"Revolution is the Solution"
For several days I had been bedeviled by the recurring memory of a jingle
from an out-dated television commercial. My recollection of the product
they were promoting lay tantalizingly close to the edge of my
consciousness, but remained stubbornly out of my reach.
So my "mind's ear" was left listening to, "It's time for a new beginning."
ad nauseam with no tangible context. (If I had had that, I would at least
have known which company to despise for etching such an inane little tune
into my brain).
"Beautifully harmonized" by a group of sickeningly enthusiastic twenty
somethings accompanied by music undoubtedly composed during the "Age of
Aquarius", this little ditty molested my mind with more frequency than I
care to recall.
At last I had an epiphany. Sometimes frustrated subconscious minds of
Gen-Xers recovering from television addiction transmit their contents into
our consciousness in markedly bizarre ways during our waking hours. Or to
put it another way, if we ignore our dreams long enough, bad television
forces its way into your unsuspecting brains. My hat goes off to Madison
Avenue, Viacom, Fox, and the rest of the masters of the agitprop universe
for their immense success in embedding their tripe deep within the human
psyches of many of us.
My unconscious was obviously attempting to convey an important message
with this horrid little refrain. My interview with Joel Hirschhorn, writer
and political agitator, put things into perspective.
Joel provided me with a sober reminder that unless one has been dwelling
under a pile of boulders in a cave reaching deep into the bowels of the
Earth, it is painfully obvious that the United States and its nearly
countless victims around the globe are in desperate need of a "new
beginning."
Shaken to its very core by the ravages of Military Keynesianism,
neoliberal economic policies, crony capitalism, corporatism, corruption,
and wanton disregard for the Constitution, international law, and
standards of human decency, our Constitutional Republic is hanging by a
very slender thread.
Even before plutocrats, corporations, lobbyists, and the rest of the
malevolent cabal (who together represent a very small percentage of the
populace in the United States) acted in concert to further their mutual
interests by eviscerating the law of the land, the United States was far
from being a democracy. Our Constitution, unique and progressive as it was
prior to reactionary forces gutting it, was written as a framework for a
limited form of representative democracy.
Like many activists, writers, Leftists, populists, and enraged US
Americans of virtually all political stripes, occupations, and races, I
have been longing to find a viable means of inciting or collaborating with
a mass movement that will force the plutocracy to yield their stranglehold
on wealth and power. I have come to the conclusion that dedicated and
sustained individual efforts by tens of millions coupled with multiple
collective actions carried out by substantial numbers of people will
eventually reshape the political and socioeconomic landscape of the United
States. If that fails, the increasingly hubristic, avaricious, and
emboldened ruling class will most likely face a violent insurrection.
As he will tell you in the interview, Joel Hirschhorn has provided those
of us in the "lower classes" with a tangible means of acting in unison to
attack the entrenched power structure. His suggested strategy is peaceful,
legal, and practical.
Here is Joel giving me the details:
1. Your biographical sketch indicates that you advocate a "Second American
Revolution". How do you envision this revolution playing out?
"Despite the massive gun ownership in our country, I only foresee peaceful
revolution acting within the law. Specifically, my hope is for an Article
V convention, requested by 2/3 of the states and, if Congress obeys the
Constitution, called by it. For over 200 years Congress has resisted
granting a convention. Such a convention could consider a broad array of
possible constitutional amendments offering many needed electoral,
political and governmental reforms. It would be such a historic event; it
would receive monumental public and media attention. So many groups on the
left and right have always opposed a convention. Status quo power elites
obviously fear such a convention. Talk of a runaway convention is used to
create fear; this is ludicrous, mainly because any convention proposals
must be ratified by ¾ of the states. I co-founded Friends of the Article V
Convention (
www.foavc.org) to build national support for a convention."
2. What are the implications behind the title of your most recent book,
Delusional Democracy?
