Our biggest problem with getting real progressive legislation passed is lobbying.

[ej510]

We need lobbying reform in the worst way, and campaign finance reform without loopholes in either. It is legalized bribery. Bribery is illegal everywhere; with the exception of congress. We need to take action and demand this change so we can get our nation back from the thieves.

[polichick]

1. It will take "throwing the bums out" and electing those who have pledged...

...in writing to take this on.

After all, if we can't get them to stand up to lobbyists, how do we get them to vote on legislation that will end their free ride??

[ej510]

2. I am in agreement with you, but we know the majority of politicians are safe.

It is hard to defeat the incumbents whe MSM bankrolls their campaign.

[polichick]

3. True - and people tend to think their Congresscritter is a good guy...

...while Congress as a whole is corrupt.

[pinto]

4. I agree in the big picture. Yet, here and now, today, we see a big difference in how

the organized right is out playing the organized left, vis a vis health care reform.

I got an email today from MoveOn to help host, or attend, a local vigil highlighting the bind uninsured / under-insured people are in. Local health care advocates held a similar vigil here recently highlighting the CA budget cuts to AIDS care in our state. It got 30 seconds on the local news.

Insurance companies are mobilizing 50,000 people, probably employees and their families, to phone bank *directly* to Congresspersons that are going to determine what health care reform looks like. The Congress doesn't watch the local news, but they track the phone calls made to their offices.

I told MoveOn I'd gladly be part of a mass phone banking effort, a lobbying effort, if they have the resources and organization to put one together. But, imho, a local vigil - while coming from the heart of the effort for health care reform - isn't effective political activism in light of the right's organized lobbying efforts.

(aside) The fringe shouters at the town halls may have gotten most of the national media, but I'd bet the insurance companies' efforts have made more of an impact for the right's case with Congress.

[ej510]

5. I agree it has to be twice as many of us to get involved.

[cascadiance]

6. We need to use the whole health care reform battle as a case study...

... if we can find some way to get that out to the American public, whether it is through someone like Michael Moore in his upcoming film or some other way of working around the complicit M$M.

That case study could really personalize to so many Americans affected heavily about our poor state of affairs with health care, and show how DAMN hard it is to get any kind of decent legislation through a corrupt congress, so that it can be a PRIMARY issue in the primaries in the coming election or even in the general election if we have decent Democrats or third party options then.

I think health care reform is our biggest opportunity (whether we are successful or no in getting decent legislation through) to point out the struggle it has been to the public to get people's interests represented with this bribery system in place. Almost any other issue will be a lot harder to get the average American to feel as personally involved as they are with health care, which is life and death to many Americans.

[ej510]

7. I watched a documentary on bbc and it highlighted new congresspersons meeting up

with lobbyist during their orientation. It is disgusting lobbyist are like parasites the suck the hope out of congress before their first day of service.