Hightower Lowdown

FROM THE "LAND OF THE CLUELESS AND CONNIVING," meet a couple of gentlemen who insist that America's political funding system is working splendidly. They report that there's absolutely nothing going on between the money interests and our lawmakers in Washington that should trouble our fuzzy little minds.

First up is one Paul Miller, president of the American League of Lobbyists (bet you didn't know that lobbying is now such an industry in Washington that they've formed a lobby group for lobbyists!). He offers this insight:

"Our government is not corrupt, lobbyists are not bribing people, and members of Congress are not being bought for campaign contributions. I don't think we can say for certainty that the current system is broken."

Gosh, I wonder if he can say "TomDeLay JackAbramoff DukeCunningham" with certainty...or a straight face?

Next comes Ben Barr, who's from a pro-corporate Arizona think tank called the Goldwater Institute. In an interview last October on the PBS television show "NOW," he shared this wisdom:

NOW: Do you think money is a problem in politics under the traditional system?

Barr: No, I do not. Money is speech.

NOW: But, surely money can also distort speech....

Barr: That's the price of freedom.... Speech costs money.

Follow the bouncing logic: Speech costs money; money distorts speech; distorted speech is freedom. [ read more ]

George W keeps buzzing around like a maniacal mosquito on a hot summer night, pestering us with speeches and photo ops to tell us, in so many words, that he's doing "a heck of a job." Let me ask you: If he were, wouldn't we know it? Yet in the wonderland where George seems to dwell, prosperity abounds for every American; Iran and Afghanistan are budding flowers of democracy; our environmental skies are perfectly clear; all of our children "is" learning; and the government is in good, capable hands. I don't know where Bush's beautiful world is, but I want to go there! Meanwhile, back on earth, reality is a lot less rosy. In this special fold-out issue and in next month's, we'll put some hard numbers to that reality, offering you Lowdowners a series of scorecards on various areas of importance to We the People. By seeing where we really stand, we can see what needs to be done if our country is to realize its phenomenal potential. We are putting these facts forth as ammunition for agitation to turn the negative numbers positive by organizing and mobilizing folks at the grassroots level -- not merely to take our country back... but to move it forward by teaming up to confront the Powers That Be and press for progressive change. We hope you'll use this ammunition in letters to the editor, family discussions, comments to Congress critters, public forums, and other outlets, rallying your coworkers, friends, and others to action. Also, please pass the ammunition on -- share these issues with the regulars at the café or cantina, copy some of them to post on bulletin boards at your favorite coffee shops or bookstores, leave copies in the break room at work or in your church fellowship hall, send them out to your holiday list or put the scorecards in your blogs, etc. As Thomas Jefferson said, "Educate and inform the whole mass of people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." Check out our special-edition scorecard poster: "Are you better off yet?" [ read more ]