The only way to regain and retain our democracy is to put into the hands of the people
Our government, our democracy, has been, over the years, bought and paid for by the rich and corporate. Billions are spent every year by lobbyists, PACS, wealthy individuals, corporations and others in order to get the legislation and policies that are favorable to them. Tax breaks, reductions in the social safety net, the ever increasing march towards oligarchy and authoritarianism. All of the current problems in our government can be traced to one root cause, the vast influx of money into our politics and government. Democrats and Republicans both are afflicted with this problem, though the argument can be made that it is Republicans who have sold their soul moreso than Democrats, both parties have done so to one degree or another. This is killing our country, and literally killing our people.
Since money is the root cause, the eliminating it is the only logical solution. I propose that we adapt a Constitional amendment for publicly financed elections. A mere law would get reviewed and revised into meaninglessness, therefore it has to be an amendment. From dog catcher to President, local, state and national elections should be publicly financed. Each candidate or ballot measure would get X amount of cash and X amount of free air time and advertising, and X amount of time to run their campaign.
Furthermore we need to eliminate the lobbying industry. Over five billion dollars was spent last year alone on lobbying at the local, state and national levels. This too would require a Constitutional Amendment, combining the two would probably be too much. We would want no paid lobbyists contacting our lawmakers, no post term job offers for lawmakers, and no gifts of any kind.
Now here's the distasteful part, we would have to work across party lines in order to achieve these goals. Ordinary rank and file conservatives are as sick of the money infecting our government as we are. I live in a deep red state and yet when I talk to friends, neighbors and family, they all agree that we need to eliminate the money in the system. We need that kind of bipartisan public pressure to achieve this goal. And when there is a Republican who is in favor of these amendments, and a Democrat is opposed, hold our nose and vote for those who will vote for these amendments. Whatever damage that said Republican does, as long as they follow through and support and vote for these amendments, we can correct it later after the amendments are passed. For you see, study after study has shown that the American people, even now, are more liberal than our elections and government indicate. Once you put the fate of our country in the hands of the people they will do what is best for the people.
Frankly this is the only peaceful, nonviolent solution I see to solving our current problems. Otherwise the oligarchs are going to keep putting the screws to us, doing what is best for them and leaving the rest of us to rot and die. Eventually the resentment and discontent will build among the populace until it reaches a breaking point. Then it will be either a civil war or violent revolution, and nobody wants that.
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