California - The Presidential Election - Barack Obama

Change was what Barack Obama ran on. Now that a year has passed, there has been a lot of talk and a lot of frustruation. I have been one of those who has at times expressed a lot of frustruation with the status quo that the Republicans seem to continue to adopt. An example of it was the comments made by Mike Pence yesterday appearing on Fox.

Mr. Pence, the House Republican Policy Chair, pushed the Republicans main point that the country should not rush into passing healthcare. He also pushed one of the key Republican talking points about a massive Government takeover of healthcare. As this public relations initiative went on, they also started roiling on reconciliation. What they failed to tell the country was that reconciliation has been repeatedly used by the party in power especially during the Bush years. They just forgot. I will not go as far as calling the Republican Senators liars. They simply forgot. But, what was clear was that the Republican objections seems to be hypocritical at best. There is also Mr. Stupack of Michigan who continues to push his view that the pending healthcare bill is going to fund abortion--which is another outright distortion.

What is sad is that as this debate goes on, 14,000 people a day continue to lose healthcare. What this distortion shows is simply this: Congress has to change. I am with Harvard Law School's Lawrence Lessig when he noted that the rise of the Tea Party Movement on the right and Bold Progressives and MoveOn on the left reflects a grass roots belief that Government is simply not working. There are folks who still have faith in the Presidency and the Supreme Court. But, Congress is too much in the pocket of the special interests to be effective. John Campbell, the Congressman from California, is just one example. According to 2008 Ethics reports filings, he received between $ 600,000 and $ 6 Million in rent from used car dealers and then inserted an amendment to exempt car dealers from financing rules to protect consumers. There seems to be no shame left. There is the case of Charlie Rangel of New York who took a leave of absence because of an ethical cloud hanging over him because of trips he took to the Bahamas. The list goes on.

There is a scene from All The President's Men when Bob Woodward's Character tells Ben Bradlee that everyone is involved. There seems to be no shame despite all the ethics rules. There needs to be a total transformation. The admonition by Dr. King about the Fierce Urgency of Now is ever more if American Democracy is to survive the current calamity it is in.

I admit that I am anxious. But I also continue to have faith in the power of America to reinvent itself. I have faith because history reminds me that America has that power within it to do so. One such example is an exciting development in California. As a result of the California initiative process, the new Citizens Redistricting Commision in California. I had some initial profound reservations about it. But, I have come around to accepting it in a way that I even put my name for consideration. The chances of me making it is remote at best. But, it is still exciting to play a small part in the transformation process.

What is happening in California can serve as an example for the rest of the country if it is executed properly. As with every journey, the first steps will be tough. But it is a journey that will be well worth on the way to transform Democracy in America as we know it.

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