I already assumed that Senators need to raise a lot of money to run a campaign, but I didn't know it was THIS MUCH: $782 per hour. Here's the infographic from United Republic:
I can't get over these numbers: To run a campaign for Senator, you need to raise $782 PER HOUR for six years. There is no mystery as to why the system is so corrupt. Even the consciences of most good-hearted people will wilt in this terrible environment.
Do you care about saving your Democracy even one-tenth as much as you care about the Olympics, or going to the movies, or eating your favorite food? I challenge you to spend five minutes watching this video by Bill Moyers, and then acting on it like you really and truly give a damn. It's time to take back America. [Addendum] A friend watched this video, but asked "What can we do about this?" Here's what I suggested: Good question. For starters, we need to make a LOT of noise. Let's embarrass politicians for their inaction. Any time we have contact with politicians in public places, we need advocate for public financing of campaigns and for a constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United. Raise this topic with friends and family who would rather talk about movies and sports. Educate them one by one as to what is at stake. We can support great organizations such as Common Cause, Public Citizen and United Republic. Support media reform by supporting organizations such as Free Press (I attend their annual conferences) Here are some of the many candidates for an Amendment to the Constitution. http://unitedrepublic.org/amendments-guide/ For further inspiration, watch this short video featuring Dylan Ratigan and his guests from United Republic.
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The following excerpt is from the "Ideas" list from the July/August 2012 issue of The Atlantic:
During the 1950s and ’60s, financial institutions were tightly regulated. Bankers did not make money by trading for their own account but instead earned fees for providing advice to their customers and serving as a go-between for companies raising capital. Their goal was to get to know their clients well, understand their problems, and act in their best interests—somewhat like family doctors. They were not compensated absurd amounts. Wall Street was viewed as a place not for high flyers but for sober, cautious people who were perhaps a little boring. Meanwhile, the economy boomed and we had very few financial crises. Let us hope we are heading back to those days.
I wondered whether this would happen, and it is happening: Mitt Romney is representing far more than himself on the campaign trail. He has become the face that people are now associating with the 1%. Further, Romney's ideas and disconnectedness are going to deemed representative of the 1%. Romney and his friends are going to be seen as the people perceived as controlling Congress. As the America economy stays stagnant or sinks further, Mitt Romney's face is the face that people are going to associate with the destruction of the U.S. economy, and with the inability of Republicans to offer them anything other than the "free market." At this point, I'm wondering whether the Republican Convention is going to have the mood of a funeral. Nonetheless, some polls show Romney neck in neck with Obama, but I suspect that the existence of secret overseas bank accounts is a wound that's going to keep on bleeding all the way to election day, along with the fact that Romney is out there criticizing what is essentially his own health care plan. These are two non-starters for a man who will repeatedly remind many Americans of the guy that fired them and who doesn't give a shit about them.
Colin Beavan became made his mark as No Impact Man (and see here). That was his first grand experiment, and it taught me how threatening it is to most people to suggest that we should take concrete steps to live in a truly sustainable way. Now Beavan has begun his second grand experiment: to run for Congress as a member of the Green Party. Beavan is not a polished politician; rather he talks like you and me. He speaks from the heart and with thoughtfulness. He bemoans that Americans lack meaning and purpose. He notes that we've lost our ideals. He repeatedly points out that our warmongering country is run by the people who have most of the money and that they will do anything to keep it through the use of their financial resources and their lobbyists. Here is the question that haunts me. Assume that we didn't have a history of two main parties (Beavan calls them the "old-fashioned parties) running on corporate money and warmongering, and assume that it was NOT the case that one of those two parties invariably prevailed in Presidential elections. Assume, then, that you were asked to vote from one of the slick candidates with the heavy corporate ties, or for a thoughtful candidate who is not beholden to corporate money and who stands for the ideals listed below. In that case, it would be my belief that Colin would have a substantial chance to win the election based on his ideas and his utter lack of corruption and corporate ties. The problem is that he doesn't have hundreds of millions of dollars or a slick party machine, and he is not buffeted along by that intractable American assumption that it is preordained that one of the old-fashioned party candidates will be the winner. Immediately below, you'll see Colin's 18-minute speech at the Green Party National Convention. Below that video, you'll see Beavan's main talking points, which he sent to me today in a mass emailing.
Here is the speech I made at the Green Party National Convention on Saturday. It's 20 minutes long so if you don't want to watch it but you want to know the themes: 1. Democracy works on the principle that wisdom is collected from a group in order to make decisions that result in the greatest good for the greatest number. 2. The two old-fashioned parties have betrayed that ideal and are so frightened by the crises that face us that they no longer trust the people. 3. Instead, they meet behind closed doors with their corporate campaign contributors and make decisions from there how our country should move forward. [More . . . ]