59 online
 
Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 16 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
OpEdNews Op Eds   

Please Contact Your Congressional Representatives (Unless Something Important Comes Up)

By       (Page 1 of 3 pages)   1 comment
Follow Me on Twitter     Message Michael Bonanno
Become a Fan
  (7 fans)

I belong to the Alliance for Democracy.   It's a wonderful organization that is trying to get, to use an antiquated phrase, power into the hands of the owners of America, the people.  

They are one of many organizations who have sponsored the Move To Amend.   It's a proposed Constitutional amendment that would specify that when the word "person" or "man" shows up in The Constitution, the reference is to a biological human being and not a global collection of infrastructures, tanks, offices and bathrooms.   I highly recommend going to MoveToAmend.org and signing the petition.    

Yesterday I received an email from the Alliance for Democracy encouraging me to call my member of Congress and convince her or him to support The DISCLOSE Act.   The act would require candidates to disclose the identities of their donors.  

While the act itself would be a step forward towards the present, as it seems we've somehow gotten back to the Robber Baron age, it will never pass in any effective form.   It probably wouldn't pass at all.   However, if it did pass, working together, playing the roles that we've all come to know and love, the Democrats and Republicans would ensure that it would be meaningless.  

First of all, I no longer waste my time calling the thespians who make up our representative bodies in Congress.   If you aren't convinced that our entire electoral system is nothing more and nothing less than theater, then you haven't been paying attention.  

I strongly support the Move To Amend.   It's one way to get the money out of our government.

Calling the people who benefit most from our Corporatic form of government and asking them to make changes in the electoral process is a fool's errand.  

Secondly, in the documentation that accompanies the fool's errand, the AfD writes, "Democrats and the White House hoped the DISCLOSE Act would be passed to take effect before the mid-terms elections."  

If this was true, why should I have to call them?   After all, they already "hoped" the DISCLOSE Act would be voted on.  During the lame duck session, a session in which Democrats not only still hold a commanding lead in both chambers, passing the bill should be easy.   Since most of them have been voted out of office, most of them have nothing to lose by rolling full steam ahead and getting everything that they told the public they wanted passed easily passed.  

I've called and written to Senators and Representatives.   I live in California and wrote to Ellen Tauscher, Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein and others.   I never spoke to one of my employees, not one.   I spoke to staff members who all said the same thing, "Thank you sir, we'll pass that on to"(fill in the blank)."  

Did they pass on that I called and said that they should vote against the next request from the White House to fund the War to find weapons of mass destruction to attack the government that worked with Al Qaeda to free people from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein to begin growing democracy in the Middle East?   Maybe they did.   Obviously, the congress people could care less what I, their boss, thought about what they should do.  

Did they pass on that I suggested that members of The Regime, the name I use for what was euphemistically called "The Bush Administration", should be impeached, including George W. Bush and Richard Cheney, for committing the very same war crimes for which The Former United States of America has prosecuted others in the past?   Maybe they did.   Obviously, the congress people care less---well you know the drill.  

Even the Move To Amend, which is probably the most substantial action being taken at this time to really make a change in our governing methodology and to which I steer every human being with whom I engage in conversation, even conversation of the most banal kind, is ultimately going to need help from the people who benefit from the present system.   We may be able to get enough signatures, we may be able to get two-thirds of the state legislatures to back the amendment, although I wouldn't bet a significant amount of money on that, but we also need two-thirds of Congress to agree as well.   That won't ever happen.   If we take it to the Supreme Court---we know that the majority of the SCOTUS is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Corporatocracy---we'll never win.  

I will never call and beg an employee again in my life, especially one with a D or an R following her or his name.  

If we want to get the amendment passed so that people who have real ideas about fair governance can actually be candidates for office, we need to get some of the very wealthy "liberal" people who appear on the media as well as business people like Soros and Buffet, to fork out some money and "buy" fairness into the game.   I normally don't agree with fighting fire with fire.   If my house is burning down, I don't want a bunch of people showing up with torches.  

However, in this political climate, trying to play fair to win is exactly what it appears that Barack Obama is doing and it appears he's failing miserably.  

Next Page  1  |  2  |  3

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).

Rate It | View Ratings

Michael Bonanno Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Michael Bonanno is an associate editor for OpEdNews.

He is also a published poet, essayist and musician who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Bonanno is a political progressive, not a Democratic Party apologist. He believes it's (more...)
 

Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Follow Me on Twitter     Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

Teabaggers; Children of the Sixties?

It's OK to say "Merry Christmas"

Is The Constitution Really That Unfair?

Will "Americans Elect" Their President in 2012?

Why Anarchism, Communism and Libertarianism are Pipe Dreams

LA Socialist Party Local Holds Organizing Meeting (Discussion with Mimi Soltysik, Local Chair)

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend