Suggested Discussion Outline - Feb 14th

[johnkarls]

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Suggested Discussion Outline
The Best Gov Money Can Buy – Bribery & Extortion


A. The Problems

1. Bribery – most “campaign contributions” are de facto bribes

2. Extortion – many pols extort “campaign contributions” by threatening action adverse to the interests of their “contributors”/victims

3. Change – will continue to be a mirage unless we focus effectively on Congress, the committees that have jurisdiction over particular issues and the chairs/members of those committees (and the lobbyists they serve).


B. Examples Posted on Our Bulletin Board

1. The extortion and conspiracy to commit extortion of “campaign contributions” by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Chuck Shumer from hedge fund operators to retain capital-gains rates on their earnings – as described in the first two paragraphs of the NY Times book review of “The Squandering of America.”

2. The insurance industry blocking the Clintons’ crusade in the 1990’s to achieve “single payer” universal health care, and the insurance industry’s successful intimidation of this election cycle’s entire crop of Democratic candidates (except Kucinich) from even proposing anything that leaves out the insurance industry.

3. The successful effort by American employers who “thumb their nose” at the criminal penalties for hiring illegal immigrants in “The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986” to induce George H.W. Bush, William J. Clinton and George W. Bush to refuse to enforce the law, while inducing key Senators and Congresspersons to let the trio “get away with it.”

4. The successful effort by American corporations that have “out sourced” American jobs to China and India to obtain a special one-year-only tax rate of 5.25% (vs. the normal 35%) to bring home their accumulated profits from “out sourcing” the American jobs. Their accumulated “out sourcing” profits were $2 trillion with a “t”!!!


C. Other Examples

1. The continual “shake down” of US-based corporations to continue the international tax provisions that enable them to continue to compete IN THE U.S. AS WELL AS ABROAD with Japanese- and European-based corporations – as if Congress really wanted American workers to have to work only for Japanese- and European-based corporations and as if Congress really wanted to bankrupt US corporations that are owned predominantly by pension funds, university endowment funds and mutual funds.

2. Other examples, which should be infinite per Washington Post Columnist Dana Milbank.


D. The Virtual Impossibility of Prosecuting

1. The First Amendment to the US Constitution protects “free speech” and the “right to petition.”

2. Accordingly, US Attorneys must prove “linkage” between the “campaign contributions” and the desired action/inaction.

3. That is why pols insist on dealing with lobbyists who “know how the game is played” and will not leave any evidence of linkage.


E. The Virtual Impossibility of Legislating Campaign-Finance Reform

1. The Supreme Court is vigilant in invalidating CFR provisions that it decides infringe on “free speech” and the “right to petition.”

2. As a result, neither the Federal Election Commission nor Congress even attempts to deal with the independent “527 organizations” that raise unlimited amounts of “contributions” to support their favorite candidates – indeed, the media have severely criticized one major Presidential candidate because one of his “527 organizations” is headed by his former campaign manager.


F. Obsolete “Solution” = The Citizens’ Lobby (“Been There, Done That”)

1. “The Common Cause Citizens’ Lobby” formed in 1970 – headed by John Gardner and succeeded (1980-1992) by Special Watergate Prosecutor Archibald Cox who continued as Chairman Emeritus until his demise in 2004.

2. Its goals today are virtually the same as 1970 – anti-war (Vietnam then, Iraq today), campaign-finance reform, ethics, voter registration/participation, etc.

3. Ineffective – ceased publication of “Common Cause Magazine” in 1996, only 8 current program staff (vs. 14 in administration and 7 in fundraising/membership), no money in the budget for the “campaign contributions” that pols require for actually doing anything, etc.


G. Proposed Solution = “Wiki”-Politica

1. The political equivalent to Wikipedia.

2. NY Times Magazine Article (7/1/2007 – posted on Bulletin Board) explains how Wikipedia maintains high quality with nothing but volunteers – after only 6 years of existence, articles in 250 languages (1.8 million in English alone) with 6.8 million contributors.

3. “Wiki”-Politica would catalogue each Senator and Congressperson, listing such information as her/his campaign contributors (including amounts), committee assignments, and positions on each issue (from the person's voting record, from her/his official web site and from media reports).

4. The information should also be easy to re-sort issue-by-issue so that any mere citizen (vs. a lobbyist) who is interested in a particular issue can discover the Senate and H/R committees that have jurisdiction over a particular issue, the identity of the committee members and (as mentioned above) each member's campaign contributors, issue positions, etc.

5. During election years, this information could easily be expanded to include challengers so that any citizen who dislikes an incumbent and likes the challenger can make effective "campaign contributions" to counter the influence of the bribes (aka "campaign contributions") of the lobbyists.

6. Improvements and additional details???

7. Using our “six degrees of separation” (and that of our e-mail list of 120) to make this a reality.