Stop The Insanity Of Imprisoning The Voice Of Citizens!

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results – Albert Einstein.

Campaign finance is a popular topic currently in the political discussion.  Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL), on the House Judiciary Committee, introduced the Outlawing Corporate Cash Undermining the Public Interest in our Elections and Democracy (OCCUPIED) Constitutional Amendment.  Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced a Senate version of Deutch’s amendment, Saving American Democracy Amendment.  Sen. Udall (NM) proposed the amendment Senate Joint Resolution 29 to authorize Congress to regulate the raising and spending of money for federal political campaigns, including independent expenditures, and allow states to regulate such spending at their level.   Move To Amend has over 150,000 signatures on a petition for an amendment to clarify that a corporation is not a person and that money is not speech.  This movement is also promoting a one day occupation of Federal courthouses across the country on Friday, January 20, 2012, the anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

Is campaign finance reform really a novel idea?  Haven’t we reformed and unreformed campaign financing long enough?  Our society seems to be addicted to this cycle of creating rules and then creating exceptions to them and then interpreting the rules and exceptions in court through litigation … wash, rinse and repeat cycle.  What is the point of this?  Is the objective really to give voice to the citizens?

From what I can tell, these efforts are focused primarily on overturning Citizens United and secondarily on granting powers for campaign finance regulation into the hands of Congress and the states.  Before Citizens United in 2010, plenty of money influenced elections.  Quite frankly, whether we have a pre-2009 campaign finance playing field or a post-2010 one makes very little difference.  The system is broken and shifting the levers is woefully insufficient.  Actually I find it quite insulting to continue with the legal jargon and political rhetoric of “change” when in reality these discussions are about slight power shifts among the autocratic elite at the complete exclusion of the citizen’s voice.

Can we please stop this insanity already?  If we want a different result then we have to do something different.  The election process as we have known it imprisons the voice of the average citizen.  We must overhaul the process to have a voice.  There are many ideas on how to do this and in fact, there are models we can study.  I understand that there are other countries we can learn from.  Three possible components of a new election process that I am aware of include:

• Publicly financed election campaigns
• Limit campaign season
• Take control of TV/Radio ads on public airwaves through the FCC

I’m ready to put the washboard in the museum and introduce the washing machine.  Let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work to stop the insanity!  Please go to Occupy Congress Forum –  General Assembly – Election Process Overhaul to continue the discussion.

by Shelly Bernal