"My message is that massive numbers of Americans have deluded themselves
about the nature of American representative democracy. If they think that
our system is equitable, effective and trustworthy - or the best that it
can be - they are truly delusional. The goal of my book was to
breakthrough peoples' psychological defenses, see the truth, and then
become engaged to improve our beloved nation through many reforms."
3. How did your work as a Congressional staffer influence your strong
antipathy for the entrenched duopoly of the Democratic and Republican
parties?
"Those 12 years working for Congress gave me first-hand experience with
all the corruption, dishonesty and wasteful spending that defines this
institution. The enormous negative influence of big corporate and other
special interest money is even worse than informed people see. It also
gave me remarkable exposure to Executive Branch agencies and how awful the
federal bureaucracies are. I helped put a presidential appointee in jail;
that was rewarding. And I did help write a few statutes that I was proud
of."
4. Whom did you serve in Congress, what was your specific job, and with
what party was your boss affiliated?
"I was there from 1978 to 1990, working as a Senior Associate at was then
the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. I directed many studies
on industrial and environmental issues, published many reports, and
testified about 50 times before Senate and House hearings. I did a lot of
work for specific members, including helping grassroots groups that had
asked their congressman or senator for help."
5. Your homepage for your book mentions that you offer practical solutions
for peacefully repairing our broken republic. Would you briefly summarize
some of these solutions?
"One of the most important is to spread the use of the Clean Money/Clean
Elections approach for providing government funding for political
campaigns; we must get big private money out of political campaigns. As an
advocate for third parties, this policy approach is crucial to make third
party candidates competitive with candidates from the two major parties.
There are also a host of electoral reforms that we need to make voting
easier and more widespread, such as making Election Day a national
holiday. I also advocate making ballot initiatives and measures more
widespread - among the states and at the federal level. This is a crucial
element of direct democracy and because our representative democracy has
failed the public interest, we desperately need some forms of direct
democracy."
6. One of the fundamental flaws in many "solutions" to the myriad problems
facing our republic is that they ignore the obvious fact that the economic
paradigm loosely referred to as American Capitalism represents a
significant barrier to our political system even approaching a true
republic, let alone a democracy. What potential systemic economic remedies
do you suggest?
"An extremely important issue for me is the rising economic inequality. It
comes to this: wealthy Americans (directly and through corporate venues)
have taken over the political system and this has removed the necessary
watchdog and regulator role of government in ensuring that our economic
system is fair to working- and middle-class Americans. There really is a
war on the middle class. We are rapidly approaching a two-class society:
the rich Upper Class and the Lower Class for everyone else. We must stop
corporate welfare, privatization of government that benefits contractors,
illegal immigration that gives low cost labor to the private sector and
drives down wages for citizens, and free trade that has already sold out
many industrial sectors and put our nation deeply in debt. We must tax the
wealthy much more, and limit the amount of profits made in the financial
sectors - such as the obscene fees used by credit card companies."
7. You have initiated a drive for an Article V Constitutional convention.
Would this involve rewriting the Constitution or simply amending it?
"An Article V convention, just like Congress, can only make proposed
amendments that must be ratified by 3/4 of states - this cannot be
circumvented. I cannot imagine any attempt at a wholesale rewriting of the
Constitution. But I can foresee serious consideration of many possible
amendments. There is too much concern about social issue amendments (like
abortion and marriage), while the reality is that they have little chance
of ratification. Convention delegates would spend much more effort on
serious reforms to improve the quality of our democracy and government."
8. How many have signed on to your movement so far?
"We really just got started with a website and still have not mounted a
serious campaign to get members. But people are signing up everyday. We
realize that we have to do a lot of outreach to inform and educate people
about why we need an Article V convention and why we have a constitutional
right to one, and also that Congress and many left- and right-wing groups
have opposed a convention because they do not want to lose the power they
now have to corrupt Congress and the presidency."
