Health and Diet Scottish Recipes Ferret for Ferrets


[pf] Fw: Vitalizing Democracy
by Jill Taylor Bussiere
23 November 2000 01:27 UTC

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Some more ideas of what to do next.

                    Jill

> MESSAGE FROM RALPH NADER
> NOVEMBER 22, 2000
> WASHINGTON, DC
>
> A pre-Thanksgiving message to all our supporters, contributors, and those
> youngsters who helped but were to young to vote:
>
> First - let us historically note that Thanksgiving Day does not have a
> benign meaning to the First Native Americans. But apart from its early
> history, it is good for a society to have a day of thanks and the Green
> Party candidates Ralph Nader and Winona LaDuke are thankful for the nearly
3
> million votes received on November 7, 2000, thankful for the hundreds of
> thousands of people who worked on the campaign in various ways, thankful
for
> the staff and part-time coordinators, and thankful that all these efforts
> took the fledgling Green Party into the third largest party in America,
> replacing the Reform Party, and into becoming the fastest growing and most
> democratically spirited party as well.
>
> These are significant accomplishments when it is considered that this
> campaign spent less than one percent of the money spent by the two major
> parties, received no more than one percent of the national TV and national
> press coverage, was excluded from the Presidential debates, had to
confront
> large barriers to ballot access in a dozen states, and started with no
> hereditary voters (the Democrats and Republicans start out with over 30%
> each of hereditary voters).
>
> The great leap forward by the Green Party on election day sets the stage
for
> the next advance in year 2002. Many political scientists believe that
third
> parties can be never make inroads into an entrenched two-party
> winner-take-all system. But this is a barrier to be overcome with steady,
> hard work, not an inevitable legacy from the past.
>
> One of the first steps is to have an agenda that vitalizes our democratic
> processes. Here are some familiar reform proposals that bear repeating as
> future goals:
>
>
> 1. End legalized bribery and support publicly financed campaigns.
>
> Year after year, big business invests in politicians and political parties
> by giving them millions of dollars, and then, those businesses get
corporate
> welfare and tax breaks worth billions of dollars. This must end.
>
> The biggest single obstacle to honest, just government action - government
> of, by and for the people - is the corruption of our election campaigns by
> special interest money. No one should have to sell out to big business in
> order to run a competitive campaign.
>
> Political campaigns should be publicly financed, just like public
libraries,
> parks and schools.
>
> 2. Take back the airwaves and provide free time for ballot-qualified
> candidates.
>
> The airwaves belong to the people, not the media corporations. We let them
> use the airwaves for radio and television broadcasting free of charge year
> after year, and then they collect hundreds of millions of dollars from
> political candidates paying for ads.
>
> There should be some free time on radio and television for all
> ballot-qualified candidates during election seasons.
>
> 3. Include everyone in elections by adopting same day voter registration.
>
> Just when most people get excited about politics, in the few weeks before
> the election, it is too late to register to vote in most states. Millions
of
> people who want to vote are turned away from the polls, simply because
they
> didn't register a month ahead of time. We need election-day voter
> registration in all 50 states, not just the six states that use it now.
> Jesse Ventura, governor of Minnesota says he wouldn't have won without
> same-day registration.
>
> 4. Give voters the information they want by opening the presidential
> debates.
>
> The presidential debates are controlled by the corporate-funded, Democrat-
> and  Republican-controlled Commission on Presidential Debates, which has
set
> arbitrary, unfair rules to exclude third-party candidates and the issues
> they represent from the televised debates.
>
> We must open the debates to significant third-party candidates who are on
> the ballot in enough states to actually win the election and who meet a
> minimal threshold of demonstrated support, or those whom a majority of
> Americans polled want to see in the debates. Polls show that 64% of
> Americans wanted to see a four-way presidential debate this year.
>
> 5. Open up the two-party system by adopting proportional representation.
>
> The two major parties, thanks to their addiction to special interest
money,
> are converging into one corporate party with two heads. This leaves voters
> who are longing for alternatives without any significant choice on the
> ballot.
>
> It is time to stop saying that we are going to surrender to a
> winner-take-all political system. We need a discussion about proportional
> representation, which gives electoral seats to those winning substantial
> vote counts that are short of a plurality. With proportional
representation,
> more votes count, there is greater voter turnout and more citizen
interests
> can participate in government.
>
> 6. Gauge public opinion at the polls by initiating a national non-binding
> advisory referendum.
>
> We should put forth non-binding referenda on salient national issues to be
> voted on during Election Day.
>
> 7. Make every vote count by allowing instant runoff voting.
>
> To win a presidential election, a candidate does not need a majority of
> votes, just a plurality. President Clinton, for instance, earned less than
> 50 percent of the vote. We should use the Australian system of Instant
> Runoff to ensure that the election winner earns a majority of votes.
Voters
> get to rank the candidates: 1, 2, 3; if no candidate gets a majority of
the
> votes in the first count, the second choices are then counted until one
> candidate gets a majority. This liberates voters to choose their favorite
> candidate, and ignore the cries of "wasted votes" and "spoilers."
>
> 8. When there is no one worth your vote, you should have a binding
> none-of-the-above option.
>
> In so many elections, there is only one major-party name on the ballot, or
a
> choice between two candidates with few significant differences and little
> new to offer voters. Voters should be able to reject the candidates put
> forth by choosing None-of-the-Above, (NOTA) and if NOTA wins, force a new
> election with new candidates. This binding measure would give voters an
> escape hatch out of an unsatisfactory election and give the disaffected a
> chance to shake things up.
>
>
>
> Facilitating greater citizen participation can only strengthen our
> democracy.
>
> In the coming weeks, we will elaborate other practices and proposals where
> Greens can impact the next Congress and the new Administration, where
Greens
> can recruit more good candidates and help them with training and
resources,
> where campus Greens can become more numerous and more involved, and where
> U.S. Greens can connect with local, state, national and international
issues
> already being worked on by civil society groups.
>
> We are already raising funds to cover our continuing expenses towards
> establishing a long-range political reform movement in America. If you can
> help in these next crucial steps by contributing funds
> (http://web.archive.org/web/20020330163715/http://votenader.org/donate.html)
> or volunteer time (http://web.archive.org/web/20020330163715/http://votenader.org/volunteer.html)
> we would be greatly appreciative.
>
> Until then - rest, ruminate and get ready for higher horizons, greater
> expectation levels for our country and more politics of joy and justice.
> Together we can make a difference.
>
> Best wishes,
> Ralph Nader
>
> P.S. Our Alaskan stalwart, Steve Conn, submitted the following reflections
> on futures agendas which we are pleased to make available here:
> http://web.archive.org/web/20020330163715/http://votenader.org/press/001122Conn.html