Let the Job Applications Begin

The past two nights have been most enlightening for me, regarding the state of affairs in our political lives, as we, The People, hold interviews for the applicants to the job of managing the overall afairs of the nation on our behalf.

I was pleasantly surprised at the high tone of the first Democratic debate and highly disappointed to see the second devolve into a pissing match.  What I was heartened to see was that MOST of the candidates on each night enthusiastically endorsed a platform of principles that I wholeheartedly support:

• Curbing the power of the Economic shadow elites who have hijacked our national governance

• Combating the impending Climate Crisis

• Making the economy work for the benefit of those who put the most work into it and at long last putting FDR’s Second Bill of Rights into law

• Restoring basic human decency in our legal, immigration and sick care systems.

• Ending the free-for-all of deadly weapons that plagues our streets and schools

• Kicking out the Nazi regime currently occupying the White House

I could live with that platform, at least for the short term.  No, it doesn’t fully address every issue on the table that affects the average person, but it covers a lot of major and pressing ones.  Politics is the art of the possible, as Ben Franklin once said.  There is no Savior-King who will fix everything with the wave of a magic pen overnight.  Ideological purity tests don't change that reality.  We have to work with what we've got.

I myself have misgivings about each individual candidate in one way or another, so I came at these debates rooting not for an individual candidate, but with an eye to build an effective coalition of the Left to successfully take up the fight.  Lincoln set the precedent of reaching out to his election opponents in the backroom to create one of the most effective governments that this country has ever seen.  I strongly urge the candidates on the field to do the same – make a deal with one another to present a united front against a common enemy, even if that means losing the limelight as individuals.

To that end, I’ve arranged my preferred choices of the field into positions that I feel they’d most effectively fill to achieve the result I so dearly wish for this country. 

Think of this as my recommendation for a Justice League of sorts – a team that, together, can get far more done more quickly and effectively than any individual could do alone.

PLEASE NOTE:  Each candidate has been linked to their Financial backers and I strongly suggest the reader examine each link, so that you can have an effective idea of who these candidates are REALLY serving.

FOR THE PRESIDENCY:

Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris came out ahead, from what I could tell, at least rhetorically.  Warren was direct, no-nonsense, well-informed and projected an image of gravitas that has been long absent from the White House.  Harris was a firebrand who held her opponents to account without mercy or hesitation.  Either one would be a strong, effective employee who would at least try to do right by the average person, although I get the impression that Harris would hide behind the letter of the law as an excuse to do less for us than Warren would.

FOR THE VICE PRESIDENCY:

Kirsten Gillibrand impressed me greatly, with well-thought-out answers and, I think owned the evening, given that every single one of her opponents spent the better part of the next hour trying to restate ideas that she had already put forth.  She has experience and strength that would make her a most effective leader of the Senate.  Given the state of our society, though, I don’t think that the poster child of Aryan femininity is appropriate to be given top billing.  That said, think of how clearly she would own any debate against Pence.  One wink at him and he'd be a complete mess.

Pete Buttigieg also did well, I thought, especially in calling out the hypocrisy of the Dominionist theocrats on the Right.  While his heart is in the right place and his story is fantastic, I don’t believe him to be experienced enough to handle the job.  The Vice Presidency would give him experience that, down the line, would enable him to make an effective executive in the future.

Bernie Sanders, the grand old man of the Left, sadly, came across as doddering in these debates, but paired with a younger partner, he would make an excellent VP, with a bully pulpit of his own and the President’s ear when it comes to policy.  Sadly, though, I agree with his younger opponents that his time has passed, and our focus needs to be on the future.

FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL:

Julian Castro is my hands-down favorite for this position.  He’s fierce, strong-willed, has an incredible grasp of the law and will absolutely prioritize humanity over profiteering.  He would make a wonderful AG, in the finest tradition of RFK.  He also had the benefit of being the only candidate on the stage who didn’t come across as insincerely pandering when he spoke Spanish.  While I could also see Beto O’Rourke in this position, I greatly prefer Castro.

FOR CABINET POSTS:

As I’ve long maintained that Warren would be a perfect choice to run the Treasury or the FED, I would strongly urge anybody who wins the nomination from her to appoint her to that position.  There’s nobody more ethically or intellectually qualified to run it.

Amy Klobuchar seems to have good head and good heart, but in our age of shiny super-celebrity, she’s not someone who can realistically compete on the field.  I could absolutely see her running HUD or the HHS Departments.

Tulsi Gabbard’s war-hawk temperament kicked her out of my top choices for the Presidency.  I do, however, feel she would be ideally suited to Secretary of State or the Department of Defense.  Her foreign policy experience would nicely round out a Progressive team and give us the best chance of having the military go along with ending perpetual war.

