"the rich have the right to buy more cars than anyone else, more homes, vacations, gadgets and gizmos, but they do not have the right to buy more democracy than anyone else.
-Bill Moyers
Campaign finance reform has generally had widespread support from the left but it has never been a top priority and it has often been ignored and underfunded. The liberal blogosphere has instead been focused on 'getting democrats elected' with the hope that if we elect enough Democrats they will support a liberal agenda.
In 2008, we finally put Democrats in control of the House, Senate, and Presidency but we are learning the painful lesson that this is no guarantee of getting progressive legislation passed. Electing Democrats is not enough, we need to elect good legislators that are willing and able to fight for the voters not for campaign contributions.
When the voices of ordinary citizens compete with those of corporate lobbyists with big donations, we lose every time. On issue after issue, the initiatives from Democrats are watered down, ineffective, or nonexistent. I realize we have a slim majority and I don't expect Democratic leaders to win every battle, but I do expect them to show up for every battle.
"I'd remind the agribusinessman I was on the Agriculture Committee; I'd remind the banker I was on the Banking Committee. Most large contributors understand only two things: what you can do for them and what you can do to them. I always left that room feeling like a cheap prostitute who'd had a busy day."
-Former U.S. Sen. Zell Miller
On health insurance reform, a single-payer plan has been methodically eliminated from all debate and even a meaningful public option is far from certain. In Iraq and Afghanistan, we are hiring more private contractors than ever and even spending cuts supported by the Pentagon are opposed by Congress. On Wall Street, we are continuing a policy of outright give-aways of trillions of dollars with no accountability, no transparency, and not much chance of any meaningful reform.
The Obama Administration has made some moves in the right direction. They have talked about closing tax loopholes and talked about financial reform but they have yet to show any ability or appetite for taking on an entrenched corporate special interest and most Democrats in Congress no help at all.
The left needs to make campaign finance reform our top priority. Our current system of legalized bribery is quite literally destroying this country. I don't think it is overstating things to say that the military-industrial-congressional-complex, the energy companies, the insurance and pharmaceutical companies, agribusiness, the prison lobby, and Wall Street (did I miss anybody?) are altering all legislation out of Washington and the cumulative effect of this is to systematically drain our treasury, plunder our resources, bankrupt the middle-class, and block all efforts to change course.
We can no longer try to cure the disease by treating the symptoms. We can no longer cling to the hope that electing Democrats will change Washington. The current system has a stranglehold on our politics no matter which party is in power. We cant change the politicians until we change the system.
"And the banks -- hard to believe in a time when we're facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created -- are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place"
Senator Dick Durbin
The Obama model of electing a president with many small contributions helps but as we are finding out it is not sufficient. We need true public financing.
So how do we get elected officials to institute a system that endangers their job?
- The left has to unite behind this goal, make it a visible priority, force Democratic candidates and politicians to at least give clean elections lip service.
- Build public outrage, use every political discussion as an opportunity to point out the problems with the current system. Don't talk about health insurance reform without mentioning the undue influence of health insurance lobbyists, don't talk about the financial crisis without talking about the role of Wall Street lobbyists in creating the mess and vetoing possible solutions. Because almost every political issue is corrupted by the power of big money, there will be no shortage of opportunities to talk about this.
If we can convince people that their problems are caused not by liberals, immigrants, or regulations, but by the corrupting influence of big money on political decisions, we win. People know instinctively that politics is corrupt and correctly blame both parties, we need to be on the side of a solution.
- Institute campaign reform at the state level. Apply the Maine and Arizona models to other states. This will allow people in those states to see that they get cleaner government and to elect good clean money candidates to federal positions. We allowed clean election initiatives to fail in California and Alaska, we can't continue to take our eye off the ball.
- Donate money to candidates that vow to support campaign finance reform and don't donate to candidates that support the status quo.
- Tell your Representative and Senators to support the Fair Elections Now Act.
There is a long list of much-needed priorities, but we need to realize that change has to be conducted in a specific order. Until we fix the campaign finance system, we will be swimming upstream on every other progressive priority.
"Any voter with a healthy understanding of the flaws of human nature and who notices the vast amounts of money solicited and received by politicians cannot help but believe that we are unduly influenced by our benefactors' generosity."
- U.S. Senator John McCain
For a passionate argument for campaign finance reform read the always brilliant Bill Moyers.