The Big Everything

I predict that the central question of U.S. politics for the next few decades is going to be "how much control do private corporations have over our government?" Corporate interests have either publicly or covertly been at the heart of the most recent and ongoing debates our country faces: health care, climate change, financial regulation and reform, raising the cap on oil spill liabilities for companies like BP.

You've probably heard already (but no sweat if you haven't heard) about the JanuarySupreme Court decision that allows corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money in political elections. This so-called "corporate personhood" set back the movement toward people-centered, people-owned government. Point, corporations.

Counter-point, people. Recently, the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act out of committee and it's headed to the House and Senate floors soon for a vote.

In a nutshell, this bill could be the big everything of financial reform for the Obama presidency. Here are the highlights:

Consumer Protections with Authority and Independence: Creates a new independent watchdog, housed at the Federal Reserve, with the authority to ensure American consumers get the clear, accurate information they need to shop for mortgages, credit cards, and other financial products, and protect them from hidden fees, abusive terms, and deceptive practices.

Ends Too Big to Fail Bailouts: Ends the possibility that taxpayers will be asked to write a check to bail out financial firms that threaten the economy by: creating a safe way to liquidate failed financial firms; imposing tough new capital and leverage requirements that make it undesirable to get too big; updating the Fed’s authority to allow system-wide support but no longer prop up individual firms; and establishing rigorous standards and supervision to protect the economy and American consumers, investors and businesses.

Advance Warning System: Creates a council to identify and address systemic risks posed by large, complex companies, products, and activities before they threaten the stability of the economy.

Transparency & Accountability for Exotic Instruments: Eliminates loopholes that allow risky and abusive practices to go on unnoticed and unregulated -- including loopholes for over-the- counter derivatives, asset-backed securities, hedge funds, mortgage brokers and payday lenders.

Executive Compensation and Corporate Governance: Provides shareholders with a say on pay and corporate affairs with a non-binding vote on executive compensation and golden parachutes.

Protects Investors:Provides tough new rules for transparency and accountability for credit rating agencies to protect investors and businesses.

Enforces Regulations on the Books: Strengthens oversight and empowers regulators to aggressively pursue financial fraud, conflicts of interest and manipulation of the system that benefits special interests at the expense of American families and businesses.

California also scored points for the people with the recently defeated Propositions 16 and 17. 16, sponsored by Pacific Gas & Electric, was an effort to make it very difficult for local governments to create municipal utilities, or community wide clean electricity districts called Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs). Prop 17 would have allowed insurance companies to offer a discount to new customers who have been covered continuously for long time. Opponents argued that what it would really do would be allow insurance companies to hike up rates for new customers who hadn't been insured continuously, i.e. a lot of working poor people. Voters rejected both.

As for me, I'm on the side of the people, and I'll fight for legislation and politicians that are, too. The Dodd-Frank bill has the potential to protect American freedom and democracy in a huge way if it's successful in reining in the power of financial corporations. Stay tuned here for updates!

NC Primaries: Results

Elaine Marshall swept the NC Democratic runoff yesterday, taking almost 60% of the vote. I can't say that I'm surprised, mostly because I know several Marshall supporters and no real Cunningham supporters (just people who say either candidate could be okay).

I CAN say that this makes me feel good about politics in North Carolina. Cal Cunningham was endorsed early on by the national Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, meaning that Elaine had to raise a lot more money and support from the grassroots level, which she and her campaign did. I also think that this "non-establishment-ness" of Marshall will help her in challenging Richard Burr in November, as will the hearty endorsements of both of her former Dem opponents, Cunningham and Ken Lewis.

On to the general election!

NC Primaries: Runoff edition

Action Alert, North Carolinians!

The NC Senate Democratic runoff election is going on NOW - the last day to vote at a one-stop location is Saturday. You can find your one-stop early voting site here. Else, you'll have to vote next Tuesday, June 22nd.

This one's easy, just one race, two candidates: Elaine Marshall and Cal Cunningham.

As usual, I voted absentee, by mail. See below for the Cara Politica endorsement, then get to the polls!

Rachel Maddow Talks Some Sense

Wow. Just, wow.

I always appreciate Rachel Maddow's analysis of issues, but this just blew me away. Here's Rachel giving her version of what she wishes Obama's Oval Office address on the BP oil spill. Her version actually includes a plan and takes some strong progressive stances on regulation and clean up efforts.

Maddow for president in 2012! Or 2016!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Yes, I know that at the end of the clip she says she will "never run for anything," but, methinks thou dost protest too much!

