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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHere's the letter gyrocopter pilot Doug Hughes was delivering to congress.
Dear ___________,
Consider the following statement by John Kerry in his farewell speech to the Senate
"The unending chase for money I believe threatens to steal our democracy itself. They know it. They know we know it. And yet, Nothing Happens!" John Kerry, 2-13
In a July 2012 Gallup poll, 87% tagged corruption in the federal government as extremely important or very important, placing this issue just barely behind job creation. According to Gallup, public faith in Congress is at a 41-year record low, 7%. (June 2014) Kerry is correct. The popular perception outside the DC beltway is that the federal government is corrupt and the US Congress is the major problem. As a voter, Im a member of the only political body with authority over Congress. Im demanding reform and declaring a voters rebellion in a manner consistent with Jeffersons description of rights in the Declaration of Independence. As a member of Congress, you have three options.
You may pretend corruption does not exist.
You may pretend to oppose corruption while you sabotage reform.
You may actively participate in real reform.
If youre considering option 1, you may wonder if voters really know what the 'chase for money' is. Your dismal and declining popularity documented by Gallup suggests we know, but allow a few examples, by no means a complete list. That these practices are legal does not make them right! Obviously, it is Congress who writes the laws that make corruption legal.
Dozens of major and very profitable corporations pay nothing in taxes. Voters know how this is done. Corporations pay millions to lobbyists for special legislation. Many companies on the list of freeloaders are household names GE, Boeing, Exxon Mobil, Verizon, Citigroup, Dow
Almost half of the retiring members of Congress from 1998 to 2004 got jobs as lobbyists earning on average fourteen times their Congressional salary. (50% of the Senate, 42% of the House)
The new democratic freshmen to the US House in 2012 were 'advised' by the party to schedule 4 hours per day on the phones fund raising at party headquarters (because fund raising is illegal from govt offices.) It is the donors with deep pockets who get the calls, but seldom do the priorities of the rich donor help the average citizen.
The relevant (rich) donors who command the attention of Congress are only .05% of the public (5 people in a thousand) but these aristocrats of both parties are who Congress really works for. As a member of the US Congress, you should work only for The People.
Not yourself.
Not your political party.
Not the richest donors to your campaign.
Not the lobbyist company who will hire you after your leave Congress.
There are several credible groups working to reform Congress. Their evaluations of the problem are remarkably in agreement though the leadership (and membership) may lean conservative or liberal. They see the corrupting effect of money how the current rules empower special interests through lobbyists and PACs robbing the average American of any representation on any issue where the connected have a stake. This is not democracy even if the ritual of elections is maintained.
The various mechanisms which funnel money to candidates and congress-persons are complex. It happens before they are elected, while they are in office and after they leave Congress. Fortunately, a solution to corruption is not complicated. All the proposals are built around either reform legislation or a Constitutional Amendment. Actually, we need both a constitutional amendment and legislation.
There will be discussion about the structure and details of reform. As I see it, campaign finance reform is the cornerstone of building an honest Congress. Erect a wall of separation between our elected officials and big money. This you must do or your replacement will do. A corporation is not 'people' and no individual should be allowed to spend hundreds of millions to 'influence' an election. That much money is a megaphone which drowns out the voices of 'We the People.' Next, a retired member of Congress has a lifelong obligation to avoid the appearance of impropriety. That almost half the retired members of Congress work as lobbyists and make millions of dollars per year smells like bribery, however legal. It must end. Pass real campaign finance reform and prohibit even the appearance of payola after retirement and you will be part of a Congress I can respect.
The states have the power to pass a Constitutional Amendment without Congress and we will. You in Congress will likely embrace the change just to survive, because liberals and conservatives wont settle for less than democracy. The leadership and organization to coordinate a voters revolution exist now! New groups will add their voices because the vast majority of Americans believe in the real democracy we once had, which Congress over time has eroded to the corrupt, dysfunctional plutocracy we have.
The question is where YOU individually stand. You have three options and you must choose.
Sincerely,
Douglas M. Hughes
http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2015/4/16/read_the_letter_gyrocopter_pilot_doug
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)We need to make copies and forward them to our members of Congress.
I am bookmarking this post.
madokie
(51,076 posts)malaise
(268,913 posts)All he left our was the role of the Supreme Court.
Douglas Hughes is a hero.
libdem4life
(13,877 posts)blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)in his most recent interview although the musician artist Mark Stewart said it first in the mid 80s ..............''As the Veneer of Democracy Starts to Fade'' is the second album by vocalist Mark Stewart
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Stewart_(musician)
Chomsky and Stewart .
http://rt.com/usa/250717-chomsky-media-ukraine-cuba/
madokie
(51,076 posts)my bet is NO they will not, or if they do they'll change it up so it won't have the same meaning as this Patriot had in mind when he wrote and delivered it. Notice I referred to him as a Patriot. He is the definition of the word. IMHO
bvar22
(39,909 posts)Newspapers in a democracy would print this letter in toto.
I agree with every single thing that Doug Hughes says in his letter.
Extremely well written.
Powerful.
His delivery of the mail drew some attention too.
If he had merely mailed this to our CongressCritters,
it wouldn't have made it past the trash can.
Thank You Doug Hughes!
dembotoz
(16,799 posts)procon
(15,805 posts)He calls it like it is. Maybe he should run for office as a reformer and start the ball rolling to get rid of the political graft and corruption.
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)N_E_1 for Tennis
(9,715 posts)Bookmarking for later use.
Small sparks lead to larger flames.
Katashi_itto
(10,175 posts)Sort of a toss up between working on my own company and taking one of these positions. I get a lot more satisfaction out of my media production company though.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)The guy is correct about money. Without it, a citizen can't play the political game. Without the bucks, one can't buy (ha!) air-time. Meaning, without it, you can't participate in democratic politics -- only those with cash can afford to be heard by ALL in the electorate.
Wish for Mr. Hughes he'd had a better way of being heard. He's going to get the Siegelman Treatment.
Too bad, too, as his message is too important to be missed by those who still give a damn. Money has corrupted Congress, the Judiciary and the Executive branches and the whole of government, from federal to state to local.
fadedrose
(10,044 posts)a Letter of Appreciation for Doug Hughes. Only 3 responded and one of them wanted Hughes put in jail. Two felt like I did.
After watching him be interviewed on TV, and learning how many government officials he gave advance notice to about the gyrocopter landing, it was apparent that he was not trying to get attention for himself, he was just fed up with money and elections, and he risked his life bringing these letters to the Capitol. I got tears in my eyes when all this happened, I think because deep down it would do no good. "Making corruption legal," as Mr. Hughes stated in his letter is the thing Congress concentrates on most.
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)whereisjustice
(2,941 posts)for economy class citizens to get essence of their discontent to Congress.
It really is getting to the point were you have to risk your life - whether police beatings and shootings, or gyrocopters to Congress, it is getting more and more difficult to participate as a non-corporate person.
cui bono
(19,926 posts)daleanime
(17,796 posts)Major Hogwash
(17,656 posts)In prison.