Yes

by L.B. Woodgate

Created on: May 19, 2010   Last Updated: May 20, 2010

It’s hard not to be cynical with the current state of politics in this country.  I find myself lapsing in and out of this mood from time to time.  Anyone you ask will readily affirm their disappointment with “the way things are being handled in Washington”, and if recent primary elections are any indicator, changing the status quo appears to be at the top of most voters’ minds.  But we need to be careful not to condemn the process simply because our mood swings negative on a fundamentally sound system when all operatives are in play.

The political process as it was established shortly after we broke ties with the British crown a couple of centuries back was something of a marvel for its day. 

For the first time in history people had achieved a means by which “commoners” could direct the course of government by simply taking the time to involve themselves in it.  But therein lays the key to its effectiveness – Public Involvement.  This is often easier said than done though it’s not outside the realm of possibility. 

With the aid of faster communications today via the Internet, Twitter and social websites, our ability to affect the political process has been empowered over previous eras.

However, no system is without some inherent weakness and the weakness with the American style of democracy is that it can be gamed by those who can engage it more frequently than most others. 

This will occur by virtue of the fact that some have more time and money on their hands than the general voting public.  We refer to these frequently engaging parties as “lobbyists”.

Lobbying is a legal form of getting your interests before the elected official who represents “your interests”, that is, the interests of thousands of others who tend to think like you on most issues but never quite exactly the same way. 

He or she who has the ear of government officials the most tend to influence the outcome and thus the path that “democracy” takes in America.  A close look at which direction we’ve taken as a nation should alert you as to who has the greater influence in the halls of political power.

Though there are a plethora of lobbies that support “grass roots” organizations, they are often outspent by corporate lobbyists.  When the public is near full employment and they are busying themselves fulfilling some notion of the American dream, politics moves along unnoticed by most citizens. 

It is only when their comfort zone has been disrupted do voters take heed of what is taking place in legislatures.  When things go wrong someone has to take the heat so who more traditionally fits this role than government, especially those sent to Washington?

While most of us were enjoying bigger screen TVs, homes, SUVs, and the newest technologies via the Web, lobbyists within the business sector were still dutifully performing their civic function and making sure that their interests were being met. 

For the public in general, the small grassroots efforts that were trying to be heard over the frequent corporate-funded efforts encouraging us to spend more, never really got the attention of the people who are now clamoring for change and wanting their country back.

Meanwhile, Washington and state capitals were accommodating the needs of Big Oil, Big Pharma, the banks and other financial interests by subsidizing their activities at tax payer expense and oh so subtly increasing their bottom line by getting laws passed increasing interest rates on credit cards and fees for any and all financial transactions. 

We didn’t seem to notice it that much because, well, we were gainfully employed, it only affected a small number of people and the future looked bright for most of us.  And then the Great Recession hit.

In less than a year our excesses caught up with us and the floor dropped out from underneath our economic aspirations.  Unemployment nearly tripled, millions lost their home and prospects looked dim, very dim. 

Then salt was poured into the wound and it was discovered that while most Americans were doing what they thought was the right thing, many in the corporate world had not been. 

The housing bubble burst when financial lenders realized that the packaged deals they bought from Wall Street weren’t worth the paper they were written on, yet many who sold these toxic assets still received bonuses and bailout funds from the tax payers for doing such a pitiful job.

It’s true that when we elect officials to represent us in local, state and federal government we expect them to make sure that excesses do not occur where some prosper to the detriment of weaker contingents. 

To this degree the government did fail the people by not properly overseeing the activities of the moneyed interests and were in fact in bed with a lot of them for personal gain. 

There were laws and guidelines on the books; they were just conveniently overlooked by too many in Congress and the White House who shared cozy relationships with their private sector counterparts.

Yet it was the public in general that failed to understand the depth and breadth of de-regulation and the negative consequences that its history has shown can occur. 

We have been too pro-capitalistic and less democratic and in so doing we tended to agree with the corporate view that what’s good for corporate America is good for all Americans; more “free markets”; less government was the mantra by conservative ideologues like Milton Friedman and Alan Greenspan. 

Lulled by this false sense of assurance that Capitalism and Democracy were on the same page we allowed powerful corporate interest to assimilate into the social structure of our daily lives, even allowing them the same rights as a person through court rulings as recently as March of this year in the Supreme Court decision, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

Presidents Washington and Jefferson warned us about the insidious corrupt influence of corporate power on the body politic and Eisenhower pleaded with the American electorate in his farewell speech to beware the “military-industrial complex”. 

Eliminated from his public speech were the concerns too about Congress’ role with this “cozy arrangement” and the ability of wealthy interest to influence legislation that benefited the corporate bottom line of many.

The attitude today to “throw ALL the bums out” doesn’t really focus on the problem nor will it create a political system that will serve the public interests.  As long as the moneyed interests remains the change in personnel, no matter what they espouse on the campaign trail, will still work against those who sent them there without constant monitoring from active citizens. 

Well-funded grassroots organizations can serve the public needs but it must be a constant effort by a healthy and reasonable majority.  Once they break down into radical and reactionary vigilante mob-type actions they only distance themselves from the mainstream crowds that make up a strong middle class society. 

Healthy public grassroots efforts are the only counterbalance to the self-serving interests of large corporations and their political allies in representative government.  

We can’t simply vote every two or four years and then wash our hands of our public responsibility, only to rail at the very system many encouraged through their earlier apathy.  The system WILL serve your interests if you genuinely show interest in it.

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