And what's so great about public financing? It would mean that money no longer warps policy making so the politics are pablum is replaced by the work of "making America again" One Vermont legislator proudly tells the story of a corporate lobbyist who promptly turned his back and started talking to someone else when he found out the legislator was a "clean campaign" candidate.
To me the intersection of problems in elections and campaign finance comes from corporations. The rise of the corporation as a force in American politics happened about the time of Civil War when the Republican party rose as the second majority party. The idea of corporate personhood arose through a misreading of a 19th century Supreme Court case, which has been carried over in every case since. And over that same 100 years since then another majority party has not been able to overcome the systemic hurtles as had happened several times over the 100 years before.
One self-reinforcing aspect of these systemic deficiencies is the ability to warp the power relationships. The company that owns Newsday also owns a TV station here. The corporation that owns the New York Post also owns 2 TV stations. President Clinton's Telecommunications Act helped usher in this era of media consolidation. And with the power and money accumulated by these large corporations, they are able to push Congress to allow for consolidation that benefits corporate person, but not real persons. The same dynamic works in all industries, the un-natural conglomeration of money and power in large corporations creates a gravity which warps legislation to the corporations needs despite the public interest. In the media arena, this means that there is no competition in the marketplace of ideas since there only a few vendors.
I heard an example of the effect of this lack of ideas while I was listening to a radio talk show yesterday. A caller complained that she had no way to judge President Bush's state of the Union address because she had not heard other plans to compare with his. Even if we change the system so we elect Congresspersons who feel free to propose the legislation to "make America again", we also need a media that will carry it through to that woman.
And don't let them make you think that it's consolidation into a liberal media. Last year, a bunch of Copiague High School alumni met to catch up on things at the bar owned by one of us. One of my friends told me of an encounter that happened before I arrived. My friend had mentioned that she worked for NBC News. She was immediately talked down to by the girlfriend of an alumni who didn't like how the liberal press was treating "her" president. My friend asked her what she was talking about NBC is owned by GE, a defense contractor.
Those are my demands to those in power. I would like to start winding up by recalling the circumstances of Dr. King's 1963 Letter from Birmingham Jail. Dr. King had gotten arrested in Birmingham for peacefully protesting against segregation there. Eight pastors from the local community wrote a "Call for Unity" saying that segregation should be only dealt with in the courts, not the streets. I take the following paragraph from Dr. King's reply as a continuing call to action to enact the ideas proposed here:
Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with an its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.
So please take my words as a call to action. For we must act together to "make America again" In the spirit of acting together, I would like to end my presentation with the same Marge Piercy poem that Bill Moyers just ended his speech at the National Conference on Media Reform.
The low road What can they do to you? Whatever they want. They can set you up, they can bust you, they can break your fingers, they can burn your brain with electricity, blur you with drugs till you can''t walk, can''t remember, they can take your child, wall up your lover. They can do anything you can't stop them from doing. How can you stop them? Alone, you can fight, you can refuse, you can take what revenge you can but they roll over you. But two people fighting back to back can cut through a mob, a snake-dancing filecan break a cordon, an army can meet an army. Two people can keep each other sane, can give support, conviction, love, massage, hope, sex. Three people are a delegation, a committee, a wedge. With four you can play bridge and start an organization. With six you can rent a whole house, eat pie for dinner with no seconds, and hold a fund raising party. A dozen make a demonstration. A hundred fill a hall. A thousand have solidarity and your own newsletter; ten thousand, power and your own paper; a hundred thousand, your own media; ten million, your own country. It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again and they said no, it starts when you say We and know you who you mean, and each day you mean one more.
The Wilder's life has always veered between art and politics. When they got together in the late 1990's, Kimberly and Ian ratcheted up their activities. Together, Ian and Kimberly Wilder published chapbooks; gave dozens of poetry readings; published poetry; wrote newspaper articles; and hosted events.
Ian has performed spoken word as a part of the near-mythic folk groovin' band Nylon & Steel, and was co-founding lyricist for the duo Spiritwalkers. His work with Nylon & Steel can be found on the album "Slip Behind the Molecule".
With Nader's 2000 presidential campaign, the Wilders were drawn back into politics. Within four years they had co-founded the Babylon Greens at their kitchen table; run the first full ticket of Greens in their town's history; got Kimberly twice elected to the Executive Committee of Green Party of New York State; and then Ian to the position of GPNYS State Party Co-chair.
In 2006 , Ian stepped back from state politics after retaining the right to enroll Green in NY by successfully getting Malachy McCourt on the ballot for Governor , and Kimberly returned to the Executive Committee for a third term.
you make several rather excellent points regarding the way our current politics system works, or rather fails to work for the good of the community, instead focussing on the welfare of the wealthy few and the selfish interests and needs of those who need to raise monies for reelection campaigns. I am certain that, as a professed Green yourself, you understand to large degree how this single facet warps the entire process of governance.
I have come to understand that, no matter the eloquence of the campaigner, no matter the promises made to the voter, once elected the lawmaker turns that allegiance to those who can ensure or deny reelection. Do you really expect these sold souls to actually consider real election reform when they have flourished under the current and crooked system? Do you think them capable of banning lobbyists when they, themselves, hunger for a retirement job paying a large six figure annual stipend. Never mind that they once spoke with passion about ending corruption, war and poverty, there just isnt any money in that crap.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2388 comments)
on Monday, February 5, 2007 at 11:08:32 AM
