There is a tendency to think that if we just vote for someone different, it is enough, and it will change things. Or if we just get a Democratic majority, it will change things. Barack Obama did us all a little favor with a reality check yesterday, I think.
Philip Elliot writes this morning that Obama "repeated his criticism of lobbyists, calling them the enemy and saying their donations are corrupt."
Obama said: "If they're spending a billion dollars on lobbying over 10 years -- they're averaging $100 million a year -- that carries weight in Washington. The congressmen will deny it, but they're not spending it just to provide good information."
One of the things that I've liked about Obama is his optimism:
"Don't let people tell you we can't solve our problems. Cynicism is our enemy. Don't let them convince you that it's too far gone, that Washington is too corrupt. Listen, there are problems in Washington but there are not problems we can't fix as citizens of the United States."
But electing him, or anyone else, is not the final solution to such problems.
"What's missing is not the plan, it's the sense of urgency and the willingness to take on special interests. It's not just enough to change political parties. For us to make those big changes, we're going to need all of you to be engaged."
Populism--and that is a movement of the people to take care of themselves rather than being willing to surrender their interests to politicians who otherwise will take care of lobbyists who are paying them--will only work if we are actively engaged in the process. We have to be willing to make a noise. We have to know what's going on, and write our Congressmen. We have to sign petitions. We have to warn them that if they don't vote in ways that help us, then we're going to vote them out of office.
No comments:
Post a Comment