(Change is good. – promoted by SFBrianCL)

(cross posted to dKos)

For the past three Saturdays, I’ve been in front of the Huntington Beach Central Library sharing information on California’s Proposition 89, the California Clean Money and Fair Elections Act. There are many things I’d like to relate regarding that experience, but today I’ll focus on one thing that really struck me.

Most people who talk to us at the table approach us with questions. Whether they are initially for or against the initiative — or whether they know nothing about it — we engage in a non-partisan dialogue on good government and fair elections. One thing I really like about this initiative is that there’s virtually nothing a naysayer can ask me or challenge me on that doesn’t have a good answer in Prop 89. To one person I finally had to say, “Look – if you believe that our politicians should pay the most attention to the organizations that give them the most money, then this proposition probably isn’t for you.” That’s enough to get people thinking.

But the comment that bothered me was uttered by a woman who didn’t even stop to talk with us. She saw that we were talking about public funding of election campaigns and said “You can’t change how the campaigns and politicians work. That’s the way it’s always been.” And she walked on.

Well, ma’am, that’s NOT the ways it’s always been.

We have never lived in a time when not only are the three branches of federal government practically all under the control of one political party, but when the media is largely owned by corporations loyal to that party.

We have never lived in a time when the machinery and computer programs that count our votes are owned by corporations who pledge their loyalty to one political party.

In California, the negative effects of money in our political system are reaching heights of influence and corruption we’ve never seen before. Special interests are taking root in our prison system, our educational system, and especially our health care system.  No wonder, then, that major insurance companies oppose this initiative. But diverse groups like the League of Women Voters of California, the Congress of California Seniors, California Church IMPACT and the California Nurses Association all support it.  They recognize that this ballot proposition is important if we are to enact legislation that benefits the majority of Californians, and not a small group of campaign contributors.

Sure, money talks. In that sense that woman I saw in front of the library is right. But big money doesn’t have a place in our political system, especially when it takes influence away from the voters our politicians are meant to represent.

Wherever you live, you can learn more about public campaign funding in your area at Public Campaign. And if you are in California, please learn more about Proposition 89 and educate your friends and neighbors now on why it’s so critical. If you are in Orange County, help us in spreading the word – join us in Irvine this Sunday at our clean money working group.

We have a great opportunity this November. That woman would have us believe we shouldn’t bother because things don’t change. Let’s show her that this isn’t the way it’s going to be.