This morning, I’m sitting at Sargent’s Garage in
Des Moines’ inner city, waiting for an oil change for the van.  Graham
Gormley, one of the owners, is particularly hot under the collar.  He’s
talking to me and reading big business and big government the riot
act.  “Corporations and Congress are like one entity anymore,” rails
Graham.  

It’s early and the gears operating my cranium haven’t
yet fully engaged.  But Graham’s energy and scathing critique of the
state of affairs act like an additional jolt of caffeine.  “It’s really
our fault, the people’s fault, for letting this happen.  What
percentage of Americans doesn’t vote?  How many people are spending so
much time with their cell phone, ipod, tv and computer that they don’t
even take the time to figure out what’s going on?”

A lot, I
offer.  In fact, the largest political block in America today is not
Democrats or Republicans.  It’s not eve n those registered “No Party.” 
The most potent political block in America is non-voters, a force that
could change the direction of our nation in one election if people
would choose to engage.

Somehow, we have to get beyond the
ridiculous, popular notion that all politicians are crooks.  Heck, even
my favorite folk singer, Don McLean, said as much from the stage as he
performed the closing act at the Iowa State Fair earlier this month,
calling all presidential candidates “liars.” Do some tell lies?  Sure. 
Big ones.  But if McLean would choose to pay attention, he would hear a
lot of truth in what some of the candidates have to say.  In fact, some
campaign rhetoric follows the same themes McLean so poetically
expresses in his music.

I don’t know how to put this any more
emphatically, so imagine that the next sentence is highlighted,
bold-faced and underlined (this e-mail programs only allows caps):  WE
ARE THE GOVERNMENT.  IF POLITICIANS ARE CORRUPT AND ACT ONLY IN THE
INTEREST OF BIG BUSINESS AND THE VERY WEALTHY, IT’S BECAUSE WE LET THEM
GET AWAY WITH IT!

The solution?  DON’T LET THEM GET AWAY WITH
IT!!  (See last week’s Update, challenging YOU to run for office. And
while I’m at it, mea culpa for failing to remind you to vote in the
upcoming school board election on September 11.)  

WE need to
become the experts on the issues, or at least on one or two issues. 
You won’t get it all from the corporate media.  There are great sources
of information on-line and in independent newspapers, magazines and
journals.  Locally-owned radio stations and community-access television
are occasionally helpful. The best source of quality information for me
as a state lawmaker proved to be rank-and-file constituents I had come
to know and trust over the years.  They had a grasp of information that
put any lobbyist to shame.

WE need to donate time, money and
ideas to those who run for office – providing they aren’t corporate or
partisan lackeys.  How to sort out the good from the bad?  Well,
perhaps it’s not unlike reviewing the cast of Invasion of the Body
Snatchers.  At first blush, it may be hard to tell the real from the
fake.  I can even think of candidates who I thought were great; I
helped them and later regretted it.  At a minimum, ask these
questions:  What have candidates done to show that they care about
their community?  Can they think clearly?  Do they have a good heart? 
Do they have a stiff spine, a strong stomach?

Finally, WE need to be the ones running for office.

Back
to Sargent’s Garage.  As my van neared the end of its oil change, Mike
Pingel, the other owner, told me how his business, like nearly 99% of
Iowa’s small businesses, gets no handouts from the government.  In
fact, after sinking $20,000 into improving the business, Mike and
Graham were rewarded with an assessment that raised their property
taxes by $1,500.  Meanwhile, Principal gets its insurance premium tax
cut in half, Allied gets tax abatement, the Register gets TIF, Michael
Gartner’s I-Cubs get nearly $1 million from the Vision Iowa board
(which he chaired), and Wells Fargo cashes in big on the Iowa Values
Fund.  And that’s just the local scene.

Yup.  It’s hard not to be cynical.

Don’t be.

The
alternative to cynicism is activism, and we’re a society of activists,
thinkers, dreamers, self-starters, trouble-makers.  Heck, we got our
start throwing British tea into Boston Harbor and we’ve been acting out
ever since.  Now more than ever, we need an active, engaged, fed-up
populace.

Share your own ideas.  What are YOU doing – or going
to do – to turn this mess around?  What do YOU think others should be
doing?  How are WE going to recover our democracy from those who would
exploit and destro y it.  If we hear from enough of you, those stories
will help write the next UPDATE!

Thanks for reading.  Onward!