Unbalanced

At the NW Labor Council’s Labor Day Picnic on Monday, I was able to ask Sen Jeff Merkley what was needed from Oregonians to help pass health care reform. Did he need letters and phone calls to his office? He said communication from constituents is always valued, but the need in the Senate is to move 3 or 4 votes. Real reform requires that 3 or 4 Senators — from other states, of course — to decide to support the President’s goals.

In other words, there is almost nothing Oregonians can do to affect the outcome of this debate. If we were in Louisiana, or Nebraska, or Montana, we would be able to rally and pressure our recalcitrant Senator to do the right thing. But here in Oregon — or for that matter, in Washington, New York, California, Illinois, Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin… in fact, most of the nation, including those states with most of the people, the majority of whom support the President’s goals — we can do dick. Merkley will vote for a good reform package. I’m certain Wyden will, too, although he will cast his vote with the words “My bill…” on his lips.

But the one million-plus voters in Oregon who support real health care reform? We got nothing. We can do nothing. In California, with about one-seventh of the nation’s population and only twice as many votes in the Senate as Nebraska or Montana, the undemocratic nature of this process is far worse. (With two Senators and only 3,000,000 people, one could argue Oregon is over-represented in the Senate, an archaic and possibly obsolete institution that seems to do more harm than good.) And this points out the terrible place we have gotten to in our political process:

We, the people, have allowed ourselves to become the least important players in the game that is played inside the Beltway.

That has to change. It is the reason we elected Barack Obama President: not to effect health care reform or save the planet from global warming. To change how we do politics. To move power from a tiny few in Washington, DC, and spread it throughout the nation to where the Founders believed it needed to reside if the democracy they were cobbling together were to survive.

The Founders got it right, and we’ve made it all wrong. Time to fix it.

Here in Oregon, we’ve made the right start. We have many people already involved in progressive politics — grassroots activism with the goal of restoring and improving on the liberal successes of the last century — and we have many elected officials similarly dedicated to these goals. Many of the Democratic Party county parties have become progressive strongholds; many are following in that direction. There are many groups working not merely on issues but on the development of progressivism and real democracy: the Bus Project, Organizing for America, the Archimedes Movement and more. Most of the issues-oriented groups understand the need to develop progressive democracy, not merely push their issue. We are in good shape in Oregon.

But we are nowhere near where we need to be. As long as one or two Senators in DC can decide the fate of the most important issues facing the nation and our state, we have work left to do. So when we are driven to sputtering rage by Ben Nelson or Max Baucus or Olympia Snowe or Harry Reid, we have to remember: this is a call to more action. Until the will of the people runs the show in the Senate, and other seats of governmental power, we have work to do.

Our Constitition, after all, says “We, the people” and not “They, the Senatorial few”. it’s our job to put the few in their rightful place.