Dear Occupy: Do Democracy First.
Jan/120
Dear Occupy Boston,
I am honored and blessed to stand with Occupy. Together we are reawakening the nation, and the world, to go straight to the heart of our collective political life to demand with urgency and conviction: Democracy is for people!
Consider this our formal introduction. I write to you as a democracy reformer of seven years. I sit on the board of MassVOTE, and I’m a volunteering member of Common Cause, The League of Women Voters, and MassPIRG. I also run Citizens for Voter Choice. These organizations have spent decades fighting to reform democracy to make it more honest, responsive, and inclusive. These groups are strictly non-partisan in their goals, and only MassPIRG and LWV take positions on bread-and-butter issues like health care, jobs, and education.
We need to study these organizations and their full history of political struggle. Their staffers and board members are older and in many ways wiser than many of us. And in my opinion, they hold the golden lesson for our activism: we must dig deeper to help people better access the power-infrastructure which undergirds our shared plight. We must act to change our democratic system itself. The victory does not lay in winning Wall Street regulatory reform, or full funding of public schools, or even a health care system that puts people before profits. These issues are all crops, and a farmer who merely inspects her crops for good health will not succeed. The farmer must be utterly obsessed with the soil, to ensure the crops are getting what they need to grow. Thus, I urge us to invest most of our energy in tilling and enriching this soil — this soil of democracy.
The soil of democracy is how democracy works. There are rules to the game that will make the difference between passing a good bill into law this year, in three years, in ten years, or not at all. As most of you know, business interests in Washington have spent billions of dollars to study and master these rules, to ensure that bills favorable to the 1% pass this year; and bills unfavorable to the 1% are stymied indefinitely until they either pass under public pressure, sometimes with watered-down language; or, more commonly, they just never pass at all.
Understanding what we, the 99%, are up against in the political arena, I would like to emphasize: whatever the specific policies that we demand and win, we must ensure that our democratic system will keep these victories protected, lest they fall prey to future influxes of special interest money to dismantle our gains. It is in the understanding of this danger that I strongly urge the Occupy movement to make democracy reform the central policy demand, and view our other demands as secondary spokes to this wheel, as they will become attainable and maintainable — once we win a more responsive democratic process.
Here are what I identify as the most urgent problems at the core of our democracy, and the best working solutions:
Citizen-Funded Elections: Get Money out of Politics and People Back In
Problem: A culture of corruption has embedded itself in Washington in which well-meaning elected officials survive by exchanging legislative favors for campaign contributions. Candidates and office-holders are corrupted by unlimited private donations and by independent ad spending from allies.
Solution: A Citizen-Funded Election System (aka “Clean Elections,” “Fair Elections”, or public financing of elections) at the federal and state levels, as well as mandated disclosure of all independent political spending (e.g the DISCLOSE Act). Clean Elections works by requiring candidates to qualify for a taxpayer-funded campaign grant by raising a large number of small-dollar (e.g, $5) contributions from individuals. Once the campaign is over, all money raised is returned to the public treasury, which would put an end to massive campaign war chests. Clean Elections thereby breaks the dependency of legislators on lobbyist and special-interest funding, and incentivizes candidates to engage with a very broad base of small-dollar-contributing supporters rather than big-dollar bundling and fund-raising dinners for the wealthy.
Clean Elections has already been implemented successfully in Connecticut, Maine, and Arizona, and between 60-80% of all state legislators chose to run using this system.
Recommended Reading:
Capitol Punishment by Jack Abramoff
So Damn Much Money by Robert Kaiser
Republic, Lost by Lawrence Lessig
More on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_finance#Further_reading
Ranked Choice Voting: End the Party Duopoly and Make Elections More Competitive
Problem: In the most diverse nation in the world, we, the voters, typically have a mere two choices in our general elections. Worse off are the people of Massachusetts, wherein a single political party controls about 90% of the state legislature, and about 70% of our state legislative seats go uncontested in general elections. Even competitive races leave us, the voters, with the feeling that we’re not getting the best choices. A critical “design flaw” of our current voting system is known as the “spoiler effect.” In our most competitive elections, there are oftentimes two candidates who are ideologically similar. So the weaker candidate’s presence in the race siphons off needed votes from their stronger counterpart, votes crucial to win the election. The result? The candidate who is ideologically opposed to both of them ends up winning, and s/he is not the candidate that a majority of voters actually want. (The most famous example is Bush, Gore, and Nader competing in Florida in the 2000 Presidential election.)
