By |

You Can’t just throw money at the problem of Money in politics

We’ve all heard the old saying, “You have to work for what you have,” and this is true, for some.  In the fight to restore democracy in this country, a representative republic for which all people have a voice and don’t have to have millions in the bank to be represented by politicians, we are now seeing a trend of money being poured into a conundrum where money is the problem in the first place!

On the ground, discussions are not about money in politics, they are about the impending threat of terrorism, ebola, health care (or lack thereof), marriage equality, Obama and his perceived failures, student loan debt increasingly growing, lack of funding for public schools, the cost of milk.  These subjects do not lie in the realm of money in politics or in Supreme Court decisions, yet all of them are directly affected by this legalized corruption we have for an election system.  Our populations’ discussions are also highly influenced by corporately controlled media who decides what subjects are discussed (or not discussed) at the dinner table.

If we want to get money out of politics, and 96% of us want it badly, we must start on the ground, with teams of people making this the discussion amongst neighbors and friends, church-goers and teammates.  Teachers and auto-workers, librarians and McDonalds line cooks all need to be talking about how corruption has cut our ties with the very representatives whom we elect into office (if we vote at all!)  North Carolina’s Forward Together movement is a great example of mobilizing and turning out citizens who realize that we are all in this together – money in politics is the issue that lies at the heart of our problems.

To return to working for what you have, I must say that if the strategy continues on the path of say, the Mayday PAC and others, we will not win this cause to get money out of politics and restoring our democracy by throwing more money into a corrupt system.  That money could be used to build a groundswell of people, college students and grandmothers, farmers and lawyers, restaurant owners and county commissioners, all of these people are the ones who need to be tapped for their disdain of a bought and sold government  These are the people who could benefit from millions of dollars being spent to organize and mobilize a national discussion.  Throwing more money into this situation, and ignoring the means to which people power is harnessed (grassroots organizing) creates an elitist opposition to an elitist right-wing monopoly of our elections.  We’re in need of a social movement from the ground up to get money out of politics, this tactic of pouring money into a broken system couldn’t be farther from what this country needs right now.

Realize that while our heads may be filled with the problem of money in politics, as we work within the realm of education to make this change, we must understand that we are nowhere near the national level of awareness to create a change in 2016.  If we poured and pooled our resources into organizing people on the ground, young and old, we could encourage people to start at their city level in making the change we so badly want to see – a democracy not bought by money, but represented by people who care.

By |

In North Carolina, we were just denied $10,000,000,000 by our governor, Pat McCrory.

March 5, 2013
“Today behind closed doors, a smiling governor signed a bill that blocks Medicaid expansion in North Carolina… McCrory denied health insurance to half a million North Carolinians – health insurance that would have been paid for 100% by the federal government for three years and 90% by the federal government thereafter.”Image

This is absolutely ridiculous.  We didn’t get to vote on whether or not we needed that money for health care!  While alienating his constituencies, McCrory has created a hostility between the poor and his cabinet – raising their salaries (because he felt they weren’t paid enough vs. the private sector!)

The bridge between the rich and the poor is wider than it has ever been.  See this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QPKKQnijnsM

We need to recall this governor.  I think we need to change NC.  Private money and corporate billions created a rift in this state this election year (and before) that enabled people like McCrory, not interested in helping to mend this rift but to only widen it, to ruin our state; to make life that much more difficult for the working people who are the backbone of society.  Stealing from us with budget cuts all the while spending billions of subsidies to corporations, while wealthy individuals and those corporations are making millions from tax loopholes!

We need working people protections.  We need opportunity for the poor and shrinking middle class. We need leaders who KNOW what it is to be POOR AND HAVE NO VOICE IN THE POLITICAL GAME.  People who understand that voting isn’t the ONLY way a person can have their voice heard in the government. The only way we can do this is to call for public financing of elections in NC.  What does that mean? See below for details: Image

This is an old version of this information.  NOW the info about how much $ was spent and favors that are provided ARE EVEN WORSE and DRASTICALLY MORE. Let’s get $ out of politics and recall McCrory.

