Public Comment

In the movie about Edward Snowden's revelations and ordeals (Citizenfour), there is a line that pretty much characterized the current political dilemma -- instead of living in a nation made up of the elected and the electors, the major division seems to be between the rulers and the ruled. Unquestionably, democracy is declining. You are familiar with many of the problems that have been undermining democratic decision making --unlimited political spending by the corporations and the wealthy, disenfranchising of minorities and the poor by requiring voter ID cards along with other means, and election fraud. With regard to the latter, the discrepancy in voting patterns that we see by comparing exit polls with the official vote is increasing. And note what happened in Georgia. Forty thousand votes were found missing, and no explanation has so far been offered. 

The adverse consequences of the undermining of democracy is extremely serious. Economically speaking, as democracy declines, poverty and unemployment grows, and social programs are reduced and even dismantled. This is because those who are unfairly elected are mainly conservatives who oppose progressive New Deal style programs or any program that benefits the majority of our residents. According to the New York Times, the Republicans will seek to privatize Medicare. Attempts to undermine Social Security, Medicaid, and the Food Stamp Program are also on their agenda. 

What can we do to stop and reverse the tide? The bad news is that even though the Democratic Party has been weakened at the polls, it has failed to challenge the highly illegal machinations of the Republicans. The most likely explanation is to do so would be acknowledging how illegal our voting system is. This admission could set in motion a process that could raise serious questions about the legitimacy of the political system. Nixon understood this when he ran in 1960 against Kennedy for President. Although he learned about the false counting of votes on Kennedy's behalf, particularly in Illinois and Texas, he nevertheless decided against challenging the legitimacy of the vote. He warned his Republican colleagues that to do so would cause a "constitutional crisis", hurt America in the eyes of the world "and tear the country apart". Although there are certainly differences between the two major political parties, the Democratic Party is also an establishment party. 

Although we operate with many disadvantages, we also have many strengths. After all, we do have the numbers and skills. Take, for example, the victory in Richmond. Although Chevron spent three million dollars to defeat progressives, the progressives nevertheless won the mayoralty race and the City Council seats.Why? They were well organized and were continually in contact with the grass roots. We also saw that in Berkeley despite the heavy spending by the sugar coated soda industry, the initiative to discourage drinking unhealthy sodas won.  

We certainly know how to win -- find common ground between disparate groups, and be in continual contact with the grass roots. We need to take to the streets and organize continual demonstrations to best publicize our agenda and to reach as many people as possible. In my experience, the streets are an ideal venue for expanding our base.  

At a national level, progressive organizations need to link up with each other throughout the country. Doing so entails a lot of perspiration. But it appreciably improves our chances of winning.