The 1% has shown us who they are. The climate is in crisis. We don’t know and have no control of what is being put into our foods. Our prisons are operating on a for-profit basis. And the post office, an institution whose very founding is at the root of the success of our nation, is being undercut, putting many thousands out of work, including many veterans. Teachers, firefighters, police, and other public sector workers are being laid off putting our children’s futures and the safety of our communities at risk. The cost of education is being shifted entirely to the individual. Healthcare costs, both public and private, are through the roof, and still, as a group, our life expectancy ranks 42nd in the world. Our infant mortality rate ranks worse than that of Cuba and Taiwan. We have many other issues like predatory lending and home foreclosures. I’ve just mentioned a few.
One day I looked around, and seeing all the problems I thought, “Somebody’s got to do something--we can’t let this continue!” And after a bit more looking around the answer was obvious--we have a huge problem, and it’s going to take a lot of effort by a lot of people to bring about necessary change. I realized I was going to have to do more than write a check this time. We all do.
I remember driving home from work in Southern Indiana on January 21st, 2010 and hearing the news report on NPR saying that the Supreme Court had ruled in the Citizens United vs. FEC case allowing corporations to spend without limit in our elections. I looked around as I came off the bridge and closed my sunroof--which I always opened in case the bridge collapsed and I needed to escape--and wondered why the streets weren’t full of people screaming like their hair was on fire! Was everyone oblivious to what had just happened to us? Did we still think we had representatives in government looking out for us? Were we so steeped in the myth of American Exceptionalism that we didn’t think it possible for anyone to steal our own liberty and democracy from right beneath our noses?
Over the next several months things kept growing worse and worse all around me. The developers in my only 40% complete subdivision declared bankruptcy and the already dilapidated conditions grew worse. All over town foreclosure signs went up as families who had invested all they had were displaced from homes because, sometime in the fairly recent past, lenders stopped trying to protect themselves from loss by making sure people could afford the homes they were buying. They had a new way to protect themselves. They sold their risky investments to unsuspecting buyers--like the managers of your retirement accounts. So you lost money too while others were losing their homes.
I think it's past time to turn our attention specifically to getting money out of politics. We should be petitioning the politicians at all levels of government in our communities to support an amendment to overturn the Citizens United decision. It won’t be easy but we must get this done! It is going to take all of us working together. Their power is money. Our power is in numbers--we need people power. We must re-establish a government and system that works for all of us--not just the few at the top. It's our move!
(Yes, I'm in the middle of a campaign, and this is an attempt to "lure" you into joining me in taking action! But it doesn't matter which organization you choose to work with. There are plenty of organizations working to overturn the Citizens United vs. FEC decision, or you can start your own! I hope you decide to take part. Like I said before, "We've lost in the money arena--we have to have people power to win!")
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