Tomorrow night, we'll see returns from the New Hampshire primary, the second contest in the Republican Presidential nomination. Most people think of this as an election, where voters go to the polls and select their preferred candidate. But I believe, and an increasing number of viewers believe, that our political system has become an auction in which the highest bidder wins.
If something about this election feels wrong to you, you're not alone. Here are 10 headlines about the political process that show why we need to end the auction by getting money out of politics.
1) The candidate with more money wins: From OpenSecrets.org on the 2008 elections: "In 93 percent of House of Representatives races and 94 percent of Senate races that had been decided by mid-day Nov. 5, 2008 the candidate who spent the most money ended up winning."
2) Congress's main job is to raise money, not govern: A political director at a PAC shared this on Quora: "Here is a general rule of thumb for US House incumbents. They need to raise roughly $10,000 a week started the day they are elected."
3) 48 percent say most members of Congress are corrupt: A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 48 percent of "likely U.S. voters" believe that most members of Congress are corrupt. Just 28 percent disagree, and another 24 percent are not sure.
4) Voters think that cash is king: A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Thursday indicates that 86 percent of the public thinks elected officials in the nation's capital are mostly influenced by the pressure they receive from campaign contributors.
5) No trust in elected officials: According to Pew Research, less than 25 percent of people believe they can trust our government at all, particularly our elected officials.
6) Outsider movements are quickly co-opted: According to Open Secrets, Tea Party House Members are even wealthier than other GOP lawmakers.
7) Faith in all institutions is collapsing:
- 83% say of American adults say they have less trust in "politics in general" than they did 10 or 15 years ago;
- 79% say they have less trust in big business and major corporations;
- 78% say they have less trust in government;
- 72% report declining trust in the media.
- A surprising majority, 54%, "believe that my freedoms are being taken away."
Pew Research confirms this.
8) People don't like horse race coverage. Meanwhile, distrust in media reaches an all-time high. (Coincidence?)
9) Cash determines voting. What shaped the House vote on the proposed Keystone Pipeline? Oil industry lobbying. Writes environmentalist Bill McKibben on TomDispatch of The Nation Institute: "Within minutes of the vote, Oil Change International had calculated that the 234 Congressional representatives who voted aye had received $42 million in campaign contributions from the fossil-fuel industry; the 193 nays, $8 million."
10) The middle class is collapsing.
As we watch our way of life change radically, as we see our great country consumed by corruption and greed, we must have our own debates about what to do. You won't find these discussions in our presidential debates, dominated as they are by money that separates the voters from their candidates with a wall of cash. That's why those contests feel so empty.
The debates we need are the ones happening around tables all over the country. They're the ones I seek to host on my show. And they're the ones I wrote my book to support, offering a guide to this country's structural problems -- and solutions.
I'm profoundly hopeful about where these debates can take us, because I'm not the only one who wants a better way. We all do. And together, we'll make that better way a reality.
Dylan Ratigan, host of msnbc's "The Dylan Ratigan Show," discusses his new book, "Greedy Bastards: How We Can Stop Corporate Communists, Banksters, and Other Vampires from Sucking America Dry."
Want to learn even more? I go in depth in my new book "Greedy Bastards." Read an excerpt of the book.
Leave a Comment:
I agree with every single thing on this list.
Somethin's gotta give.
I think WE THE PEOPLE need to have our own American "SPRING" via Social media and begin to let our voices be heard. We need to have a have a general strike in way that these various institutions will hear and understand. We need to strategically withhold or resources or our presence in order to garner attention and take our power back. For example let's say that we wanted to send a message to the gas, or electric bill moguls. IF enough of WE THE PEOPLE simply withheld payments at the same time and instead mailed in a form letter manifesto expressing our discontent of the status quo for 3 month you can't tell me they wont take notice. Money and people power gets attention the problem is having the will to do it. Nothing worth fighting for will be easy to gain but our collective WILL can move mountains just take a look a the Arab spring with toppled corrupt government that most pundits expected to be in power for year to come. We have seeded to much power the wealthy and most powerful in this country and they will NOT return it upon mere request we have to flip the power structure to help them see that they are only in charge because we allow them to be.
Of course you are right on all the facts you present. But as a health care professional I am concerned about you. Please get a rest and some exercise and stop smoking. We need folks like you to follow the truth wherever it leads. Thanks for all you do.
We have weak economic fundamentals because we've deluded ourselves for the past 30 years into thinking that economics are our fundamentals. They are not. Values are. Most people desire a noble life over excessive riches.
Our compromised values for compassion, truth, liberty and justice can't support a truly healthy economic system. Economic issues can't be righted from within the consciousness that created them - the dialog needs to widen and to be grounded in values.
It's time to build royal cultural soil that supports the noble seed in each. Thanks so much, Dylan, for calling our attention to weeds and especially to the role that media has to play in proliferating stories about who we are and who we aren't.
www.LeaderfulEdge.com
The Democrats and Republicons are both guilty of "personal Interest first" Be Darn with the electorate! It is Me, Me, Me. The t/gop are the worst. They are pushing to heck with their own best interest, lets give the CEO's and management bonuses while they fire the poor workers. A person making 50K P/A will spend a $500.00 bonus immediately to pay off credit cards or other bills. A person making $500,000 P/A will simply use the money to buy stock or purchase another luxury item. Money needs to be put back into the economy not hoarded by the banks. I say lets bring back the "luxury tax" on goods and services over $75K. GBA
Money and people power gets attention the problem is having the will to do it. Nothing worth fighting for will be easy to gain but our collective WILL can move mountains just take a look a the Arab spring with toppled corrupt government that most pundits expected to be in power for year to come.