Maddow for president in 2012! Or 2016!

I Love a Good Infographic

This one comes courtesy of Talking Points Memo intern Erik Hinton. It's so wonderfully visually informative, but so disgusting. Can't...look...away...

April 23: 200 barrels per day.

April 24: 1000 barrels per day.

April 28: 5000 barrels per day.

May 27: 12,000-19,000 barrels per day.

June 10: 20,000-40,000 barrels per day.

June 15: 35,000-60,000 barrels per day.

'Bout Damn Time

After 8 weeks of oil gushing from the BP well into the Gulf of Mexico, the talk is finally turning to long-term solutions to our country's energy and oil addiction in addition to solutions for the current crisis in the Gulf.

Notice how I said in addition to? Well, some people are conveniently missing that concept when they hear Obama and others talk of clean energy initiatives, saying that our sole focus right now needs to be on spill cleanup and Gulf rehab. We Americans have got to get past this kind of either-or thinking. We don't need to choose between short and long-term solutions, and in fact, if we do choose to only focus on short-term fixes, we're going to be paying for it 100 times over very soon in the form of climate change.

The funny thing is that many of the people who are pushing for cleanup only focus right now are saying that in talking about long-term energy solutions, Obama is politicizing this oil spill for his and his party's gain. In reality, it's those who say that we have to choose, either-or, short or long-term, who are politicizing the debate by making it an issue with two sides. It's simply not helpful to think of our situation as a choice between jobs and environment, between now or the future, between recovery and planning. We have to do it all.

It's time for the U.S. and its leaders to learn to hold more than one priority at a time. The issues that our nation faces right now are too complex to demand that everyone take sides in a fight where we're either all going to win, or we're all going to lose.

Simply Unbelievble

Arizona lawmakers have really gone too far now. As if their racial profiling law of last month was not bad enough, some lawmakers are now saying that they plan to introduce a bill that would deny birth certificates to babies born to illegal immigrants in the state. This is in direct opposition the Constitution's definition of citizenship, i.e. anyone born on U.S. soil is a citizen by birth. Children of immigrants, "legal" or not, suffer enough already. Millions of U.S. citizen children of immigrants do not receive the social services they are entitled to, and many live in poverty. This law would also add hospitals to the list of places where immigrants without papers can no longer feel safe. It would mean that when a woman goes into labor, she would have to choose whether to go to the hospital to receive care in delivering her baby, knowing that if she doesn't produce papers, her child will not be a citizen. Will they then deport the woman and the baby after the birth?

Several Democrats from Arizona have already come out in opposition to the law. The way I see things playing out, the coming storm over this bill will be a tipping point in the national discourse about immigration. Either all this talk of "anchor babies" (the derogatory term for a child born to illegal immigrants) will make everyone realize how unfair and destructive this line of lawmaking is, or it will get anti-immigration forces and their allies newly energized to continue pushing their hateful agenda. I hope it's the former, but in a country where we can even talk about laws like these, I'm losing my hope that we can humanely resolve our immigration issues.

WTF Friday: Oil Disaster Edition

WTF is with the linguistic manipulation of this petroleum-based environmental disaster? I'm refusing to use the term "spill." I also got really upset last night when a TV host called the situation a "natural disaster." There's nothing natural about millions of gallons of black, sticky fossil fuel gushing out of a human-made well. See below:

This whole situation is one big WTF, as in WTF was BP thinking with their gross (purposeful?) underestimations of the rate of oil coming out of the well, WTF is wrong with the US regulatory system, and WhyTF isn't there 100 times more public outcry for clean energy after all of this?

I nearly cried at work today looking at these nauseating photos of seabirds covered in oil, struggling to fly, and dead dolphins washed up on beaches. Imagine if we also had photos of every family who's now worried about paying their mortgage or having enough to eat this month because their income is Gulf-based.

And as always, my big question to you: what should we be doing from home, aside from boycotting BP and being legitimately angry? You can donate to the Audubon Society to help rehabilitate some of those poor birds here, and please share potential solutions for long-term Gulf economic and environmental recovery.

Stepping In It

So, here's the latest from Florida politics. And it is messy! If you're not following along in the news, fear not. I'll make this simple. There are 4 main characters here.

It all starts with the Senate primaries.

Charlie Crist (the orange one) Florida's Governor, decided to run for Senate.

