Proposition 89--At last, Clean Money is on the ballot in California

Thursday night we had our working group meeting for Clean Money. I was so heartened by the 23 people showed up on a working night, more than double our previous average. They volunteered to gather petition signatures, pass out information, hold house parties, get on the phone, write letters to the editor.

To find out what inspires their zeal, watch "The Road to Clean Elections," an inspiring video about how democracy is returning to Maine and Arizona, and will soon come to California.

If you're feeling a bit cynical about the fact that politicians nod their heads when they hear what we want and then go on to vote for what their big money campaign contributors want, this video is the cure.

If you live in California, you can help pass Proposition 89! Don't just vote for it, work for it. We'll need all the help we can get, because if we don't wage a huge grassroots campaign, the same big money interests that own our politicians are going to swamp the media with lies and distortions about how bad Clean Money is. And it is bad, but only for special-interest big spenders. They don't like the idea that we voters can buy our own politicians. For the rest of us, it's the reform that will change the face of politics in California, and after California, the nation.

No more Randy Cunninghams; no more Jack Abramoffs. Because our elected officials will be able to vote for what's good for the country, not what's good for their donors' bottom lines.

Old-time politicians will still be able to run for office using scads of special interest money if that's what they want, but we will be able to vote for others will choose to run a Clean Money campaign, using public funds that amount to a small fraction of the public money that our government now gives to the special-interest donors in the form of tax breaks, special "regulations," and outright subsidies.