Solution: Ranked Choice Voting (aka “Instant Runoff Voting”) and Proportional Representation (aka “Choice Voting”) provide the proper incentives for voters to vote their values with a smart ballot on which they rank their preferences in numerical order. The design of RCV/PR eliminates the spoiler effect entirely, and encourages more candidates to run for office who previously wouldn’t, since never again would they be pressured to drop out of a race for fear of being a spoiler. RCV/PR can radically improve our elections with healthy competition, more public debate, a more diverse menu of candidates, majority winners; and consequently, better representation.
RCV has been implemented successfully in several US cities to elect their mayor and other offices, including Cambridge, MA; Oakland, San Francisco, and Berkley, CA; Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN; Portland, ME, and others. RCV is also used nationally in Australia, Ireland, and Malta; as well as in various localities around the world.
Recommended Reading:
Gaming the Vote by William Poundstone
“Rank the Vote” by Nicholas Stephanopoulos (The New Republic, October 1, 2010)
More on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_transferable_vote#External_links
More Democracy Reforms
There are many other policies in the areas of transparency, ethics, and elections which would benefit every hard-working family in the United States by making government more accountable, accessible, and responsive. I’ve decided to highlight the two game-changing policies above to ensure my contribution stays as focused as possible. However, I am happy to help the Occupy movement to organize behind any of the following:
- Public Official-to-Lobbyist Ban (end the “revolving door”)
- Same-Day Voter Registration
- Early Voting
- Election Day as a National Holiday or Weekend Voting
- People’s Hours (evening-time bill hearings and other public meetings)
- Candidate “Common Application” (a standard assessment package for each candidate that requires full itemization of work history and topical essay questions).
- Public Records Online (in a timely manner and in accessible, easy-to-navigate formats)
- Participatory Budgeting
- Term Limits (for legislators)
- And much more!
I am here to serve the movement in the best way that I can. Let us work together to create lasting change for our nation, and for the world.
Sincerely,
Adam Friedman
Somerville, MA
617-784-8993
Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff tells all
Nov/110
WATCH VIDEO: How to buy off Members of United States Congress:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7387331n&tag=re1.channel
JOIN or SUPPORT these groups that work tirelessly to fight this lobbying crisis:
Browse the “Democracy Reform” links in the right-hand sidebar.
BUY Jack’s book for full details:
http://www.amazon.com/Capitol-Punishment-Washington-Corruption-Notorious/dp/1936488442
Today we stand at a level of mistrust in government and a level of corporate-government collusion that is nearly unprecedented in American history. We have developed a well-worn game of outright bribery that even the most brazen of the “bribers” are claiming is immoral… but it is legal. Thus, it is more important than ever to get involved in the work of building true democracy — one with an active, educated, and vigilant citizenry — and tearing down this absurd charade.
This mess, this mess in our midst — what we see: the partisan mud-slinging, the idiotic talking-heads fixated on gaffes, hairdos, lapel pins; the character smears, the partisan grid-lock, the same old talking points and rhetorical cliches; the dog and pony show… – then the stuff we don’t see: the free drinks, meals, trips, skybox tickets, and backroom deals; the promises, the back-slaps, handshakes, the intentionally obscure bill language, the $25K campaign checks and the calling in of the favors; the revolving door between Congress and K Street… your tax money, your labors, your sweat, your dreams… deferred, and outright robbed. Hundreds of our law-makers and billions in our tax money — wrapped up and sold to the highest corporate bidder.
You’ve got to get in the loop, and I’ve got the guy who will take us there. Never before have we been granted such a trove of insider stories about how so many of our Members of Congress are bought and manipulated for special interest gain. And the goods come straight from the most notorious lobbyist in recent history, Jack Abramoff.
Jack was recently released from a four-year prison term, and he made good use of his time to write a book about his experiences in the dirty business of lobbying. He’s now touring the national media circuit to promote his book. On the one hand, I don’t like the idea of giving money to such a traitor to all of us — the good and hard-working of us who pay our taxes and live right. On the other hand, the stories Jack reveals — and the names he names — should leave us with just the grist and the fury we need to get into that most serious game — the game of wholesale systemic democracy reform.
It will not change, unless you help change it.
Prefer to go local? Great. Browse the “Democracy Reform – MA” links in the right-hand sidebar.
Occupy: We are the 99%
Oct/110
The Occupy movement is awakening our nation to the rotten nut of our current democracy. The energy and fury is palpable, and it is growing by the day. Yet, still, national media personalities are criticizing the movement as lacking a demands or specificity. My response: just wait. The movement is evolving organically, and this very process of slow deliberate consensus-building steps is a core part of the message itself. Maybe it’ll take another two weeks, or two months, or heck, maybe even two years.
