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The principle challenges that we face now are: the achievement of genuinely fair elections, putting an end to the elite political class and political careerism, completing a thorough lobby reform, stopping corruption in the political decision-making process, reforming the mass media and our educational systems to promote an unbiased flow of accurate information, providing equal opportunity for participation by minorities and both genders, and making appropriate extensions of the democratic process into all spheres of social life. CED Brochure, 1995 |
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From the CED video entitled "Democracy In Time:"
Lobbying is one of the principal means by which special interests dominate in our capitals. The more than 80,000 lobbyists in Washington, D.C., many of them making $200 to $300 an hour, and over 600 lobbyists in a typical state capital like Des Moines, Iowa, demonstrate the amount of money that special interests are willing to spend--in addition to their campaign contributions--in order to purchase influence.
In addition, they finance call-ins and mass mailings in order to skew the apparently spontaneous expression of public sentiment.
Proposed Solution: we could prevent lobbyists from whispering in the ears of our representatives by requiring them to present their views only in organized public forums where a hundred voices can contend by the rules of fair debate. Clear and complete financial disclosures by lobbyists and by elected representatives should also be standard practice.
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The Story of Modern Democracy (to be cont.):
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