Real “Democrat”ic reform

I thought I should get a letter in our local organ before moving on to Colorado.

Editor:

We Americans imagine ourselves more enlightened than others, even thinking ourselves justified in bombing other countries to make them “free.” But our own freedom is mere illusion.

Our two political parties are financed by the same concentrations of wealth. There are differences – big oil tends to favor Republicans, while trial lawyers have always had a particular affinity for Democrats. Wall Street finance houses have deep tentacles in both parties. But for the most part, money has no ideology, and shifts with the political winds.

Tea-baggers and “birthers” take the place of political dialogue. These same elements once screamed about Whitewater and Monica, and then were quiet for eight years. Now they’re back, crazy as ever. But they are a mere distraction. That’s not an exchange of ideas. That’s lunacy.

There is an important issue at the fore – reform of our health care system. The public by overwhelming margins wants real change. Democrats have enough power now to easily defeat the Republicans. But they won’t do it.

Our own senator, Max Baucus, is the leading anti-reformer. He supposedly represents the “liberal” side of our spectrum, but is more like a right winger himself, frustrating attempts at real reform.

And this is the nature of our “two party” system. Lacking any real mechanisms by which we can translate public will into public policy, our precious freedom is a mere illusion. Our parties are bought – the one representing “hope” and “change” merely covering the other’s back.

We have nothing to teach other countries. We need our own regime change. (Perhaps we should bomb ourselves?) We legally bribe our public officials. Because of our campaign finance system, real reforms in other areas are not possible.

Before we will see health care reform, we must fix campaign finance. Nothing changes before that.