Political analyst urges Obama to do good
Don't Worry About Winning a 2nd Term
| Millions of Americans victimized by corporations and dysfunctional government should have learned a lesson by now -- tyranny can prosper along with elections and even freedom. The author of these articles is a co-founder of Friends of the Article V Convention; contact him through delusionaldemocracy.com. |
by Joel S. Hirschhorn, 28 January 2010
- Disdain Versus Democracy
The national desire for change and reform that convinced so many independents and others to vote for Obama has been made a mockery by a White House and Congress that has continued to behave as conventional (pro-war), corrupt (bought by Big Pharma), and lying (about bailing out Wall Street) politicians.
Democrats richly deserved the Republican win in Massachusetts since Democrats in Congress and President Obama keep making sweetheart deals with corporate interests.
Obama claimed that the forces that swept Republican Brown to victory in Massachusetts -- for change and better government -- were the same as those that propelled him into the presidency. His own analysis reveals his failures as president.
Fifty-three percent of Democrats that voted for Brown said they would vote for Democrats if they would actually fix Wall Street. Two days after Brown’s victory, Obama announces a new Wall Street and banking reform effort.
If Obama could become president with good looks and a winning personality, why not Brown? At least that’s what I hope Obama loses sleep over. Maybe then he will stop showing such disdain for democracy, stop making deals with corporate interests, and get rid of his top advisors. And get the Justice Department to prosecute the criminals in the financial sector. Start producing the changes in the political and government system that Americans want and need.
- Obama: Say One Term Is Enough
Obama has made a mockery of the rule of law with his “I want to look forward, not backward” philosophy. Justice cannot be obtained other than by looking back and prosecuting the lawbreakers.
He has steadfastly pursued the same policies as Bush (and with the same characters). Obama is still pursuing the costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Obama should cut his ties to corporate and political elites, announce that he will not run for reelection and, instead, make a sharp turn in his policies, programs, and staff. Giving up a second term would take courage, and courage is what President Obama needs to become the populist, reformist president the nation desperately needs.
- Fixing A Bad Supreme Court Decision
The Supreme Court 5-to-4-decision referred to as Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that struck down limits on corporate spending in presidential and congressional elections prompted a number of groups to call for a constitutional amendment.
Three current constitutional amendments resulted because of Supreme Court decisions: the Eleventh Amendment (shoring up states’ legal immunity), the Sixteenth Amendment (authorizing a federal income tax), and the Twenty-sixth Amendment (assuring eighteen-year-olds the right to vote).
Among the current efforts MoveToAmend.org has already received nearly 50,000 signatories to support its plan, particularly: Firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.
Another active group is ReclaimDemocracy.org advocating: Corporations and other for-profit institutions are prohibited from attempting to influence the outcome of elections, legislation, or government policy through the use of aggregate resources or by rewarding or repaying employees or directors to exert such influence.
Ultimate Civics, a project of Earth Island Institute, wants this: This amendment affirms that constitutional rights extend only to human persons. Corporations, partnerships, and other organization entities are not human persons and, therefore, are not entitled to constitutional protections.
There has been an older movement to take all private money out of federal elections and go to total public financing, which would open up the US political system to competitive third party candidates.
An alternative path to amending the US Constitution is in Article V, calling a convention of state delegates. There have been some 750 applications for a convention from all 50 states, more than the two-thirds requirement. Yet Congress has refused to obey this part of the Constitution.
A major reason Congress has gotten away with this illegal behavior is that nearly all organized political interests on the left and right have opposed a convention, worried over just what a convention might propose. Yet any proposed amendment must still be ratified by three-quarters of the states.
Voting in new members of Congress or a President has proven to be totally ineffective in achieving necessary reforms to make government work better. The two-party plutocracy is far too corrupted by business and other special interests. If Americans want to fix the recent Supreme Court decision, then they should rally behind the effort of the nonpartisan Friends of the Article V Convention at foavc.org. They only advocate for making Congress obey the Constitution and call the first convention, but not specific amendments.
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Also see: No-bid contracts mean higher costs
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