9. Who would participate in such a convention? How would they be chosen?
"Article V leaves all the details of operation up to convention delegates,
and the states are free to select their delegates as they choose. However,
the very first Article V convention would be such a historic and
newsworthy event - with global coverage - that attempts by corporate and
other interests to pervert delegate selection and convention operation
would be difficult to pull off. What I like to say is that the many
millions of Americans that are truly fed up with the current state of our
democracy and government that has already been taken over by evil and
greedy forces should accept some risk and support an Article V convention.
All revolutionaries must believe that there is so much to gain that the
risk of making things even worse is worth taking."
10. What specific changes are you advocating if such a convention comes to
pass?
"My personal interest is in electoral, political and government reforms.
Virtually all the reforms I examine and recommend in my book could be
accomplished through constitutional amendments. People need to see
amendments as an alternative form of lawmaking. Because Congress has
failed the public as our regular lawmaking institution (and we have no
federal ballot initiative mechanism to create laws), we are forced to use
the Article V convention option the framers of the Constitution gave us -
they correctly anticipated that the time would come when we the people
acting through our sovereign states would need a way around Congress. One
thing about Friends of the Article V Convention group that I stressed
during its formation is that we should not make the mistake that all
previous efforts at getting a convention made: namely, they all advocated
a specific amendment. All that does is bring out opponents not just to the
specific amendment, but to the convention idea itself. What I stress is
that we must honor the exact words of Article V, and that means we have a
right to a general convention. Convention delegates must be free to
consider any possible amendments they think worthy of discussion. Our
group will try very hard to avoid advocating specific amendments and stay
passionately focused on getting a convention - period."
11. What are your thoughts on electronic voting machines?
"I have always had a Luddite streak in me. And so I have always been
skeptical of the trustworthiness of electronic voting. We need absolute
transparency in our voting system to maximize trust in it. I have such a
negative view of the two major parties that I think they (and their rich
supporters) are quite capable of using any available dirty tricks to win
elections. It may sound crazy, but if no can stop damn Internet spam and
Microsoft can't make reliable software, then why should we trust
electronic voting?"
12. With your obvious disdain for the two party duopoly, I assume you are
not supporting a presidential hopeful from either side. Putting reality
aside, who would you like to see as our next president?
"I have zero confidence in ALL Democratic and Republican candidates; as
long as they all take big money from corporate and other special interests
they have no credibility and deserve no trust and public support. I have
waited for some major party candidate to say that they would only take
campaign contributions of no more than, say, $50 dollars from individuals
and groups. I always vote for a third party candidate."
13. You often write about the need for a vibrant and competitive third
party. Of the existing third parties, which do you think has the best
opportunity to break the duopoly?
"None of the current ones have a chance. That really saddens me. The two
big ones, the Greens and Libertarians, never seem to have the capability
of reaching a broad cross-section of Americans. They also delude
themselves that winning a few local elections will, somehow, some day make
them competitive on the national level; I just don't see it happening. I
am working with a new party: the Centrist Party (
www.uscentrist.org) that
has just been formed, and I also support the Populist Party of America
(
www.populistamerica.com). There is also a new Whig Party that merits
attention (
http://thephoenixchronicles.org/)."
14. What do you say to critics who assert that voting for a third party
candidate (i.e. Nader) is a waste or to those who contend that it robs a
viable contender of a chance at victory?
"The only people who should feel ashamed and guilty are the ones putting
Democrats and Republicans in office. To me, it is pure insanity to keep
putting both of these totally corrupt parties in power. I am a proud
dissident and would rather see more people not vote, than keep voting for
the two major parties. Lesser-evil voting has already destroyed our
country. In a perverse way, it would help the nation if voter turnout
dropped to, say, 10 percent of eligible voters, so the two-party
controlled political system and government would have absolutely NO
credibility, certainly not as any type of democracy. At least voting for
third party candidates sends some message to the power elites about the
degree of dissatisfaction in the electorate. I also favor, as an electoral
reform, having all ballots give voters the option of None of the Above."
