Stars Aligned for Bernie: "Six Pieces of a Real Democracy Movement We've Never Had Before"
Six Pieces of a Real Democracy Movement We've Never Had Before
by Frances Moore Lappé * Wednesday, March 09, 2016 * Common Dreams
As perhaps never before in our history, all the pieces are in place for a democracy movement to take off in America, one strong enough to tackle the system-roots of our country's crises.
What? You don't see it?
I understand, because it is really hard to discern the democratic impulse in a political culture increasingly dominated by bluster, bullying, and blame, all bank-rolled by a tiny minority.
But here's all I ask -- that you take in the
six key pieces below, and then imagine what they could add up to, and your place in them.
One: We're angry. Not handfuls of marginal "activists" but most Americans -- left, right, middle -- are really pissed. We know things are foundationally unfair, and getting worse -- in just the first three years after the '08 Wall St. crash, 91 percent of all income gains went to the top 1 percent. So today the 20 richest Americans hold as much wealth as the bottom half of our entire population. Twenty people? Please let this sink in. In the Manhattan coffee shop where I sit, that's the number in easy view. Incredible.
Two: We now know the system is rigged. We know that those making the rules in Washington and our state houses make them in the service of those who fund them, not the vast majority of us. Out of 120 million American households, just 158 families contributed nearly half the money in the early stage of the 2016 presidential election. No wonder 84 percent of American adults believe that money has too much influence in politics. We feel evicted from our home -- democracy itself.
See Pieces 3-6 HERE:
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/03/09/six-pieces-real-democracy-movement-weve-never-had