How can our government sponsor aggressive war, let our schools deteriorate, let our citizens go without health care, and let our country hemorrhage jobs—while delivering tax cuts to the very rich?
It’s simple. Corporations and very rich people make campaign contributions to install politicians whose policies they like. Corporate lobbyists then explain what they want, sometimes even drafting legislation for the harried legislators. The media, owned by big corporations, finds none of this newsworthy.
In other words, “democracy” has broken down in the United States. Government “of the people, by the people, and for the people” would be a darned good idea, and seems worth a try.
A frontal assault on corporate power may be impossible. But lots of people still believe in democracy, so some change may be doable. Enter the 50% solution.
The United States Senate has 100 members: two senators from each state. What if by law each state were required to elect one male and one female senator?
Someone said this sounds like quotas. Wouldn’t less-qualified people be elected senator?
But consider, what is the job of a senator? Does the spectacle of the current government waving the flag for war while beggaring the economy seem like the work of well-qualified people?
We’re not talking about affirmative action for women, but an experiment in common sense in government.
The men I know tend to be clever about how to make things work. This is good. But the women I know, hearing about a clever scheme to clear-cut forests, or build new “usable” nuclear weapons, or have their sons fight some war of aggression-- would raise an eyebrow, and quietly say, “What?”