Even so, that’s not the point, not yet. We as the 99% need to gain a bit of self-awareness first, an orientation of why we are in the position that we are in in this country. I can understand onlookers being impatient and wanting them to produce their demands and show their teeth. I am actually chomping at the bit myself to ensure that the Occupy in Boston gives serious consideration to fundamental money-in-politics reforms (like citizen-funded elections), competitive-elections reforms (like ranked choice voting) and other great voter empowering policies.
The critique with which I have the most impatience, however, is this notion that the Occupiers don’t really have a clear sense of what their grievances are, or what they are protesting. Are you kidding me?
And how about the way the financial sector extracted trillions of dollars in corporate welfare — welfare — from we the people, when their shoddy investments went south, and of the TARP itself, the American taxpayer is still out $235 billion.
Then there’s the problem of the top income earners having in many cases a lower tax rate than wage-earning people, as billionaire Warren Buffet has explained, urging Congress to raise his taxes. He flatly states how “these [extraordinary tax-breaks] and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species. It’s nice to have friends in high places.”
Now, why exactly do legislators in Washington coddle the rich? Take a walk around Capitol Hill some day, and maybe you’ll see why.
11,000+ lobbyists spent $1.6 billion on influencing our federal legislators in 2011, and we still have three months to go. The money pours in when Congress works on major industry-specific bills. This results in some of the most blatant legislative special-interest manipulations I’ve seen in my lifetime.
And let’s take a look at income disparity across the population since the 1920s (see below). Bottom 80%: flat. Above that, inched higher. Top 1%? Skyrocketed. Wait… haven’t we been in a recession?
And what kind of legal structure would allow this kind of income inequality to spiral so incredibly? Isn’t a rising tide supposed to lift all boats? Or was it, “yachts”?
Here is a little bit of analysis from The Economist.
What you’ve read above is just a smattering of thoughts I could jot down. I’ll add more to this list when I have more time. But folks, please, do some research on how the sausage is actually made in Washington before you swallow the bait of the “critics” and turn against your own allies, taking time and energy to go out and fight for the people’s interests — your interests.
Steve Grossman takes $45K from the liquor industry he regulates
Oct/110
After reading in the Globe about how Massachusetts State Treasurer Steve Grossman attended a fund-raiser for lobbyists, I posted the following on his Facebook fan page. But first, the article’s most delectable quotation:
In his biggest one-time haul of political cash since he took office, state Treasurer Steve Grossman accepted $45,000 at a fund-raiser earlier this month from package store proprietors, bar owners, and liquor distributors, industries his office heavily controls and regulates.
Grossman took donations from executives across the state, all of whom have a financial interest in the decisions and policies set by the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, the agency he oversees as treasurer.
The donations represent nearly one quarter of the entire $187,000 Grossman has raised since he took office in January.
Steve, return this lobbyist cash to where it belongs: out of my government. Put it back into the hands of these self-interested business tycoons and leave it there. This is an absolute conflict of interest. And, it is an insult to the intelligence of all of us — hardworking taxpayers — that your political director Dawson would try to deny this. He claims: “No one should have any illusion that they would get special treatment from Treasurer Grossman or his office because of any campaign contributions.” The only illusion here is your denial of a forehead-slappable fact: if you raise 25% of your warchest from an industry you regulate, this will influence your regulatory decisions, to the detriment of public interest.
Dawson also said: “His only concern is and always will be the interests of the people of Massachusetts.” What is this, the Boy Scouts? We’re just supposed to take your word — Scout’s honor — that this won’t influence your public duties? And it’s funny, how eerily similar this quote is to convicted felon Sal DiMasi’s speech the day he was indicted: “Every decision I ever made as speaker or state representative was always made in the best interests of my constituents and of the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.” Sal is serving eight years in prison. Steve, let’s hope you’re not following in his now-shackled footsteps.
State Legislature Ethics Oversight Exchange
Aug/110
Brilliant good government policy proposal of the week, courtesy of Herald co-worker Todd Prussman: an interstate compact in which two different state legislatures of comparable size agree to provide all ethics and rules oversight administrative duties for each other. This way, there is a healthy amount of distance (disinterest) while one state’s office investigates cases in their partner state’s legislature.
What other corruption-prone areas of government would benefit from such an audit-swap or oversight-swap arrangement?
