- Campaign
Literature « 1992 New Hampshire Presidential
Primary « Committee
to Draft Ralph Nader for President
1992 New Hampshire Presidential Primary
Committee to Draft Ralph Nader for President
Flyer - 8
1/2" x 14". |
|
AN AGENDA FOR A NEW INITIATORY DEMOCRACY
Whereas, a selfish oligarchy has produced economic decline, the debasement of politics, and the exclusion of citizens from the strengthening of their democracy and political economy;
Whereas, this rule of the self-serving few over the Nations business and politics has concentrated power, money, greed, and corruption far beyond the control or accountability of citizens;
Whereas, the political system, regardless of Party, has degenerated into a government of the power brokers, by the power brokers, and for the power brokers that is an arrogant and distant caricature of Jeffersonian democracy;
Whereas, Presidential campaigns have become narrow, shallow, redundant, and frantic parades and horseraces which candidates, their monetary backers, and their handlers control unilaterally, with the citizenry expected to be the bystanders and compliant voters;
Whereas, a pervading sense of powerlessness, denial, and revulsion is sweeping the Nation's citizens as they endure or suffer from growing inequities, injustice, and loss of control over their future and the future of their children; and
Whereas, we, the citizens of the United States, who are dedicated to the reassertion of fundamental democratic principles and their application to the practical, daily events in our Nation, are committed to begin the work of shaping the substance of Presidential campaigns and of engaging the candidates attention to our citizen agendas during this 1992 election year;
Now, therefore, we hereby present the ensuing Concord Principles to the Presidential candidates for the 1992 election and invite their written, consistent, and continual adherence to these principles during their entire campaign and in whatever public offices and responsibilities they hold or may hold upon cessation of their campaigns:
First, democracy is more
than a bundle of rights on paper; democracy must also
embrace usable facilities that empower all citizens
- (a) to obtain timely, accurate information from their government;
- (b) to communicate such information and their judgments to one another through modern technology; and
- (c) to band together in civic
associations as voters, taxpayers, consumers, workers,
shareholders, students, and as whole human beings in
pursuit of a prosperous, just and free society.
Second, the separation of ownership of major
societal assets from their control permits the
concentration of power over such assets in the hands of
the few who control rather than in the hands of the many
who own. The owners of the public lands, pension funds,
savings accounts, and the public airwaves are the
American people, who have essentially little or no
control over their pooled assets or their commonwealth.
The American people should assume
reasonable control over the assets they have legally
owned for many years so that their use reflects citizen
priorities for a prosperous America, mindful of the
needs and rights of present and future generations of
Americans to pursue happiness within benign
environments.
Third, a growing and grave
imbalance between the often converging power of Big
Business, Big Government and the citizens of this
country has seriously damaged our democracy and weakened
our ability to correct this imbalance. We lack the
mechanisms of civic power. We need a modern tool box for
redeeming our democracy by strengthening our capacity
for self-government and self-reliance both as
individuals and as a community of citizens. Our 18th
century democratic rights need retooling for the proper
exercise of our responsibilities as citizens in the 21st
century.
Fourth, the new democracy tool box contains measures for the purpose of protecting voters from having their voting powers diluted, over-run or nullified. These measures are:
- (a) a binding none-of-the-above option on the ballot;
- (b) term limitations, 12 years and out;
- (c) public financing of campaigns through well-promoted voluntary taxpayer checkoffs on tax returns;
- (d) easier voter registration and ballot access rules;
- (e) state-level binding initiative, referendum, and recall authority, a non-binding national referendum procedure; and
- (f) a repeal of the runaway White
House/Congressional Pay Raises back to 1988 levels --
a necessary dose of humility to the politicians.
Fifth, the new democracy tool box strengthens
taxpayers who wish to have a say in how their tax
dollars are being used and how their taxpayer assets are
being protected. These objectives will be advanced by
according taxpayers full legal standing to challenge in
the courts the waste, fraud, and abuse of tax monies and
taxpayer assets. Presently, the federal judiciary places
nearly insurmountable obstacles in front of taxpayers,
thereby leaving the task to the unlikely prospect of
government officials taking their own government to
court.
Further, a facility for taxpayers banding together can be established by a simple taxpayer checkoff on the 1040 tax return, inviting taxpayers to join their national taxpayers association which would be accountable to members on a one member-one vote standard.
Finally, obscure, overly complex,
mystifying jargon pervading federal tax, pension,
election and other laws and procedures is a barrier to
taxpayer-citizen participation. The language of these
laws and procedures must be simplified and clarified as
a matter of national priority; otherwise, only special
interests hiring decoders will be able to participate
while the general public is shut out.
Sixth, the new democracy tool box strengthens
consumers of both business and government services by
according them:
- (a) computerized access in libraries and their own homes to the full range of government information for which they have already paid but are now unable to obtain, either inexpensively or at all;
- (b) facilities in the form of periodic
inserts, included in the billing of other envelopes
sent to them by companies that are either legal
monopolies (for example, electric, gas, telephone
utilities) or are subsidized or subsidizable by the
taxpayers (for example, banks and savings and loans).
These inserts invite consumers to join their own
statewide consumer action group to act as a watchdog,
to negotiate and to advocate for their interests.
A model of this facility is the Illinois Citizen Utility Board which has saved ratepayers over $3 billion since 1983, and filled the consumer chair before utility commissions, legislative hearings, and courtroom proceedings on many occasions.