Cory Booker would possibly make a half-way decent Chief of Staff or Attorney General, but given his ties to the Corporatist shadows currently running our nation into the ground, his good rhetoric rings hollow enough to knock him to the bottom of my preferred lists.

Andrew Yang I laughed out loud at the idiotic way he presented Basic Universal Income, but his business acumen would be useful as a Deputy in the State Department.

Marianne Williamson came across as a lovely woman whose heart is in the right place and who would have no clue at all how to govern in any way, shape or form.  That said, I would love to see her as Press Secretary, presenting a voice of humanity and compassion on behalf of the administration.

TIME TO BOW OUT:

Joe Biden and Bill de Blasio both need to go.  Biden not only came across as more doddering than Sanders, but got his head handed to him last night – rightfully – for his long and tarnished record.  His brand of Corporatism is absolutely the wrong way for this country to go.  And while de Blasio talks a good game and I was happy to vote for him for Mayor when I lived in NYC, by all accounts he has failed to live up to his soaring rhetoric there and the likeliest outcome is that he would fail as President as well. 

Jay Insley and John Hickenlooper each had a point when they said, “I’ve already done it”, but neither seems to have any clue how DC works and both have the charisma of a wet sponge.  I might be able to live with either of them in some lower Cabinet post, perhaps in charge of finally legalizing Marijuana, but neither of these players is ready for Prime Time.

Finally, Michael Bennett, Tom DeLaney, Tim Ryan and Eric Swalwell all need to learn that discretion is the better part of valor and that bowing out now is preferable to trying to make the policies and rhetoric of George W Bush look at all appetizing to a Progressive American Public.  Trying to make Republican policies look Progressive is a fool's errand.

In conclusion, the American nation is indeed at a major crossroads, where our core values of openness, kindness, diversity and teamwork are under direct attack from cruel Fascists and Nazi sympathizers, who celebrate inhumane treatment of children and demand nothing less than totalitarian rule.  We cannot allow their efforts to divide the rest of us to succeed.

Let us form a true coalition to defeat them, as we did in WWII.  We did it before.  We can do it again.

COALITION NOT COMPETITION

E PLURIBUS UNUM

CUOMO/NIXON: An Election Debacle in the Age of Facebook

Being the dutiful citizen that I am, I sat through what proved a most 21^st Century debate in the Democratic Primary for NewYork State’s Gubernatorial Election.  I honestly found myself disappointed with it, as both candidates showed little pretense of courtesy towards one another.  I might as well have been reading the comments section on any political post on Facebook, in terms of the quality of their arguments and tactics.  Call me old-fashioned, but I expect better from those applying for the job of being my elected employee.

Cuomo was the picture of a New York Mafioso:  confident, condescending and pulling no punches, most of which he landed below the belt.  In terms of corruption, he came across as a man up to his elbows in it.  He did, however, play that as a positive, demonstrating his intimate knowledge of how the unwieldy apparatus of New York State Government -- a massive economy of $1.19 Trillion, covering 62 distinct and very demanding counties, including the iconic New York City, none of whom get along with one another -- operates, and showed a fierce determination to hold the line against the horrors of Drumpf.  He made the case that the most effective governors are the ones who, for better or worse, really know how the sausage is made.

Nixon largely came across as shrill, rude and entitled.  She had that familiar deer-in-the-headlights look in her eyes one would expect from a last-minute Broadway understudy on opening night.  She clearly was in over her head and hadn’t the faintest idea how think on her feet, beyond the script she had rehearsed.  The fact that she couldn’t answer the question: “If marijuana is legalized, as you’ve called for it to be, how are you going to explain it to your kids?”  -- the correct answer, by the way, is “The same way I already talk to my kids about cigarettes and alcohol.  Next question.” --  speaks volumes about exactly how much she has to learn.

That said, there is no denying that she hit Cuomo with some very important and relevant questions on his record and voiced valid concerns that have yet to receive serious attention.  Her heart is clearly in the right place and the State overall would benefit greatly from her presence in government, assuming, of course, that she remembers that New York City is not the entirety of New York State.

Now, at this point most will expect me as a political observer to make an endorsement.  

Do I want a naïve celebrity crusader who likely will get eaten alive by Albany or do I want the Mafioso standing strong against the real and larger threat of Drumpf, knowing that this may stall real change that I agree needs to happen?  

Or, more simply for those in back, do we want Miranda Hobbes from Sex in the City or a slightly higher-class version of Tony Soprano keeping the Empire State in line?

In all honesty, I want them both. 

