Forum Post: Ending the privatization of our democracy

The privatization of our political culture seems to be at the root of our inability to create a just, sustainable economy. How is it possible to create an economic democracy, to go after the root causes of systemic greed and corruption, when our political democracy is so broken?

It’s clear that through campaign financing, lobbies, and corporate media dominance of our elections and politics, elites have taken democratic decision making out of the hands of the majority.

Elections have come to mean one thing: fund raising. Our elections have become auctions where economic privilege is bought and sold. Powerful lobbies have turned law making into a dumb show in which lawmakers are openly censored, bought, and intimidated. The idea of one person, one vote is treated with total contempt. And corporate media ownership of our political forums controls discussion and debate for huge numbers of people.

Whatever forms of democratic consensus building it’s possible to model, unless these forms lead to taking the big money out of the political system and putting the majority of people back into it, the unfair exercise of economic power will stay intact. A multi-issue movement that addresses symptoms—rather than contesting how power is being exercised—seems bound to splinter and fail.

To achieve free and fair elections, citizens’ congresses, or independent media, will take a movement that’s broad, popular, inclusive, nonpartisan, limited in scope and unified in its focus as a pro-democracy movement.