The authors of "Why Nations Fail" make the following argument:

political inequality is a serious challenge to US inclusive institutions, and is the real reason why we should be worried about the increase in inequality. These problems predate the Citizens United ruling. Lobbying and campaign contributions already have a major impact on politics, and the wealthy have much better access to politicians and are able to convince them of their viewpoint much more easily.

But of course, they can't be serious. That is what I have been told.  Because I have committed to speaking with the delegates who grant ballot access before I have tried to raise money, party leaders and political pundits have branded me "not serious." 

This despite the evidence found by a leading political scientist:

Larry Bartels documents an intriguing and alarming pattern in his book Unequal Democracy: US Senators roll call votes correlate strongly with the opinions of their rich constituents, and not at all — or even sometimes negatively — with those of their poor constituents.

It is shameful that no serious candidate can address this problem. 

As I stated in my last entry, I find people/news/events almost every day that make me think I am doing the right things in my campaign.  Again today, I read two items that indicated that my capital gains proposal is especially well-timed.  

Jared Bernstein points to a Congressional Research Service study that indicates that the single most influential factor in rising inequality in the United States is capital income.  Now I think, like I believe most Democrats do, that inequality has reached the point that it has become corrosive to our society and our democracy.  Still, simply increasing taxes on people who have made sound investments isn't the answer.  So I proposed something specific.  

And an article by Adam Davidson in this week's New York Times Magazine confirmed that I was on the right track.  In addressing the need for the United States to become more committed to research and development or risk losing more economic influence to China, Davidson argues:  "... Congress can do other things, like shift incentives away from rampant short-termism.  It could, for example, reduce capital-gains taxes on stocks held for many years."  

Not all of my ideas will be this timely.  However, I will continue to make proposals that I think are needed.  

Every candidate hears and sees things that make him think he is the best candidate for the job.  I am no different. There is no way I can become a full-time candidate because my family needs my income.  So I will continue to work while I campaign on nights and weekends.  Of course, I think having a 40+ hour-a-week job is an asset.  The fact that I am a long, long way from independently wealthy is a strength.  It is also apparently a rarity.  

This just makes me more committed to my campaign.  I have heard scores of people say that the problem with Congress (or Washington) is that there are no regular people there.  That does not need to be the case.  I am running because I already represent most of the citizens in the 5th district: the unemployed; the family members trying to help parents deal with Medicare and Social Security; the parents arguing before town councils to keep school funding at levels that will benefit each student; and the voter frustrated with officials that listen more attentively to big-money donors.  

My observer bias finds two or three news items every week to keep me working to make the House more representative.  

There is a classic "Twilight Zone" episode that explores the human tendency during times of stress to turn on one another rather than band together to face the true threat.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monsters_Are_Due_on_Maple_Street

I am reminded of this episode often by our current political debate.  Much of it involves finger-pointing about who is responsible for the financial crisis and recession, which is encouraged by the mistaken focus on deficit reduction instead of job creation (but that is a subject for another post).

Many will argue that the elderly should shoulder much of the blame due to Social Security and Medicare.  Others will rebut that argument, including those who are elderly themselves, by blaming public pensions that provide government employees with the security that has been taken from their private sector counterparts (Ellen Schultz has done great work uncovering the ugly truth about pensions http://www.usatoday.com/money/books/reviews/story/2011-10-14/retirement-heist-book/50795990/1).  Then there are "very serious people" who will knowingly state that our public commitment to education is bankrupting us and must be drastically reduced.  Of course the entire working class is held accountable by some because they are unwilling to labor for the wages of their third-world counterparts. 

The truth is that inequality reached unsustainable levels prior to the financial collapse.  In fact, the disparate levels of wealth and the disconnect between productivity and wages both reached levels comparable to the 1920s.  While correlation does not prove causation, the parallels between the economic climates that led to the Great Depression and our current situation are unmistakable.  

There is only one place to look for culprits.  A small percentage of people prospered unjustifiably from the depletion of the pension system, the high-stakes gambling that replaced normal financial practices, and depressed wages for the majority of workers.  The very wealthiest citizens realized that by expending a small percentage of their wealth they could buy the loyalty of politicians who would pass laws for their benefit--and to the detriment of the rest of us.  Then those same politicians told us that we needed to work harder and sacrifice more.  Both the wealthy and their political underlings strive to create discord among the wider population.  

As Rod Serling told us 50 years ago, if we continue to blame those who are actually part of our community, we will quickly destroy ourselves.  

As I mentioned in my last post, our Congress is catering to the wealthy and powerful.  But it is worse than that, the wishes of the poor and middle-class are ignored.  As Ezra Klein stated in a recent blog post:

Martin Gilens, a political scientist at Princeton University, has been collecting the results of nearly 2,000 survey questions reaching back to the 1980s, looking for evidence that when opinions change, so too does policy. And he found it—but only for the rich. Policy changes with majority support didn’t become law except when that majority support included voters at the top of the income distribution. When the opinions of the poor diverged from the opinions of the rich, the opinions of the poor did not appear to matter. If 90 percent of the poor supported a policy change, its chances of passage were no better than if 10 percent of the poor supported it.

The link to Professor Gilens's research is here: http://poq.oxfordjournals.org/content/69/5/778.full.pdf

Folks have asked me why I think I am qualified to run for Congress.  I answer them in all seriousness that one of my main qualifications is that I lost my job in 2007 and know the toll unemployment takes on an individual and his/her family.  It is time that the House of Representatives begins to represent everyone.  If the trend that Professor Gilens found continues, the dream of the Founding Fathers will be broken and unattainable for future generations. 

to ask what is wrong with our political system.  Today we learned what most in the middle class knew--median income for American families has fallen to 1997 levels.  The average folks suffer while a select few earn tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars each year.  Inequality was bad before the financial crisis; now it is worse.  The Federal Reserve has a dual mandate to fight inflation and stabilize employment.  Yet as one of the Fed governors said, if inflation were as far above historic norms as unemployment is action would be swift and sure.  Our leaders seem intent on protecting investors at all costs while ignoring the suffering of working families.  It is time for action.  It is time that our elected officials and their appointees commit to making our economy work for everyone not just their financials backers.