America but this was not meant to be an exhaustive list, just an example of the problems. But this brings us to a more important topic: What can we do to change this? We need to raise public awareness and keep talking about all these things. We need to do some boycotts. And so forth. But the thing I want to emphasize today is the need to just say no to corporate donors.
Last week I noted that Senator Obama’s fundraising success from such a large number of donors was a hopeful sign for those of us looking to reduce the influence of big money in politics. This week I noticed that both Senators Obama and Edwards have turned down donations from lobbyists and corporate PACs. (link) This is a good sign. We need to demand more of this from our headliner politicians.
I will add that if I had been in Senator Clinton’s shoes during the endless investigations she faced from Republicans while her husband was president, many of the same ones now complaining about investigations into Republican malfeasance, I would also be hesitant to turn away money that I felt necessary to fight the inevitable Republican onslaught of lies and distraction, which she discussed here. Nevertheless I would encourage her to also consider the idea of saying no to lobbyists and corporate PACs, especially considering the way Republicans used K Street to help shoot down the health care reforms she tried to bring about even before she was "Senator" Clinton. I agree with Larry in NYC that she, and the other likely nominees, should be acceptable to the whole of the Democratic Party, especially when compared with the Republicans who are running and all of whom will have trouble being accepted by some branch of the Republican Party.
Conclusion: I need your help
As I noted in last week’s diary, I have always maintained a policy of not accepting corporate PAC money. I had some fundraising success last time, but it came late and if I had been more successful earlier I might have been able to fight against the negative ads that Republicans inundated me with at the end of the campaign. Consider that media bought early costs a fraction of the costs of media (TV, radio, cable and direct mail) bought in the final weeks of the campaign. From the beginning almost everyone told me I was crazy to turn down corporate PAC money, but I think it was the right thing to do. And I still do.
This time the DCCC has asked me to raise $300,000 by June 30. Even though that might seem counter to the idea of getting big money out of politics, as one responder noted last week, I do feel that it is possible. The last time I outraised my opponent and raised $1.5 million, even without a single penny from corporate PAC money. I’m turning to the netroots to help me stick to principle and achieve fundraising success again, only sooner. I don’t expect to get all of the money from the netroots. I have lots of houseparties and other fundraisers lined up and am spending a lot of time on the phone asking for money. But I do need your help if I am to have any chance of reaching the $300,000 goal and getting out to meet the voters who did not get a chance to hear me last time. Help me bring people-powered politics to NY-29 by contributing here.
Next week, no more discussions about money but rather a focused consideration on the needed National movement to join the fight to correct global warming and why I support it.