Reply #49: They're more doable than "reforming the party from within"

[MadHound]

The first part is well within peoples' grasp, especially if you live in one of the states that allows initiative ballot issues. According to Granny D and other election reform organizations, aprox. eighty percent of the American populace is in favor of publicly financed elections. Those are the kind of numbers that can get an issue on a ballot and passed.

And like I said about my second point, if you keep feeding the beast, it will keep getting larger. All the two major parties are doing quite frankly is playing good cop/bad cop with the populace. If you look at their underlying positions you would see very little difference; both are for continuance of the war in Iraq, both are pro-corporate, both are for the increased erosion of civil rights. This is what happens when corporations corrupt our government, you wind up with the two party/same corporate master system of government. The differences are more of style and degree than of actual substance. Both men will keep us in Iraq indefinately, the only question is whether either or both will take us into Iran.

The net effect of the narrowing of political views in government is that fewer and fewer people vote, since they see little or no difference in the candidates. If a real difference was presented and promoted, then these people would come out in droves. Look at the Nader campaign of '00. The bulk of his supporters were people who had never voted, or not voted in a long while.

Your suggestion to push this in the media is ludicrous. Do you honestly think that a corporate controlled media is actually going to push an anti-corporate agenda? The only way you are going to put this issue in the media spotlight is through a high profile election campaign, therefore you have to have a candidate pushing the issue, forcing the media to take notice.

Sorry friend, but engaging in more of the same ol' same ol' isn't going to accomplish a damn thing other than hurrying our path to hell. We need to break out of the two party/same corporate master system of government, and more of the status quo isn't the solution. Radical ideas for radical times is what is needed. We have the tools in our hands, let's use them.