15. In light of the severity and extent of the Bush administration's
criminal behavior, how do you account for Pelosi taking "impeachment off
the table" now that the Dems have control of Congress?
"Just proves my point that Democrats as well as Republicans do not merit
any support by true progressives, dissidents, and politically astute
people. Another constitutional amendment we need is one that broadens the
scope of justifications for impeachment of the president. I also advocate
prosecution of Bush and Cheney for criminally negligent homicide. I am
sick of so many people calling themselves progressives (what I call
neo-progressives) because for some reason they are ashamed of openly
calling themselves Democrats. Of course, as Pelosi and most other
Democratic members of Congress are showing, neo-progressives should feel
ashamed for their support of Democrats."
16. If you were sitting face to face with the reader of this interview,
what are five things you would encourage them to do to aid in destroying
the delusion and making democracy a reality?
"First, visit
www.foavc.org to learn more about the Article V convention
provision in our Constitution and why it is needed.
Second, become an active member of the group and help build support for a
convention among citizens and state legislatures. Anyone who thinks of
themselves as a dissident or rebel, or is just turned off by our political
and government system, should become a member.
Third, read my book Delusional Democracy - Fixing the Republic Without
Overthrowing the Government. I can promise even the most politically
engaged persons that they will learn a lot of new information about the
decline of American democracy and the ways to restore it. People need to
rally around a set of specific reforms to improve our nation. Emotions are
not enough.
Fourth, stop voting for Democrats and Republicans. Either do not vote or
find a third party candidate you feel good about.
Fifth, find a third party that looks like they have a set of principles
that appeal to you, join and become active to make the party competitive
at any level of government - local, state or federal - that they are
active on."
I offer many thanks to Joel for giving me the opportunity to pick his
brain a bit and to share the results with you. We amongst the poor,
working, and middle classes owe you a debt of gratitude for your efforts,
Joel!
I have signed on as a member of the Friends for the Article V Convention
and have read Delusional Democracy. Both acts helped sustain my hope that
the United States has not "crossed the Rubicon," as some have suggested.
Over 70% of us want an end to the illegal occupation in Iraq and desire
some form of guaranteed health care for all of our citizens. Both are
minimal prerequisites for establishing some authentic morality as a
nation, are essential to the well-being of US Americans and Iraqis alike,
and are readily achievable simply by slashing the obscene $600 billion per
year military budget. How many times do we need to be able to blow up the
world before we are "safe"?
Despite the will of the people, the entrenched opulent class is working
feverishly to ensure the perpetuation of their genocidal war on
"terrorism", which is actually blowback they created through their
innumerable imperial provocations. The ruling elites have fought with
virtually every fiber of their collective being to fend off nearly
overwhelming popular demand to divert our tax money from killing to
healing. Profits, power, property, and the military industrial complex
have superseded the needs and welfare of We the People for decades.
Mustering the support to force a Constitutional convention would greatly
enhance our chances of re-empowering ourselves and emasculating the tiny
minority comprising the governing plutocracy in the United States.
Let's follow Dwight Eisenhower's suggestion and "demand a convention to
propose amendments that can and will reverse any trends [we] see as fatal
to true representative government."
You can help make it happen by signing on at
http://www.foavc.org/index.htm.
Joel S. Hirschhorn is the author of Delusional Democracy - Fixing the
Republic Without Overthrowing the Government
(
www.delusionaldemocracy.com). His current political writings have been
greatly influenced by working as a senior staffer for the U.S. Congress
and for the National Governors Association. He advocates a Second American
Revolution, beginning with an Article V Convention to propose
constitutional amendments.
Joel Hirschhorn Website:
www.delusionaldemocracy.com
---
Jason Miller is a wage slave of the American Empire who has freed himself
intellectually and spiritually. He writes prolifically, his essays have
appeared widely on the Internet, and he volunteers at homeless shelters.
He welcomes constructive correspondence at
willpowerful@hotmail.com or via
his blog, Thomas Paine's Corner, at
http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com/