There are two old adages that apply to this topic and any topic of political or social or economic impact, which in this instance are precisely the same.
1) Connect the dots..... AND...... 2) Follow the money!
In my view, the most important issue in our ongoing attempt "to form a more perfect union", is campaign and election reform. Because it impacts every act of congress, each element of social and economic activity, it is more important than issues as diverse as selection of Supreme Court Justices, climate reform, health care, economic reform, jobs, immigration or anything else we struggle with today. The way we elect our 'representatives' underpins everything that occurs as regards the moment by moment effects of our government on all of us.
In our republic where we trumpet democracy as our method of governing, we have turned away from the very precepts imagined and invented and written in blood by our founding fathers. Democracy is 'supposed' to mean we all have one vote, equally weighted whether you are the CEO of Goldman Sachs or the guy who loads trucks on the shipping dock of some manufacturing concern. That however, is not what we currently have. Until and unless we as completely as possible, remove the ability of Wall Street, banking and financial institutions, health insurance companies, big pharma, corporations, and big law firms to finance the candidacies (for or against) of would-be representatives, we will never have representative government, much less even the tiniest bit of bipartisanship in government. In comparison to the CEO's and wealthiest among us, the guy on the dock's vote has not even a scintilla of significance. It's not an exaggeration to say our elected officials (and candidates) are bought and paid for by special interest groups whose 'only' agenda is to profit, whether that profit be money or power. These same special interests create, write and pass legislation and regulatory policy that considers only their own agenda. Their 'hirelings' (our legislators) perform like trained seals for their masters, 'mouthpiecing' the droning disingenuous and harmful dogma of those they serve.
Whether we are right, left or center, perhaps most of us can agree the current system does not, will not, and cannot ever be a democratic process for electing those who would manage 'our' government. A 'public' repository of taxpayer funding must be created, whose sole purpose is to provide 'all' the resources that are legally available for campaigns. This has two important and positive elements. First, it is the only way to make our representatives answerable and accountable to 'we the people' in equal (or nearly equal) manner to special interests, and second, such reform is a much less expensive way to conduct elections. In fact, it's more than likely it would have the impact of reducing the currently protracted election cycles where candidates are focused on running and winning office for months or even years at a time. In the back of our minds, each and every one of us know if candidates are so busy trying to raise money for their campaigns, each day begging for contributions, or trying to find ways to do favors for those from whom they hope to enlarge their coffers, they are not doing the business of government and 'we the people'. We can discuss term limits and other aspects of campaign reform, but beneath it all, the most important and 'critical' element is 'money'. Money should not have influence in our elections. Ideas should! Elevated influence based on power should not have impact on who gains office. Americans should! Individual voters should. 'WE, the people' should.
Breaking the current system won't be easy. It's entrenched and so vast it will be like moving a mountain to succeed. Those people who are already in office have an advantage because they are the recipients of the largesse of special interests and can throw money at campaigns much more readily than the office seeker whose funding is far outstripped. Indeed, it's currently impossible for anyone to gain office who may wish to serve only at the will of the people. He/she is marginalized in any possible attempt at elected office. Again, to succeed in an effort to change the system will be difficult. However, in my long lifetime, I've not seen the will of the people readier to take on the task than I do right now. Americans are finally 'connecting the dots', finally following the money', and now they are beginning to KNOW with true realism and focus, and perhaps even commitment, exactly what it is that ails us. There are lots of small and disparate groups who possess the goal of election reform. They're easy to find online. It's my humble suggestion we reach out to those groups and participate in any way we can to the process of taking control of a government that is supposed to be ours. We ARE the government, and and it's time to make efforts to make that clear to our representatives. If we don't do that, it's our own fault. No blame can be placed upon anyone but us. If we do succeed, we once again have the opportunity to continue what has always been the promise of the great experiment with democracy.
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