Earlier this
month, the political action committee of MoveOn.org hosted
a town hall meeting to address the topic Stop Corporate
Influence from
Destroying Our Democracy.Held at St. Vladimir's Church on
Manhattan�s
Upper West Side, the forum was one of about 150 such
meetings taking
place simultaneously across the nation, bringing together
local
residents concerned about the influence wielded by
corporations and
lobbyists in Washington, DC.
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Acting as emcee was the organizations Council Coordinator
David Braun.
He set the stage by telling of his own experience, so
representative of
countless others, when he got laid-off in the financial
downturn.
Meanwhile, the people in the banking and investment
industries who
caused the economic meltdown not only kept their jobs but
received huge
bonuses.
>
There followed a short and to the point film telling how big
corporations and CEOs spend hundreds of millions of dollars
lobbying
Congress to advance their own interests at the expense of
the public.
For instance, it was corporations and elected officials
doing their
bidding that succeeded in getting the crucial public option
omitted from
the recent healthcare reform legislation even though it
would have saved
families money, lowered costs and guaranteed access to
quality
healthcare for millions of Americans. Instead, they
preserved the
ability of the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance
industry to
continue making a killing literally while people die.
Several speakers also told of the effect of corporate
influence on such
issues as downsizing, the lack of financial regulations and
environment
destruction. Forum participants then separated into twosomes
to share
with each other how these issues affect them personally or
what they
have observed about them generally.
Continuing the format of direct participation by each
attendee, everyone
then split up into three groups, each to discuss a different
topic:
- 1)
rewriting the rules of our democracy,
- 2)
confronting corporations and
corporate politicians that undermine our democracy and
- 3)
building the movement and getting more people involved.
The groups met
for approximately 30 minutes, during which they
brainstormed about ideas regarding their topic. Then
everyone came back
together, and representatives from each group presented
their three top
ideas. For example, group one recommended that MoveOn focus
on campaign
finance reform and general election reform; group two
proposed the use
of YouTube to expose and confront corporations and
politicians, while
group three suggested videos of MoveOn meetings to help the
organization
reach out to more people.
It was announced that these ideas will be submitted to
MoveOn and posted
on its website along with other ideas from around the
country. In
keeping with the true democratic spirit of these grassroots
activists,
the ideas will then be voted on and used to help shape the
organization�s overall campaign platform and future policy
priorities.
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