He found out he was trailing hopelessly in the polls to this man, Marco Rubio (the "Real Republican" one - you can tell by the flag).

If Crist lost to Rubio in the primaries, he would be knocked out of the election, so in a dicey move Crist switched parties and became an Independent to ensure that he would get to run in the fall.

We've also got Kendrick Meek (the Democratic one) running for FL Senate. According to my FL politico relatives Adam and Gina, he is the favorite of the cool progressives and "has been quietly crossing the state talking to anyone and everyone" but is not very well known.

Stop! Scandal time!

Enter Jim Greer (the white, philandering one), the ex-chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, hand-picked for the position by Crist (the orange one). He was arrested this week for grand theft, fraud, and money laundering. He had already stepped down as chairman amid reports of his using a party credit card for personal expenses such as travel. Not only was this guy hand-picked by Crist, but Crist stood by him even when colleagues begged him to look into Greer's spending. Uh oh.

So now, it appears that Crist (who was narrowly ahead in the polls last week) stands to lose big from his ongoing support of the philandering one, and the big question is, what will all this GOP drama do to "Real Republican" Rubio? And what about the Democratic one? Surely he stands to gain from all the muckraking. The St. Petersburg Times reports:

"Strikingly, there is little indication at this early stage that Democratic candidates in Florida are positioned to take advantage. Given the level of scandal, one would think half a candidate could run against the Florida GOP today and win. Average together recent polls, however, and leading Democrats like gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink and U.S. Senate candidate Kendrick Meek are still trailing."

This is going to be an interesting race, folks. Feel free to cut out the characters for a guide over the coming months, and another big thanks to the Tebrugges for their contributions. Stop back in -we'll keep you updated here!

Required Reading

Please check out this great post today from Mike Lux on OpenLeft, one of my favorite progressive blogs. Based on the idea that progressives value community and compassion, it offers a unique perspective on the ever-more-radical conservative movement in this country and is hereby official Cara Politica required reading.

Mike Lux has the best analysis of what it means to be a "progressive" of anyone I know or have read about. Luckily for me, Mike falls into the "people I know" category. I worked during Summer 2008 at Progressive Strategies, the D.C.-based political consulting firm that Mike founded. I already identified strongly as a progressive when I started interning there, but my time at Progressive Strategies gave me a more concrete understanding of how to put my values into action, how to find out what is going on in the progressive movement (including how and which blogs to read), and how to talk about politics.

Among Mike's many achievements is a book called The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be that outlines progressive principles and tracks the movement through history and into the present day. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone even mildly interested in politics or community change. Bonus: I performed some of the research that is included in the book!

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad News?

Friends, we are living in scary times. I admittedly don't keep up with foreign news and politics like I should, but this week, there are problems too big and scary to ignore:

Tensions between North and South Korea are heating up as investigations continue into the sinking of a South Korean ship in March. South Korea says that North Korea is responsible, and is trying to round up allies for taking action against the North. This isn't getting much play in the news now, but any time a nuclear power is agitated, I get worried.

Meanwhile, what IS getting tons of coverage from all angles is the latest in the Israel-Palestine conflict. In a nutshell: Israel has Gaza under blockade, meaning goods can't make it in. Earlier this week, a group of international pro-Palestine organizations and individuals boarded a ship along with some humanitarian aid to challenge the blockade. Israel fired on the ship, several activists died, and now there are verbal missiles being launched in all directions. Pro-Israel opinion holds that the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla" aka the aid ship was deliberately planned to provoke Israel. Pro-Palestine writers say that even if that WAS the main idea, Israel still shouldn't fire on an aid ship and Gaza is suffering. For more, see this, the best article I've read that's short and clear.

And of course, the US has tons of problems stateside. Literally on our own shores, the BP oil spill is almost too revolting to talk about. Reports today say that oil and tar are now reaching Dauphin Island, Alabama, where I played as a kid when visiting relatives. Meanwhile, the Feds are launching a criminal investigation of BP. Hopefully this will shed light on the failures of such a lobbyist-driven, anti-regulation industry.

This past weekend, I got the opportunity to attend a workshop on courageous leadership and diversity. The facilitators brought up the idea that we are living in one of the most crucial times in human history, one of the times that human actions will have the largest ramifications, good or bad. Thus, it's vital that we produce the courageous leadership that will tip the scales toward the good, meaning good for all of humanity. I believe this, but it's daunting to think about. When faced with such big problems, where do we start? I know that moving past the fear is key, and so is talking about this stuff. What next?