A Daily Kos Diary post

January 11, 2008

Lots of folks in Iowa and New Hampshire took their place at the table. Our democracy is vibrant with more people speaking than ever.

The signal development in this yet-young election cycle is the broad participation of so many Americans who are checking back in with democracy. Young and old, party affiliates and independents, participation is through the roof.

Party labels aren’t as sticky as they have been in the past. Thank God we’re moving beyond the days of party bosses anointing the candidate who we were expected to show up at the polls and reliably pull the lever for. People are not relying on party leaders to do their thinking for them. But party leaders and special interests still control the dollars which flow to “their” candidates. You can change that paradigm - through small dollar contributions to candidates. That’s the future of campaign finance and will truly democratize the election process. Let’s make it happen in larger numbers in 2008!

We are thinking for ourselves, and that is due in no small part to how you are reading this - on the internet. This medium demands you get involved - not as a passive recipient of information, but as an active player, sharing news, views and contacts.

If the medium is truly the message then logging on and checking in are one and the same. “Log on - feed in -speak out.” It’s a perfect metaphor for democracy in the 21st century.

We are just beginning to see the power of this new model of communication, not a top-down, receive-only broadcast model, but a bottom-up, send-and-receive peer-to-peer model.

Democracy only works if people participate. And the prerequisite to participating is believing you can make a difference. Voters have been lulled into believing they are powerless, can’t make a difference, can’t fight city hall. The not-at-all subtle subtext to Ronald Reagan’s message “government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem” was ‘don’t bother to participate in politics.’ Political hacks and their “I want my payback” corporate and special interest benefactors have done fine by fewer voters - for a smaller electorate is easier to manipulate.

But American democracy is waking up from a long sleep. We are citizens in a democracy, not consumers in a market, and we have the power to challenge and change the status quo. Take hold of the lever you have as a citizen of this republic. Organize, volunteer, contribute, blog and vote.

And, in that spirit, I hope it is not inappropriate to plug our own efforts in that regard. We’ve launched a grass-roots fundraiser for my campaign for the U.S. Senate: 10 For Jim - Pocket Change For Positive Change. On that web page, you can contribute $10 via ActBlue, create your own 10 for Jim fundraiser page, and download web “badges” to promote it.

In Iowa and New Hampshire we see the people are finding their voice - and that is, arguably, the story of this election year.

Keep it up. We are going to make history in 2008 - the year in which peoples’ hopes will be expressed through their power to change.

Daily Kos Blog Post

I’m heartened by the loud rejection of status-quo politics which Iowans- Democratic, Independent and Republican- registered at their caucuses last night. I’m betting my Senatorial candidacy in NC (and have from the day I entered the race) that the electorate is no longer willing to recycle politicos in and out of office. No longer willing to follow the lead of special interest groups. No longer willing to fall in line with political machines. The gilded revolving door– open and shut by a political elite fueled by dollars and glib talking points bereft of personal conviction– is about to be slammed in November. Slammed shut by the only people who matter, the only people who own our democracy and the only people who vote: us.

We’re going to take back control of our democracy. It’s long-past time we did so. Young voters, who have come of age in a more democratic internet era, are making their own choices and checking into the political process. They voted in Iowa. Seventy percent of Iowa Democrats voted for “change” candidates over the establishment favorite. And– for the first time ever- a black man has taken center stage and in a state that is 90% white. So much for glass ceilings.

I am running for the US Senate in North Carolina. I’m not a status quo candidate. I’m a fresh face with a different voice. I come from the real world, not the jaded political world which has failed us. And I happen to be gay. People in NC– contrary to conventional wisdom– could care less. People in Iowa– contrary to conventional wisdom– cared less about Senator Obama’s race or Senator Clinton’s gender. They voted for change. Republican voters overwhelmingly supported Governor Huckabee and his plain-speak compassion on the volatile issue of immigration reform which ran against the headwinds of his own party’s signature wedge issue.

Down here, we’re a blue state with two red Senators. North Carolinians are a damned sophisticated lot. We’re edgy and we’re feeling disenfranchised. And, folks are getting on board of our campaign because they understand the difference between someone who is committed to putting the people first— and a professional politician who values their own political ambition and special interests loyalties first and foremost.

Democracy is reasserting itself. I’ll bet our founding fathers are smiling.

I sure am.