Here’s a video of a song by Lupe Fiasco, some fine, political hip-hop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9QGzsRpKTv4

By |

Victory and success for the local T-Birds was had last night during trivia @ The Eddy in Saxapahaw.  Our team won and it was a really good time.  I made Valentines for my new good neighbor friends.  Modgepodge and magazine cutouts, crafts zone at my house was inspired by riding by The Sparrow House (a house down the road that should be named the Peacock House) and seeing hearts and lights everywhere.

Traditionally, I’m not a fan of Valentines day, so I go into work and use the Hallmark occasion to make a few extra bucks.  I’ve been a waitress, bartender, dishwasher, or cook since I was 14.  Valentines day is so ridiculous because we should be giving love in such an obscene way EVERY DAY!!

In other news, in 1920 on this day The League of Women Voters was established in Chicago.  Also, Feb. 14, 1847, Anna Howard Shaw, one of the most influential leaders of the women’s suffrage movement, was born.  The coalition for Fair (publicly funded) Elections is made up of many organizations, mine being one of them (Democracy Matters) and the League of Women Voters is another.  I am very happy to be able to say that I a m a part of such an amazing coalition, working for change in this country.  Getting private and corporate wealth out of the election system is our goal – as it stands right now, all politicians (no matter how wonderful or terrible they may be) are indebted to the people who pay for their elections and the SUPERPACs that support them.  On Valentines today in New York, Valentines are being distributed to elected officials for their support of Fair Elections and we will hopefully see some substantial changes, and soon.

Craving, if you were wondering is the name of today’s post for two reasons: 1. I’m hungry, this is to be mediated shortly. and 2. I was missing the voice of my dear friend who just moved to Thailand.  I spoke to her this morning and it was a delight.

H.Bear

Sending Valentines love from across the world is a lovely way to start your day.  I also received a very special e-mail from my sweetheart telling me how sweet I am and how much he loves me, he doesn’t just do this on Valentines day. So I’m pretty lucky. 🙂  I made him a card last night too, a hilarious one that is not only a hand-made card, but it’s an awesome, hand-made pop-out card.

So happy V-Day everyone, from your local, typical and loving,

Scrooge

By |

Today, in 1809 Abraham Lincoln was born.  He is celebrated in this country because of his efforts as a president to: emancipate slavery and, among other things, officially dub Thanksgiving day the last Sunday of November.  He also gave the Gettysburg address during the Civil War, at the turning point when the North began to win over the South.  I remember learning about ole Honest Abe in school, how awesome he was.  After having read People’s History by Howard Zinn, I gained another perspective of Lincoln.lincoln-beard

Provided by Zinn, here are quotes from the politician, Abraham Lincoln: http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinnslaem10.html

Zinn says, “In his 1858 campaign in Illinois for the Senate against Stephen Douglas, Lincoln spoke differently depending on the views of his listeners (and also perhaps depending on how close it was to the election). Speaking in northern Illinois in July (in Chicago), he said:

Let us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man, this race and that race and the other race being inferior, and therefore they must be placed in an inferior position. Let us discard all these things, and unite as one people throughout this land, until we shall once more stand up declaring that all men are created equal.

Two months later in Charleston, in southern Illinois, Lincoln told his audience:

I will say, then, that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races (applause); that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people.. 
And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.”

What I have gained from this information is this:  History is written by the victor.   This not to say that all history is a bogus concoction of rhetoric meant to defy the faith of the learner (not always..)  but to say that if someday we are going to challenge this oppressive system we are living in, and it IS oppressive no matter how many TV channels you have, we MUST find a different history to use as our tool to a new future.  We MUST create for ourselves a community of skeptic citizens who yearn for a different version of what truth we have been given, to dig deeper.  What we’re taught in school isn’t adequate to inform us about what is and has been really going on in the world. I think that Abe Lincoln was a person, just as Barack Obama, just as Nixon and Gengrich, as Clinton and Romney: they are all in a long line of people who have brought up and continued a system which at is heart is exploitative and hurtful to “the people”.  They say what they need to say to us to be elected. Here’s the Gettysburg Address: Read this as you would any politician who wants to be elected:

“Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us–that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion–that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”

PS – Disclaimer: People take others’ opinions personally if they differ from own.  Please don’t do this, it makes for difficult discussion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a different note, today in 1947 For Sentimental Reasons, by Nat King Cole topped the charts.  I love that song. Here is a link to a beautiful live version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs8wKxezNn8 I wonder what Nat King Cole thought about Abe Lincoln.