I've seen a lot of back and forth on social media in the recent weeks, on one side the democrats, the other the republicans. What puzzles me is that there really is no choice. Recent changes to the election rules and process have removed that choice. If you look at the money being donated by various PAC's it gets obscene, the politicians are in the pockets of the super rich and various corporations before the ballots are even counted. I can imagine easily what happens should a politician have an attack of conscience these days.
"Do as we say or we'll pull your campaign funding and give it to your opponent who will be more compliant with our direction."
What chance does the average person have here? Little? None? When the media is controlled by the same shadowy figures in the background. It reminds me of a clip from an oldish film, something I used to giggle at but has ended up being a little more profound than likely originally intended.
We all laughed, at least those who have seen this scene. But how accurate has it become, it may not be five. There is a list, recently published by Sen. Bernie Sanders listing people who have contributed significant sums to various political campaigns. Removing the slant and just looking at the numbers, the first thing I thought of was what are people getting from this, you don't donate that kind of money without some sort of payoff. So what do you get for a $15,200,000.00 donation to a party or candidate?
Anyone who can still look me in the face and say democracy still works needs to check themselves into a facility for a good mental health work-up or M.I.T. as the first living trans-dimensional transfer, as this isn't the reality most of us are familiar with.
A look at the statistics.
Looking at some of the polls and I'll only list one here, from Gallup.
I'm not sure about you, but if I had a performance rating that hadn't exceeded 18% for a year I don't think my employment would still be a reality, I certainly wouldn't expect a paycheck for performing so poorly. So why does the electorate tolerate this from the people they elected?
There was a viral e-mail that circulated last year called the 2011 Congressional Reform Act, it's resurfaced again this year and is doing the rounds on both Facebook as well as Google+. Though it contains some dubious claims it makes some reasonable demands. The problem is that there is no cohesive movement, it consists of various grassroots folks who need to come together and form a single movement. One of them is petition2congress.com. The key is keep it simple and very straightforward, no room for debate for it to get bogged down in. So how do the People get what they want?
1. First you ask
Well I guess the first step is to just plain call your Congressmen and women and ask. We as a people want constitutional reform. Here are our demands, action them or we kick you out at the next election.
Hmmm....I can't see that working, they say "no" and we are left to elect Peter instead of Paul at the next election. So now we cycle between two candidates who are not about to bite the hand that feeds them. Another avenue is..,
2. Constitutional Convention
So congress refuses to act or even discuss constitutional reform, to be honest I wouldn't expect them to. There is a mechanism for the States to work without Congress, Article V of the Constitution.
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.So get two thirds of the states to petition for it and it can be done. Though I think we'll run into the same problem in step 1. We're still dealing with money and politics. So should the States be unwilling to entertain the notion of restricting political careers, we move on to step 3.
3. Recall Elections
You have a politician or system that refuses to comply with the wishes of the majority. When you're stuck in a rut you need some leverage to get out, usually in the form of a lever or crowbar. Currently I'm having some work done on my house, oddly enough it now seems rather apt that one of the contractors referred to a crow bar as an "attitude readjuster". Recall elections have different requirements in different states, and I'll not go into all the details. It might not be quick, the People may need to become recursive, working their way down to possibly local levels to get their voices heard. But then maybe change needs to start at the roots in local government.
4. Power comes back to the people
Eventually we get to step 4. Power comes back to those who own it, not those who have purchased it. For too long we have listened to the popular mainstream media, listened to the bickering between the left and the right. The Internet has brought a whole new dimension to the world, movements can now be ethereal, composed of nothing but pulses of light within an optical network. The pulses can pack punches, and virtual punches land as hard as physical ones at the ballot box.
Left or Right, Republican or Democrat, whatever you choose to call yourself, it doesn't matter. Soon the cats will realize the dogs are not the enemy.
