Americans Elect

Much as I lambast the Republican party, I am neither numb to what is, perhaps, the biggest problem in American politics: big money and special interests; nor am I naive enough to think that only one party is culpable.  Democrats and Republicans are both more beholden to special interests and the money they flaunt, than to the American people.  While I am not yet jaded enough to think that this tacit corruption has destroyed our political system, I certainly believe that the whole country would benefit if we could rid ourselves of the money running the show.

A group with this goal already exists - Americans Elect.  I signed up for Americans Elect a few months back after reading about the group in a Thomas Friedman article.  As my involvement has deepened, I have become more of a believer in the group's goal - taking power away from the moneyed establishment and returning it to "we the people."

To be fair, there are legitimate criticisms of the group, primarily that it receives serious financial backing from unidentified sources, hardly the kind of transparency that American democracy needs.  Nevertheless, I firmly believe that the open nominating process Americans Elect is trying to create will ultimately be a boon to American politics.  The recent Supreme Court ruling that corporations have the same right to free speech as individuals was an embarrassment and a political travesty as it only makes corruption legal.  Americans Elect is trying to reverse the trend, and in that endeavor, we should all support them.  The American people deserve a political system that - even with divided over how to best serve us - is beholden to us.

Right now, government either cannot or will not serve us, and it isn't difficult to determine that many of the policy failures are the product of special interests lobbying.  Take for example, the financial lobby's crusade against regulation of banking, regulation that - had it been in place - may have saved us from the current economic crisis. On the other side of the aisle, the health care law would have been stronger if it had included provisions making it more difficult to sue for malpractice - provisions opposed by trial lawyers.

I encourage readers to visit the Americans Elect website and get behind the movement to remove money and special interests from our political system.  I won't pretend that this is a perfect method.  Even as an active member, I am still trying to learn more about the group, but it is an enticing alternative to a political system in which candidates regularly host fundraising dinners at which many Americans could never afford to sit down for dinner even if we had been invited.