Recently, I spent four hours stuffing envelopes with a flier promoting a fund-raising event for Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin. It was pleasant, mindless, work with a group of like-minded individuals. A staffer advised that the resultant individual donations are typically in the $50-100 range; and that this particular fund raiser is likely to raise between $10,000-$15,000. Chump Change in our post-Citizen’s United world.
We are witnessing unprecedented and unchecked levels of greed and corruption in the highest levels of government; The hyper-wealthy can now interject unlimited and obscene amounts of money into the electoral process, and they have been rewarded richly for their investments.
Whether or not The D ever serves jail time (and I believe he will): is really a secondary plot in this tragedy. We are already well past any reasonable point when checks and balances ‘should’ have kicked in to mitigate the extraordinary damage being wrought by this administration. As scandals and investigations swirl around them, The D and his minions continues to plow through and destroy hard-fought legislation to protect our environment, our children, our economy, women’s health, civil rights, public education and more: all while high-fiving themselves on the way to the bank.
I recognize that my donations, in both time and dollars, are measly when compared to the Koch Brothers and the tsunami of cash they and their ilk are pitting against Tammy.
The 2018 election is pivotal. Congressional Republicans have sold their souls and moral compasses in their inability / unwillingness to call out the most obvious untruths and vitrol regularly spewing from this Administration. Their shame is reflected in the high number of them that are not running for re-election. It is up to us to ensure that they are replaced by men and women of substance and character, versus well-groomed puppets, whose strings are manipulated by The D’s whims.
The time is now. The institutional checks and balances have failed us. As in other times of crisis in our country, it is up to the people to provide real leadership for reform; Complacency is the enemy, we must BE the change we want to see in the world.
So, I will continue to stuff envelopes, donate money, participate in marches, blog, and more… because that is exactly what a real democracy looks like.