How come the Defense Department gets more money than any other department? Arms dealers spend money in campaigns and in lobbying. How come when Congress considers energy policy, the oil industry, the greatest emitter of pollution and CO2, comes out on top? Though it is the most lucrative of all industries, the oil industry gets subsidies! How come that in this day of impending climate change disaster, Congress talks about "clean coal"? The coal industry has power by feeding money to Congress. How come it is so difficult to pass an integrated healthcare system that covers everybody, when the majority of people say they favor it? Insurance and other companies contribute money to Congress.
In almost every area, Congress can't deliver what the people want because they must please the money people. That's another way of saying that we can't maintain our democracy as long as money has such power. If we want democray we must get rid of the influence of money in political life. Lawrence Lessig says it best:
For I’ve come to believe that this isn’t just one among a number of important issues. It is the issue. It is the single issue we need to solve if every other important issue is going to have a chance of being solved sensibly. The dependency of modern campaign finance is the single most important cause of the bankruptcy of Congress. Fixing this bankruptcy is the single most important reform effort that Americans face just now.
Today everybody is talking about "change." The one who started this "change" talk is Barack Obama. This is why I got onto the Obama bandwagon and this why I was sorely disappointed when Obama did not take government provided money when he previously said he would. Sure he can collect more money through his appeals to ordinary people. However, this is not a decent reason for his action.
Originally, campaign finance reform was on Obama's agenda. But he talks very little about it now. This is another example of the power of money in campaigns. Yes, he is collecting mostly from ordinary citizens. But he has fundraisers for rich people too. The chances that a campaign finance reform act will pass in an Obama Administration are slim.
Too bad. Campaign finance reform is the FIRST issue, and nothing can be accomplished unless this reforem is enacted.
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