Citizens need to change the game, not just play it
Aug/100
Published as an Op-Ed in the Cambridge Chronicle:
From the Wall Street meltdown and the BP oil geyser, to the epic health care battle and the continued explosion of federal government spending, the age of Obama is showing no rest from the profoundly divisive Bush years. If anything, the grassroots fury that simmered under Bush boiled over into new networks of Tea Party activists who rail against Obama’s slogans of hope and change as just more of the same empty rhetoric. With layoffs spreading like the Plague, and falling housing prices bleeding our futures dry, who can blame them?
“There’s nothing a good old-fashioned election can’t fix,” sang Sarah Palin to a roaring Boston Tea Party crowd in April. Media pundits are nearly unanimous as well: Democrats will have an uphill battle at the polls this November. Republican Scott Brown’s surprise win in Massachusetts foreshadows the upheaval to come.
But is this really an upheaval, or just another turn on the partisan merry-go-round?
FBI Official: Corruption is America’s No. 1 Problem
Dec/090
The Palm Beach Post reports that John Gillies, FBI official with 22 years of experience, gave a spirited talk to the West Boca Chamber of Commerce:
Gillies regaled about 70 attendees with tales of his work investigating politicians, judges and attorneys in prior FBI postings across the country. These FBI targets all displayed an unhealthy thirst for money, power and greed, he said.
…
Gillies said transgressors are adept at rationalizing their untrustworthy behavior. He gave examples of the types of excuses that FBI agents typically hear: “I’m not hurting anybody.” Or “I deserve this.” And especially: “Everybody does it.”But rationalization isn’t OK, Gillies said, whether it’s coming from an elected official, [or] an attorney.
Do these rationalizations sound familiar to citizens in Massachusetts? To this day, for instance, indicted former House Speaker Sal diMasi — even after resigning under a growing corruption cloud — continues to claim he’s always acted in the best interests of the Commonwealth, and apparently without ever addressing the damning evidence before him pinning him to a kickback scheme involving tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer money.
MA House Speakers resign. Three in a row. Citizens: wake up.
Sep/090
Well folks, I know what I’m about to talk about isn’t front page news any more, but unglue your eyeballs from the single-payer Titanic for a minute and think about something you can actually change, and that is your state government.
Three. In a row.
What am I talking about? Strikes at Fenway? $10,000 donations for our campaign? My bouts of genital warts in a month?
No, I’m talking about the Speaker of the House of Massachusetts. You know, that elected official who draws a six-figure salary to lead* the rest of his cohorts in shaping our collective future?
Yes. Three. In a row. On our watch.
You know how leadership often “sets the tone” in an organization? Well, welcome to your state government folks, where millions of your tax dollars goes to politicians’ friends companies for services to the state, regardless of their companies’ competence or bloated price-tags. Go ahead and pull up a chair, butter up the popcorn, shave off some of your paycheck and throw it to the wolves.
This House Speaker crisis is merely a symbol for a long history of public abuse in Massachusetts. Many before me have written and shouted about it, about this “culture of corruption,” where elected officials treat the public sphere as if it is the private sector. They give their friends and family special jobs and handouts. They protect one another from the court punishment and law enforcement. They not only ignore but also outright thwart and undermine government reform efforts. All on your dime.
So, with the situation as it is, I ask you friends…
How tall does the pile of evidence have to tower in order for us citizens to realize that we cannot allow our own officials to self-correct?
How rancid does the stench from Beacon Hill have to get before we citizens themselves, on their own initiative, have to grab some mops and get mopping?
And how hard must we cackle at this parade of our state’s limp, uncompetitive elections before we realize that our public servants will never change the game because the game serves them so comfortably and they know, THEY KNOW, that there’s no one out there that gets angry enough to shake them up?
I know that this hand-wringing over our crooked politicians is an old story. But here’s what’s different about my message here: we can change it, swiftly and directly, through the democratic channels that are already written into the State Constitution: the Initiative Petition process. This law is a rare example of direct democracy. The beauty of it is that does not require millions of dollars to succeed. It simply requires citizens who recognize a sense of purpose to act collectively to get something done on behalf of a weary, frustrated public.
That’s why we need you to get involved in Voter Choice now, while we push to get a question on the ballot which, if passed by the voters of Massachusetts, will change the way that we self-govern forever and will set such an important precedent for the rest of the country.
Please explore www.voterchoiceMA.org for more information.
* Well, “dictates” might be more accurate, according to MA legislative procedural rules. Read Lobbying on a Shoestring for more on that.
Congressman William Jefferson hides cash in his freezer
Aug/090
Representative (D) from Louisiana. He took bribes of over $400,000. Some of it found in his freezer.
Crews Most Corrupt: Summary of the crime
Wall Street Journal: Why you should pay attention to this trial