I really believe that campaign finance reform and ethics reform are at the heart of every problem I seem to gripe about nowadays (inability to deliver a health care plan to the citizens of this state/country, defense contractors who love the war in Iraq, destruction of the environment for profit, union busting, resurgence of the nuclear industry, etc.)
Simplistic, I know, but I really feel that way. In a nutshell, the lack of ethics reform and campaign finance reform illustrate very nicely how elected officials refuse to follow the wishes of the people who elected them to office.
Check out the story in Harper's this month, if you haven't already: Beltway Baccanal: Congress lives high on the contributor's dime. I read it last night while eating dinner and it actually made me lose my appetite (And I was eating at Sushi King, so that's pretty serious.)
Thanks for keeping to the grind on this issue, Marjorie.
You can find that story here:
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2...2008/03/
0081944
Hi Laura, It kind of seems simple to me also, but the solution can be hard to find. There's a reason that "free speech" is so wrapped up with this issue of money. We love to be "free" in this country, and we want to spend our money the way we see fit. It's a real quandary, which is why I appreciate it when a lot of time and effort goes into crafting workable solutions, like the ones included in this most recent legislative package. Thanks for the link...I love Harper's!
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