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The exciting “change” that so many of us hoped for after the 2008 election has ground to a screeching halt, largely the fault of Congress, which has obstructed progress on such critical issues as addressing climate change, reforming the college student-loan process, really fixing the health care system, regulating the big banks and examining the ethical lapses of their own members. Why?
The short answer is money: the campaign contributions given to politicians by representatives of energy companies, oil and gas corporations, health insurers, pharmaceutical companies and others.
Since 1990, the big banks, real estate and financial companies have contributed $2.2 billion to federal campaigns. And in only the last year, as Congress debated the need for new regulations, the industry gave $42 million more in campaign contributions. A recent USA Today editorial concludes, “A wealth of evidence suggests that the way to get a defense contract is to hand over thousands of dollars to influential lawmakers’ campaigns.”
And to make matters even worse, the Supreme Court is soon expected to lift the 100-year-old ban on unlimited corporate contributions, unleashing a flood of additional special-interest money into the political system.
The Democracy Matters chapter at the University of Minnesota is part of a national coalition fighting to get big money out of politics and people back in. We want young people to be able to run for office and for politicians to listen to voters, not bankers. The “Clean Elections” public campaign financing laws in states like Connecticut, Arizona and North Carolina are important to this end.
But students, we need to do more. We have always been at the forefront of important changes in our country, from civil rights and environmental protection to peace and women’s rights. We played a huge part in the 2008 election. Now we need to step up and raise our voices again. Because working together, “Yes, we can!”
Tyler Stierwalt
University undergraduate student
Democracy Matters
Serving the University of Minnesota Community since 1900
1 Comment
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What happened to ‘Yes, we can’?
Reality happened Tyler. Get used to it. You elected an empty suit and now the rest of America is living (poorly) with the consequences.
If you really want to get big money out of politics, the first thing that you will due is put the same limits on unions (inlcuding in-kind labor) as you do on business. Since the budgets of the unions are in the tens of millions and their assets holdings are in the hundreds of millions they certainly quality as BIG and a BUSINESS don't they?
Until you do that, you hypocrisy drowns out anything else that you have to say.
Now point by point fisking:
You stated that big money has obstructed progress on such critical issues as
1) addressing climate change, (I see you left on MAN-MADE - did those leaked emails from CRU change you tone a bit?)
2)reforming the college student-loan process ( if you read, you will know that the government recently passed laws that bascially forces banks out and makes the federal government your sugar-daddy)
3) really fixing the health care system (you mean by stealing trillions from the hard workers to give to those who don't want insurance or are here illegally?)
4) regulating the big banks (you mean the ones we now own? Have you ever seen the overnment regulate itself very well?)
5) and examining the ethical lapses of their own members.( go ask Charlie Rangel about his taxes? And Chris Dodd about his mortagages? And Time Geithner bout his taxes, and ......)