The Concerned Citizens Guide to our American Democracy

The CONCERNED CITIZENS GUIDE

to our AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

“Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own

government. Whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they

may be relied on to set them to rights." Thomas Jefferson

The core theme of the 2008 presidential election was change. Senator Barack Obama won with “Real Change You Can Believe In” as the centerpiece of his campaign, while Senator McCain campaigned as a real maverick who stood up to special interests and worked for bipartisan solutions. Both recognized that things had gone “so far wrong” as to attract the people’s attention.

But in fact things are even worse than the people know because for some time politicians have been afraid to tell the American people many hard truths: that they spend too much time raising money from too few people who expect something in return; that too much of that campaign money is used for commercials that are designed to elicit an emotional response rather than inform voters; that we rely on China, Japan, and countries in the Middle East to buy our debt and shore up our corporations; that we can’t keep all the promises made under Social Security and Medicare without substantive changes and sacrifices; that we spend far too much on drugs and medical procedures that are not worth the cost; that our increasing dependency on foreign oil jeopardizes our security as well as our economy; that we spend far too much on defense and in wasteful ways; that special interests exert too much control over too many areas of public policy, and too often their interests are not aligned with national common interests… indeed that our government cannot act efficiently and rationally in routine matters, much less is it able to address the larger and harder questions we now face.

Many smart, passionate, and articulate people have been trying to get the public’s attention for common sense action on specific issues, and for many issues there is an agreement on what should be done. But since so little has been done means the present system can’t muster the political will to do what is needed, and this means the problems are fundamental and systemic.

A key weakness of a democracy is it is susceptible to being influenced by special interests. And over time the advantages gained by special interests, whether it is tax breaks for businesses or government employee’s generous benefit plans, all build up in number and influence and erode what can be done for the national, common good – and with three consequences:

First, by definition most all of these breaks are not aligned with the national, common good; indeed too many actually weaken our national economy and national cohesiveness;

Second, all these special interests create a strong establishment bias for the status quo that impedes change; and change and adaptability are keys to survival in the new competitive global marketplace; and

Third, many of these breaks subvert key principles of capitalism and free markets that are vital to the nation’s economic prosperity, e.g. they result in fixed rather than free markets and gross misallocations of capital.

And increasingly it is clear that special interests have greater voice in the United States than in other democracies, and a key reason is the unique way we finance and run campaigns.

The bottom line is special interests are now so numerous and so entrenched and so powerful that real change is not possible without changes in how primaries are run, changes in the way campaigns are financed and conducted, changes in the way people get their information about candidates and issues, and changes in the way special interests influence public policies. And any politician or commentator or citizen who calls for change without addressing theses fundamental problems is just fooling us – and themselves.

Much of what needs to be done is outside the parameters of what insiders consider to be politically viable. But the Patriot Act was unimaginable before 9-11, and TARP and the Stimulus Bill and record deficits unimaginable before the 2008 Global Financial Meltdown. And since the present path is not sustainable, that next expansion of what is politically viable will either happen in response to more catastrophes, or in advance through pressure from the elites and special interests, and The People.

Things have indeed gone so far wrong to attract the attention of most Americans, and many are mad as hell. But only a handful know why things have gone wrong and what can be done to set things to right.

The following Chapters, and the many surprising and often shocking facts, will make you better informed than 99% of the politicians, talk-show personalities, television commentators, and even political consultants – and this knowledge will allow you to believe in real change -- and help make it happen.

To: Chapters