And the most Honorable Senator Hollings correctly observed that 6 years before the cluster 'eff - 'Citizens United' decision ! Every year and more so in election years, over the past 20 years or so, I ask myself what priorities are most important for the greatest number of Americans, and campaign finance reform comes out in at least the …
And the most Honorable Senator Hollings correctly observed that 6 years before the cluster 'eff - 'Citizens United' decision ! Every year and more so in election years, over the past 20 years or so, I ask myself what priorities are most important for the greatest number of Americans, and campaign finance reform comes out in at least the top 5; Since 2010, the top 3. I'm of the mind that it won't get done until citizens at large impose it on the political class. Some years ago I began a loose affiliation with a group that espoused campaign finance reform as their sole issue. Over time, their list of issues grew. Opposed to growth beyond the singular issue, I stepped away.
Focus, persistence, and integrity seems necessary for major public movements that are both honorable and effective. That said, it is hard to stay with one issue when so many scream for attention, with real victims in need of assistance. I don't think there is any easy answer for that, but I think the power of peaceful protest in particular depends on maintaining a concentrated focus with everyone pulling more or less the same way. Normalized injustice and perfidy can lose it's veneer of inevitability when a spotlight is held on it long enough for enough people to notice. The perception of "resistance is futile" can fade when enough people gain the sympathies of others.
As has been the case in medicine, cures for maladies and methods for improving the human condition have been proposed for eons, some of them even highly effective; but the effectiveness of some approach has only been highly specific, useful in very circumstances, but not in others. Some avenues, such as "germ theory" of the cause of infectious diseases affect a huge array of treatments. Those game changers won't always replace the need for highly specific approaches, but they can improve and extend a great number of them. The potential for misuses of money is not a novel idea, but I think we fail to appreciate the breadth of it's impact and how may doors to improvements might be opened if we treated it as a "must do" political priority.
Well JL my friend, let's just see how big and broad this WAPO, NYT, and Amazon unofficial boycott goes. "If" it can really catch fire, Americans may finally find the other real superpower besides their precious vote. Aka - "Hit them where it hurts - their wallets."
And the most Honorable Senator Hollings correctly observed that 6 years before the cluster 'eff - 'Citizens United' decision ! Every year and more so in election years, over the past 20 years or so, I ask myself what priorities are most important for the greatest number of Americans, and campaign finance reform comes out in at least the top 5; Since 2010, the top 3. I'm of the mind that it won't get done until citizens at large impose it on the political class. Some years ago I began a loose affiliation with a group that espoused campaign finance reform as their sole issue. Over time, their list of issues grew. Opposed to growth beyond the singular issue, I stepped away.
Focus, persistence, and integrity seems necessary for major public movements that are both honorable and effective. That said, it is hard to stay with one issue when so many scream for attention, with real victims in need of assistance. I don't think there is any easy answer for that, but I think the power of peaceful protest in particular depends on maintaining a concentrated focus with everyone pulling more or less the same way. Normalized injustice and perfidy can lose it's veneer of inevitability when a spotlight is held on it long enough for enough people to notice. The perception of "resistance is futile" can fade when enough people gain the sympathies of others.
As has been the case in medicine, cures for maladies and methods for improving the human condition have been proposed for eons, some of them even highly effective; but the effectiveness of some approach has only been highly specific, useful in very circumstances, but not in others. Some avenues, such as "germ theory" of the cause of infectious diseases affect a huge array of treatments. Those game changers won't always replace the need for highly specific approaches, but they can improve and extend a great number of them. The potential for misuses of money is not a novel idea, but I think we fail to appreciate the breadth of it's impact and how may doors to improvements might be opened if we treated it as a "must do" political priority.
Well JL my friend, let's just see how big and broad this WAPO, NYT, and Amazon unofficial boycott goes. "If" it can really catch fire, Americans may finally find the other real superpower besides their precious vote. Aka - "Hit them where it hurts - their wallets."