We need your support: every dollar, every vote and every volunteer will make the difference.

thanks,

jim

Listen to Jim’s interview on The Errington Thompson Show on Radio 880 (mp3)

Daily Kos Blog Post

By Jim Neal, Candidate for U.S. Senate

December 5, 2007

Depending on which economist or market pundit one follows in the Wall Street Journal or on MSNBC, you’ll get a 24×7 takeout deli menu’s worth of economic prognoses: strong and resilient, showing strains, weathering a recession and so forth. Few acknowledge that they believe our economy is currently in a recession, and certainly not any member of the Bush Administration, their allies on the Hill and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

I don’t profess to have a crystal ball– but will join the debate with my point of view. Here’s what scares me about our economy. The facts are pretty clear cut: the collapse in the mortgage/ derivative securities market has begun rippling through the economy. Only $50 billion of the estimated $400 billion in losses sustained by investors in exotic mortgage/derivative securities have been accounted for. Our largest financial institutions have been weakened. Given the rapid decline in the value of the dollar during the Bush Administration’s unchecked stewardship of our economy, there is a very real concern that the Euro may displace the dollar as the gold standard held by investors and central banks worldwide. Should that happen, the dollar would weaken even further and, to put it simply, our economic strength would be undermined dramatically.

What does this all mean for the average American? For one, it means that at least 2 million middle-class Americans are going to lose their homes to foreclosure. It means that consumer spending, the engine that drives our economy, is going to significantly tighten, slowing our economy and putting people out of work. It means that homeowners will face continued depreciation in the value of their homes. It means that those same homeowners won’t be able to tap the equity they once had in their homes as an ATM.

American consumers have been spending 10% more than they earn, making up the balance by borrowing against their homes and racking up charges on credit cards. A great many of them do so to supplement escalating health care expenditures and gasoline/fuel costs and to put their kids through school. They aren’t going to be able to do that any longer since home equity has evaporated and banks are tightening lending.

The worst part about what is happening is that the overwhelming majority of Americans, all but those wealthiest, will be hardest hit. Warren Buffett put it aptly last month: the middle class is on a treadmill while the wealthy are on a spaceship. Since the overwhelming majority of us aren’t amongst those few percent compromising the wealthy, it’s not a stretch to say flat-out that if we aren’t worried then we are in denial.

Many factors combined have contributed to the enormous challenges we face, but none more so that the out-of-touch, inside-the-Beltway impotency of the Bush Administration. For the past 6 years, their single-minded focus on fighting the war on terror has left our economic security in the hands of special interest forces and the market economy.

When markets go through periods of shock and realignment, the last line of defense for middle class Americans at risk should be their elected representatives in Washington. That’s not the case today. Much of Washington has lost touch and isn’t listening to the people that sent them there.

I have some thoughts about what Washington should be doing.

• Expand the scope, local participation and lending limits of the SBA’s new and innovative Micro-Loan program. Creating, building, and supporting local companies and entrepreneurs engenders what I like to call home-grown wealth. The money stays home and translates into higher tax revenues, consumer spending, sustainable local jobs, and economic opportunities for working and middle-class families.
• Invest in alternative sources of energy (wind, solar, geo-thermal), making the U.S. a global leader in the creation and development of alternative energy technology, reducing energy costs, and the creation of sustainable jobs. By repealing the tax breaks we dole out to big oil and investing in alternative energy sources, not only will our economy improve, but our national and environmental security will as well. Economic and social innovation builds stronger communities.
• Universal Health Care for every man, woman, and child in America. Quality, affordable health care should be a right and not a privilege. In crafting a Universal Health Care program, incentives must be set for the delivery of health care, not sick care. We simply must drive the numbers down across the board: patient expenditures, provision of services, prescription drug prices, health care insurance and a simplified Medicare system. The real problem, however, isn’t health care providers, drug companies and insurances companies. They are the culprits-but the blame rests squarely with politicians who have not forced change. I understand that in order to change, you must do things differently.
• Invest in Education by restoring Pell Grant funding, reforming and funding NCLB, and wide ranging investment to attract our youth to public service, especially public school teachers, through financial incentives and loan payback programs.

These steps aren’t going to be easy. We need to have serious discussions in this country about our priorities. The principal body which is elected to initiate these discussions and forge solutions is the House of Representatives and the Senate. It is time that we, the taxpaying public, hold our elected officials to a higher standard of accountability. It is time for us, the voting public, to expect our elected officials accomplish what we sent them to Washington to do. Americans need and deserve measurable and tangible results, because the status quo isn’t working.

I am running for U.S. Senate, because I believe that a Beltway outsider is exactly what we need in Congress. I believe that we need statesmen who dare to speak the truth and take a stand on principle instead of politicians seeking power for their own ambitions. I believe that together we can reach our maximum potential as a nation.

I hope you will join me. I hope you take the time to visit my website and offer your insight, your labor, and your financial support: www.jimnealforsenate.com. Please join me. Please contribute. Please participate.

Thank you,

Jim Neal

Candidate for U.S. Senate in North Carolina