This type of facility costs taxpayers nothing, costs the carrying companies or government mailings nothing (the consumer group pays for the insert and there is no extra postage) and is voluntary for consumers to join. Had there been such bank consumer associations with full-time staff in the 1970s, there would not have been a trillion dollar bailout on the taxpayers back for the S&L and commercial bank crimes, speculations, and mismanagement debacles. These would have been nipped in the bud at the community level by informed, organized consumer judgement. So too would have costly and hazardous energy projects been replaced by energy efficiency and renewable power systems; and
- (c) Citizen consumers are the viewers
and listeners of television and radio. Federal law
says that the public owns the public airwaves which
are now leased for free by the Federal Communications
Commission to television and radio companies. The
public, whose only option is to switch dials or turn
off, deserves its own Audience Network.
The Audience Network would enhance the communication and mobilization process between people locally and nationally. The owners of the airwaves deserve a return of their property for one hour prime time and drive time on all licensed stations so that their professional studios, producers, and reporters can program what the audience believes is important to them and their children. The proposal for Audience Network, funded by dues from the audience-members and other non-tax revenues, was the subject of a Congressional hearing in 1991, chaired by Congressman Edward Markey.
Similarly, in return for cable company monopoly and other powers, cable subscribers should be able to join their own cable viewers group through a periodic insert in their monthly cable billing envelopes. Modern electronic communications can play a critical role in anticipating and resolving costly national problems when their owners gain regular usage, as a community intelligence, to inform, alert, and mobilize democratic citizen initiatives. Presently, these electronic broadcasting systems are overwhelmingly used for entertainment, advertising and redundant news, certainly not a fair reflection of what a serious society needs to communicate in a complex age, locally, nationally, and globally.
- (d) Access to justice -- to the
courts, to government agencies, and to legislatures --
is available to organized, special interests, and they
widely use these remedies. In contrast, when consumers
are defrauded, injured,rendered sick by wrongdoers or
other perpetrators of their harm, they find costly
dollar and legal hurdles blocking their right of
access. They also find indentured politicians and
their lobbying allies bent on closing the doors
further. Systems of justice are to be used
conveniently and efficiently by all the people in this
country, not just corporations and the wealthy.
Otherwise, the citizen shutout worsens.
Seventh, the new democracy tool box for working
people contains rights of bringing one's conscience to
work without having to risk being unfairly fired or
demoted. Ethical whistle-blowers have alerted Americans
to numerous abuses in the workplace that damage workers
health and safety, contaminate the environment, and
defraud consumers, taxpayers, and shareholders. However,
they often pay the penalty with the loss of their jobs.
The exercise of conscience needs simple, effective legal
protections which will build inside the corporation,
government, or other large bureaucracies the incentives
for care, prudence, and accountability that foresee or
forestall larger harms.
Eighth, working people, who own over $3 trillion in pension monies, need a reasonable measure of control over where these monies are invested. Presently, a handful of banks and insurance companies control and make these decisions. During the 1980s the use of pension monies for corporate mergers, acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and other empire-building maneuvers showed what does happen when ownership is so separated from control. Control by the few often left economic wreckage behind in many communities, and such capital draining takeovers did not produce employment or new wealth.
Pension monies are gigantic capital pools
that can be used productively to meet community needs,
but not when their owners are excluded from any
organized participation or even the right to know and
review what has been decided.
Ninth, the new democracy tool box
applies to recognizing shareholder democracy as well.
Whether large, small or institutional shareholders (such
as pension or other trust funds), the separation of
ownership (of the company) from control has been
documented impressively, starting with the celebrated
study by Berle and Means fifty years ago. The business
press is filled with reports of executives of large
corporations repeatedly abusing shareholder assets and
worker morale with huge salaries, bonuses, greenmail,
and golden parachutes, (untied to company performance),
self-perpetuating boards of directors, the stifling of
the proxy voting system and blocking other shareholder
voting reforms such as cumulative voting powers and
access to relevant shareholder lists and information.
The owners of corporations should be able to prevent
their hired executives from engaging in what Business
Week called casino capitalism that often ends with mass
layoffs, loyal shareholder losses and communities
undermined.
Tenth, the new democracy tool box needs to be taught in its historic context and present relevance as part of an engrossing civic curriculum for our country's schoolchildren. Involving all students during their later elementary and secondary school education in practical civics experience so as to develop both their citizen skills and the desire to use them, under the rule of law, can enrich schools, students, and communities alike. Where teachers have made such efforts, the children have responded responsibly and excitedly to the frequent surprise and respect of their elders. Schooling for informed and experienced participation in democratic processes is a major reservoir of future democracy and a profound human resource to be nurtured.
In conclusion, these tools for democracy have fairly common characteristics. They are universally accessible, can reduce government and other deficits, and are voluntary to use or band together around. It matters not whether people are Republicans, Democrats, or Independents. It matters only that Americans desire to secure and use these facilities or tools.
Without this reconstruction of our democracy through such facilities for informed civic participation, as noted above, even the most well-intentioned politicians campaigning for your vote cannot deliver, if elected.
Nor can your worries about poverty, discrimination, joblessness, the troubled conditions of education, environment, street and suite crime, budget deficits, costly and inadequate health care, and energy boondoggles, to list a few, be addressed constructively and enduringly. Developing these democratic tools to strengthen citizens in their distinct roles as voters, taxpayers, consumers, workers, shareholders, and students should be very high on the list of any candidates commitments to you. Unless, that is, they just want your vote, but would rather not have you looking over their shoulder from a position of knowledge, strength and wisdom.
Ralph Nader
February 1, 1992
Paid for by the Committee to Draft Ralph Nader for President. Matt Rothschild, Carl Mayer Co-Treasurers
81 Hanover Street, Manchester, NH 03101 (603) 641-5577