We need campaign finance reform, to buy back
our democracy! Candidates should be enabled to run - and win -
without becoming beholden to campaign financiers. The
Fair Elections Now Act would publicly fund all races for
the U.S. Senate and House, paid for by a tax on the largest media
conglomerates.
For too long, lawmaking
in America has been for sale, up for auction. The high bidders
win. Campaign
cash rolls in; political favors roll out.
This is why we see
bailouts for Wall Street and hedge fund investors, but not for
homeowners.
This is why bankruptcy
laws were written by banks and credit card companies - who made
lavish contributions to Congress while that bill was being negotiated.
This is why under
Medicare Part-D, the federal government is prohibited by law from
negotiating lower prices for prescription medicines - a back room
deal, the payoff for pharmaceutical companies for their contributions
to campaigns and lobbyists.
Do you wonder: Why
is health care so expensive? Why in America do we spend twice
as much per person on health care as any other industrialized
country - and for that, our health care outcomes (infant mortality,
life expectancy, etc.) fall behind? Is it because 30-cents of
every health care dollar is spent on lobbying, marketing, dividends
to corporate investors, unconscionable compensation paid to top
CEOs, and the administrative nightmare and market inefficiency
of a for-profit health insurance system?
What will be the
outcome this year as Congress considers the health care issue?
Already the
corporate interests are lining up, to protect their profit
in this important segment of our economy.
Campaign finance
reform is essential to progress on every issue we care about.
Every significant
public policy issue - food safety, energy, banking and finance,
environmental protection, rights of workers, health care - has
been skewed by the influence of private campaign cash and lawmakers
beholden to big donors. Anyone who would truly represent the public
interest can't get a foot in the door.
We simply must change
the system - and we can! But it will take a grassroots uprising
- with informed citizens, mobilized into action.
~ Craig Salins
Salins is Executive
Director of Washington Public Campaigns, working for public financing
of campaigns at every level. washclean.org