I want the heart, voice and ethics of Cynthia Nixon to be wed with the Mafioso know-how of Andrew Cuomo.  Given that the realities of Albany politics are what they are – and let’s face it, Albany has been the poster child for political corruption since before Lincoln and is showing no signs of diverting from that machine model – I’d say it’s the only combination that will keep New York State standing strong in these dark times for the principles etched at the feet of Lady Liberty.

The question is, how to get it?  

Were I in a position to do so, I would pull the Machiavelli card and put Cuomo, Nixon, their campaign managers, and their lawyers into one of Albany’s back rooms and make them an offer:

In exchange for bowing out of the Primary, Nixon is to be installed as Cuomo’s new Lt. Governor, giving her a bully platform, some real authority to grow into and the loudest voice in Cuomo’s ear about how to proceed.  Cuomo would be able to keep his position and lose the loudest critic against his foibles in exchange for doing the hard work of making sure that the critical items on Nixon’s list are addressed within 100 days.  New York State would be stronger for it and the Left would gain a solid and valuable asset on the national scene.

And then, I'd make sure they can’t refuse the offer.

A Citizen's Platform -- 2018 Edition

A CITIZEN'S PLATFORM – 2018 Edition

In 2013, I, with the help of like-minded friends, began developing a full Progressive Platform to address the growing concerns about the future of this nation.

Today, I present the updated version tailored for our current situation.

Ultimately, this is what I, as a self-styled Liberal Progressive would do to fix the issues facing the USA were I handed the power necessary to do so.

CONGRESSIONAL BEHAVIOR, ELECTIONS & PROCEDURE

• Ban all Federal Lobbying and remove all Lobbyists from Federal Buildings.  Lobbying shall be considered a form of Bribery, with the penalty for such being full seizure of all Lobbyist’s assets and the removal of the bribed official from Office.  SuperPACs to be completely disbanded and "Citizens United" to be overturned in law. 
• All Incumbent members of both Congressional Houses to immediately resign.  Hold emergency national elections to replace them, allowing only Independent/Third-Party candidates on the ticket.
• All funding for Elections for Public Office will be provided publicly and all private monetary donations to campaigns will be banned.  Campaign contributions will be in the form of personal time commitments only.  Full Voting rights to all unregistered citizens who can provide a Birth Certificate, Passport or two forms of State/Local ID.  All those already registered to vote will only have to sign on-record register at the polls. 

BANKS,  ECONOMICS & WELFARE

• Reinstate Glass-Steagle and break up the “Too big to fail” banks into smaller, more competitive entities.  All tax havens will be seized entirely.  All corporations that made record profits after receiving bailout money from the government to be nationalized until such time as those funds are entirely paid back.
• Raise Federal Minimum Wage to match the local cost of living.
• Create a Federal Maximum Wage of $10M/year using the tax code to enforce the latter. 
• All Senators, Congressmen, Supreme Court Justices and Executive Branch Department Heads (including President) to accept salaries at Federal Minimum Wage (travel benefits to remain intact).  Savings to be used for Deficit Reduction.
• Welfare benefits to be redesigned to focus on job training, education and temporary relief, with benefit cutoffs to end after a recipient has successfully maintained a standard of living above the economic poverty line for 2 full months.  All beneficiaries of Federal Welfare must serve a mandatory 1 year with AmeriCorps if receiving benefits for longer than 6 months.
• Creation of an infrastructure fund to be distributed to local government agencies directly based on proportion of citizen and businesses without regard to taxable contribution of the inclusive group in an effort to recognize businesses and employees need sustainable, safe and effective roads, bridges, etc. to ply their trade, etc. and balancing small community vs large community needs.  This fund will be overseen by a board of Federal, State, County and local citizen representatives on a regular basis.
• Program of public works projects for domestic infrastructure improvements:
•           Transformation of the American public transportation grid to 21^st Century standards: electromagnetic bullet trains, etc.
•       Transformation of the American energy grid to 21^st Century standards: renewable energy investment, increase carbon taxes

TAXATION

• Redesign the tax code on a scale similar to Eisenhower era framework, with increased revenue divided as follows:
•       Increased revenue divided into thirds:  1/3 for Deficit Reduction, 1/3 for Domestic Infrastructure Improvements, 1/3 for Public Health Option and Education funding 
• Forbid moving money from one domestic program to another. 
• Return to the tax brackets of the Eisenhower Era for corporations.
• Double taxes on Businesses that:
•       Outsource American Jobs or damage American Ecology. 
• Tax rewards for business that do the following:
•           Bring jobs back to impoverished American areas.
•          Are Unionized, with programs to allow for new members to join the Union.
•          Use Green technology and go above-and-beyond EPA regulations in Environmental Safety
•          Give back to local communities and invest in local economies.

