Getting Good Government

We are broken. The convergence of powerthat bailout necessary never should have
politics and mega money has created a murkydeveloped to begin with. Lax regulation and failed
underground river that threatens the foundationoversight of those whose contributions were so
of our public life. Locked in a death dance,beneficial to our elected "public servants" allowed
politicians and their propertied patrons havethis disaster to occur. Unbridled corporate greed,
waltzed us all to the brink of catastrophe as theoverpriced houses, misrepresented mortgages,
interests of the few trumped those of the restusurious credit card charges, an ill-advised war of
of us.aggression? How could anyone believe this was
This is the bottom line: The greatest impedimentsustainable?
to effective, responsive-in other words,In my work as a psychotherapist, I often remind
good-government today is the method by whichclients they need to take control of their own
political campaigns are financed. Having obtainedlives. Now, as a body politic, we need to take
office in a system which makes them dependentcontrol of our own public life. This is not a partisan
upon contributions of those at the top of theissue. It's a societal, quality-of-life issue. Correcting
economic food chain, legislators and electedit won't be easy. To our discredit, we've allowed
executives, ever aware of the inexorable marchthe system to become the province of big
towards the next election cycle, governmoney and legislators to become pawns in a
accordingly. Consider the results.modern feudalism.
Our tax money bails out billionaires whose hubrisTo ask those in office, those who represent us
produced the current economic wreckage; pays("we, the people," remember?) to create a
contractors millions for shoddy, sub par work thatsystem which will deny them millions in campaign
has endangered our troops; provides protectioncoffers is to expect much. We must expect it,
for auto makers who put on blinders andnonetheless.
continued to produce outsized gas guzzlers longWhether we should institute reform by creating a
after demand had taken root for moresystem of public financing-which, done right, would
fuel-efficient cars.cost us less than government by cronyism-or
Meanwhile, cash poor states cut funding forthrough an airtight system of regulation involving
education; returning vets fail to receive basicboth truth and consequences, I don't know, but
health care and life-saving counseling; breadwinnerswe must demand reform which . . .
lose jobs and families, homes.- requires transparency
What kind of government is this?- limits the entities candidates can create for the
I began life-adult life, that is-as a political sciencepurpose of receiving money and funding
major, and as I've watched this carnage, a termcampaigns
much discussed during my college days- allows contributions only from individuals, with
persistently springs to mind. That term islimits on the amount each can give
enlightened self-interest, a phrase used by Alexis- forbids contributions or perks from lobbyists,
de Tocqueville, the French historian, as hebusinesses, professional associations, or other
analyzed the American political system in the firstorganizations
half of the 19th century. Little of our recent- regulates legislators' employment by lobbies or
history seems enlightened to me.businesses doing business with the government
In his two-volume work, Democracy in America,for a specified period of time after the legislator
de Tocqueville observed:leaves office
"The Americans . . .are fond of explaining almost- monitors compliance with all regulations, and
all the actions of their lives by the principle of- provides for regular review and the creation of
self-interest rightly understood . . . an enlightenedadditional regulations if needed to ensure the
regard for themselves constantly prompts themindependence of those elected to office.
to assist one another and inclines them willingly toOur responsibilities as voters have never been
sacrifice a portion of their time and property . . .more crucial; our access to information, never
The principle of self-interest rightly understoodgreater; our excuses for not being informed and
produces no great acts of self-sacrifice, but itinvolved, never weaker. As we monitor what our
suggests daily small acts of self-denial."legislators do on health care, the economy, the
Then speaking directly to his fellow Frenchmen, hewars in Iraq and Afghanistan, immigration, and the
goes on, "I do not think, on the whole, that theremyriad other issues that affect us all, we need to
is more selfishness among us than in America; themonitor first and foremost what they're doing to
only difference is that there it is enlightened, herereform the broken system in which they came to
it is not. Each American knows when to sacrificepower.
some of his private interests to save the rest . .It won't be easy, but only with our insistence-and
."our votes-can we break the stranglehold of
That was then. This is now.money. Doing so will free elected and electorate
Economists tell us the big-money bailout wasalike.
needed to save all of us from ruin and I don'tYes, we can! And yes, we must!
argue with that, but the conditions which made