Fair Elections Action Week, is on November 12-16, when activists all over the country will be organizing events to demand Fair Elections. Renowned author Frances Moore Lappé “Diet for a Small Planet” examines campaign finance reform through the eyes of Deborah Simpson, a smart, civic-minded former waitress and single mother who ran for a seat in Maine’s legislature under that state’s Clean Election law, and won! Comments by everyday Americans despairing over our Big...

November 12-16th Common Cause, Democracy Matters, Public Campaign, Public Citizen, and U. S. PIRG will join together to promote Fair Elections Action Week. The Fair Elections Now Act in the Senate, and similar legislation in House would bring full public financing to congressional elections and amplify a call for elections that are about voters, not big money donors. Fair Elections would change the way Senate campaigns are financed and allow Senators to spend more time focusing on the people they...

Steven Moore writes in the Wall Street Journal about how the world’s cup is more than half full in Clear-Eyed Optimists He refers to the United Nations report called “State of the Future” that concludes: “People around the world are becoming healthier, wealthier, better educated, more peaceful, more connected, and they are living longer.” Yes, of course, there was the obligatory bad news: Global warming is said to be getting worse and income disparities are widening....

Andrew Rosenthal, the editorial page editor of The New York Times, answered questions from readers Sept. 24-28. Link Finally, there are issues that the Times editorial board considers of transcendent importance — the nation’s security and its global image; the relationship between government and the people, which includes the balance among the branches of our democracy, civil liberties, civil rights, taxation, welfare, Medicare, Medicaid and a host of other issues. We are strong believers...

The Blog at The Nation presents a discussion of Public Financing of Campaigns. The “pressure for constant fundraising is unsustainable – there is a convergence of democratic values and ideals and more pragmatic considerations wrought by fundraising fatigue. (“The result of this nonsense is that almost one-third of a senator’s time is spent fundraising,” former Democratic Senator Ernest Hollings wrote in a Washington Post op-ed lat year.) There are two excellent bills...

June 20th the “Fair Elections Now Act” will have its first hearing before the Senate Rules Committee. Lead sponsors Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) will testify in support of the bill. This hearing is an important step in advancing the Fair Elections Now Act in the Senate, and winning full public financing for all congressional races. The four part approach in the “Fair Elections Now Act” would create a fair system of campaign financing to restore...

Bush and Democrats in Accord on Trade Deals Democrats to attach environmental and worker protections in several pending trade accords, clearing the way for early passage of some pacts and improving prospects for others… Charles B. Rangel, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, has led negotiations to complete the trade deals that guarantee workers the right to organize, ban child labor and prohibit forced labor in trading-partner countries. It would also require trading partners to enforce...

From the Democracy 21 Website: The Money Chase; Running for Dollars An editorial appeared today in The Washington Post entitled, ”The Money Chase.” An editorial also appeared today in The New York Times entitled, ”Running for Dollars.” The editorials support legislation to repair the presidential public financing system for future elections and urge presidential candidates to agree to accept public financing in the 2008 presidential general election. As I wade through all...

Jack Danforth for Attorney General This blog post at “The Hill” makes a persuasive case for nominating Centrist Republican Former Senator John Danforth to replace Mr. Gonzales. I am in favor of almost any effort to bring the political center of gravity back towards the middle.

David Brooks writes today in the New York Times (subscription) about the obsolete message of the GOP. …Today the big threats to people’s future prospects come from complex, decentralized phenomena: Islamic extremism, failed states, global competition, global warming, nuclear proliferation, a skills-based economy, economic and social segmentation. Normal, nonideological people are less concerned about the threat to their freedom from an overweening state than from the threats posed by...

Arnold, Rush Battle for Republican Party’s Soul I agree that this is the defining conversation for the conservative community: To what extent should there be compromise with Progressives. A few nuggets: …Rush closed with this telling summary: “The problem with that is the liberals and the Democrats aren’t going to punt their ideology, because it defines them. And so when we end up agreeing with them just to get compromise, even if the numbers they want aren’t as much...

Fewer pledge allegiance to the GOP A poll says 35% of those surveyed identify with Republicans. Public attitudes seem to be drifting toward Democrats’ values. It always fascinates me that no matter how badly some leaders, even dictators, perform there is usually a large minority that will still honor and support them. Perhaps this is because some minority will always identify with the ideology, stability, dream or the comfort of a powerful personality. But for an increasing number of independently...

Medicare Still Pays Doctors Who Owe Back Taxes It seems to me that this is precisely the kind of issue sincere fiscal conservatives would jump on as low hanging fruit for improving government efficiency. Imagine how captivating it would be for the GOP to publish a list of 100 missed opportunities for making the government more efficient, and running on a platform of tackling each one.

Link The New Jersey Senate voted 27 – 3 to renew the state’s Clean Elections pilot project for another year. The bill, which easily passed in the state Assembly, will next go to Governor John Corzine (D), who is expected to sign it when it reaches his desk. Meanwhile Maryland lawmakers are close to voting on legislation that would bring Clean Elections to their state legislative races, and Assistant Senate Majority Leader Richard Durbin (D-IL) set to introduce a bipartisan Fair Elections...

I tend to agree with the distinction Paul Krugman pointed out in today’s New York Times (Subscription) “Don’t Cry for Reagan” …Mr. Reagan’s administration, like Mr. Bush’s, was run by movement conservatives — people who built their careers by serving the alliance of wealthy individuals, corporate interests and the religious right that took shape in the 1960s and 1970s. And both cronyism and abuse of power are part of the movement conservative package. In...

The New York Times points out the craftiness of our legislators in Earmark Lives, but Dares Not Speak Its Name …But Republicans, who dispensed earmarks with relish until they lost control of the committee last November, are accusing the Democrats of larding up the bill to win members’ support. “Welcome Kmart shoppers,â€? said Representative Harold Rogers, Republican of Kentucky. “This is the shopping mart for those who are nervous about supporting the precipitous withdrawal...

On March 8, 2007, eight reform organizations wrote to all of the presidential candidates in both parties urging them to take steps to help save the system of spending limits and public financing for presidential elections. The organizations included the Americans for Campaign Reform, Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, Democracy 21, the League of Women Voters, Public Campaign Action Fund, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG. It seems to me that most of these reform groups are left leaning in temperament....

Issues come and go, and how well we deal with them is a function of the availability of quality information and the openness of debate. These process issues concern me more than even the sensational issues like Iraq and National Health Care. My personal interest is in promoting open-minded deliberative debate of how to manage our society to optimize health, freedom and security. In particular how to make our elections more competitive and less dependent on special interest influence. And how...

In today’s “The Politico” Moderates Snub GOP Leadership discusses how moderate Congressional Republicans are voting more to reflect the moderate profile of their home districts with the clear understanding from party leaders that this is necessary to keep those seats in the next election. …What emerged was a large bloc of GOP lawmakers from blended districts who are voting consistently with Democrats on a wide range of issues. The new majority secured significant GOP support...

David Brooks notices in the New York Times column “The Vanishing Neoliberal” that larger and louder Liberals are overwhelming Centrists in the Democratic Party. …On policy matters, the neoliberals were liberal but not too liberal. They rejected interest-group politics and were suspicious of brain-dead unions. They tended to be hawkish on foreign policy, positive about capitalism, reformist when it came to the welfare state, and urbane but not militant on feminism and other social...