MILITARY POLICY AND BUDGET

• 50% reduction of military spending, with reductions of the Standing Army and Foreign Bases accordingly.  Remaining resources on augmenting and streamlining the Navy, Air Force, CyberDefense, Special Forces and AmeriCorps.  
• Take 1/3 of the savings to increase funding for NASA and Tech R&D.  Use 1/3 of the savings for Deficit Reduction and 1/3 for Domestic Infrastructure Improvements.   Low-ranking Army Personnel still under contract to serve will serve the rest of their time with AmeriCorps and receive a 1-grade promotion in rank. 
• Full disclosure to Congress of all Intelligence & Military Activities, Treaties (both secret and public), Deals, Slush Funds and Black Ops.  Failure to do so will result in summary prison sentences for all personnel who refuse to disclose.  All who willingly disclose this information can do so anonymously.

SICK CARE

• Creation of a National Single-Payer Health Care Option to cover Basic Medical Care, Catastrophic Illness or Injury, Generic Prescriptions, including Generic Birth Control/Women’s Health Services and Annual Physicals 
• This is to be a Public Option alongside Private Insurance, comparable to the Public/Private School System.  Private Insurance would be subject to the same regulations as the Public Option.  Elective Procedures will not be covered under the Public Option but could be covered by Private Options.  Abortions will be covered in cases of rape, incest, minors and medical emergency, but will not be covered if deemed by the physician to not be medically necessary. 
• Lifetime medical care to be covered, with doctors being given final say over their patients’ care, subject to Medical Review boards of their peers.

DOMESTIC SOCIAL JUSTICE

• Reinstitute the Assault Weapons Ban, with limited exceptions for Veterans and Law Enforcement, subject to strict regulation.
•  Gun ownership to be placed under the same basic universal regulations as are       commonly seen with automobile ownership as regulated by the States
• Training and licensure specific to each type of weapon
•  Licenses to be reviewed for renewal every 5 years
• Mandatory Liability Insurance against the foreseeable accidents inherent in their use.
• The sale of Ammunition to be limited and subject to high sales tax, proceeds of which go to the States in which the Ammunition is sold.  
• Increased, stricter oversight of manufacturers and distributors of arms.  Harsh penalties on gun manufacturers (including automatic jail time for their Owners, Boards of Directors and CEOs) for all crimes committed with an unlicensed weapon.
• Federal Recognition of Marriage as defined as “a legal union of adult human beings” with all accordant benefits.
• Federally Prohibit the Death Penalty, and change sentencing protocols for Non-Violent Offenders to focus more on Community Service and less on Incarceration.  Violent Offenders, Grand Theft, Fraud and White Collar criminals to face stiffer penalties.  Penal management to be returned to direct State control, with Private Prison Companies relegated to minor support with no control over policy.
• Reinstate secular curriculum for all Public Schools.  Full immersion tri-lingual education in all public schools, K-12: English, Spanish, French.  Create an education fund which is used to reimburse new network of National Universities offering both academic and vocational degrees
• Payment of institutions to be withheld until post-graduation under a set flat rate for 2, 4, 6, 8-year programs. All institutions to be subject to regular audits to prevent artificial price-gouging.
• Repeal the Patriot Act and NDAA. 
• Universal Voter Registration, with compulsory voting in all elections, to be Administered by the local States and Counties.
• Institutional Reparations for American citizens of African and Native descent
• Ban all religious trappings from Federal Buildings (including X-Mas decorations, Ten Commandment statuary, etc), while allowing Federal Employees time off for religious observance.
• Religion can not be used as a cover for bigotry and such arguments are to be considered illegitimate in Judicial proceedings.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM

•  Legalize, License and Tax Marijuana, placing it under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of ATF and similarly regulated.  Tax revenue to be used to help fund the Public Health Option.  All non-violent convicts currently incarcerated for Marijuana possession to be immediately released with time served and given jobs in the new legal industry.
• All local police precincts to turn over their military-grade equipment and weaponry to the local National Guard.
• All local police precincts to be subject to financial penalties for every single fatality that happens in their jurisdiction, regardless of justification.
•  All officers in a penalized precinct, from the Commissioner to the youngest rookies to be penalized along with their unit for the actions of any member of their unit, as a recognized means of fostering proper discipline.
• Any officer who is found to be abusing their authority to be stripped of rank and privilege, without appeal or benefits.
• Nationalize all prisons and put them under local civilian review.  For-profit prison companies to be immediately dismissed.

Breaking the Silence -- An Open Letter

OK, this one is for the Regressives and the Trump Supporters.  Consider this a direct challenge to your collective manhood, because I genuinely don’t understand the Orwellian Double-Think logic behind your support of Trump.

Please enlighten me as to where registering, rounding up and deporting millions of people -- based solely on their ethnicity or religion, with NO logistical guide for how to distinguish between a citizen and non-citizen aside from grabbing people off the street and demanding to see their papers -- constitutes liberty when that same policy is the possible end result of a slippery slope people have been screaming in terror of for nearly a decade as a manifestation of tyranny when it comes tolethal weapons.

Or are these policies OK when they target Muslims or Hispanics (or Jews, for that matter), but NOT OK when they target White Christians?   If you feel this is so, then you’re endorsing a double-standard when people are unequal under the law.

Let's set a single standard here.  What’s it going to be? 

Please enlighten me as to why you Trump supporters are perfectly fine with placing your trust in a man who's lied to them more than Hillary Clinton, whom you feel is "untrustworthy" for the many times she's lied to us.

Plus, he's endorsed by the greatest domestic terrorist group in US History, which means that everyone who's supporting him is choosing to side with card-carrying racists and Neo-Nazis.

Please explain to me why this racist, fascist con-man is the best candidate for any country, let alone our own. 

Given all that, you don’t have much of a leg to stand on tell me I’m out of line for calling a proverbial spade a spade here.  Nobody would be wrong to join me in that condemnation.  I’m quite factually telling it like it is.

How can a person be intelligent and compassionate and still subscribe to a proven liar out to round up millions of people based solely on their ethnicity or religion?

The Regressive Agenda

I find myself in the unique position today of working in an office that serves Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity’s shows – making me a raging liberal in the belly of the Regressive beast.  While the temptation to slip some hardcore LSD into their coffee is intense, I’ve decided to put my time to more productive use and, as I did initially with the Tea Party, examine what it is Regressives are after, based on the policies they pursue.

  Republicans should be the sole party in power.

Let’s start with Karl Rove’s publicly stated goal of a permanent one-party state in the USA under the GOP banner.  If ever there was an idea entirely at odds with the American system of democratic process, the idea of a one-party state is tantamount to Totalitarianism.  Our country is currently going through massive cultural, economic and political spasms of dysfunction on nearly every level as a direct result of Bush’s carte blanche in the aftermath of 9/11 and the party that is at the heart of that dysfunction wants to rewrite things even more.

The Rich should be above the law.

Whether we’re talking about “Too Big to Fail” or the ”affluenza” defense, across the board we’re already at the point where a double-standard exists between those who can afford to buy leniency from the justice system and those who can’t.   It’s one of the hallmarks of the old Feudal system of the aptly-named Dark Ages that the wealthy exist at a level of liberty that is deliberately denied to everybody else. Regressives not only think this is just fine, they want to expand it further.  Another GOP Presidential candidate, the hoping-for-inheritance Jeb Bush also claimed as a hero a policy writer who would rather a single wealthy person dictate policy rather than the entire electorate. 

It’s ironic that Regressive circles who claim to champion the rights of the average person almost always fail to put their money where their mouths are when this issue is concerned, particularly when it comes to the rights of employees vs the privileges of employers.  This by itself is an existential threat to our nation’s way of life.

Christian Fundamentalists are the only ones who can dictate policy.

Just take a look at this clip from GOP Presidential Front Runner Mike Huckabee.  This is what the Regressive party has endorsed.

Meanwhile, we’re also supposed to turn a blind eye to the rampant hypocrisy that these holier-than-thou Fundamentalists engage in on a daily basis.  This sort of privilege is, again, completely counter to everything this nation was Constitutionally set up to be.  Just one look at the wagon-circling Regressives have done around one of their high powered “family values” lobbyists who’s once again in court on rape and incest charges demonstrates my point.

War is the only business government should conduct.

I find it very telling that the one area that Regressives are unwilling to cut is our defense budget.  Despite the fact that we outspend every other country on Earth when it comes to the military, they’re always for upping it, even while in the same breath they decry our national spendthrift ways.  Also, the proof is in the pudding that when they had a monopoly on power in the early 2000’s, the so-called “fiscal responsibility” party acted like spoiled teenagers with a stolen credit card, putting not only one major war, but two on the books without a single provision to pay for it.

In every other sector of domestic spending, be it for public infrastructure, jobless relief, sick care or schools, the usual cry of the Regressives is “we can’t afford it”, yet when the Regressives shut down the Federal government, which branch do you think was least affected? 

Money and power are more important than people’s lives.

This goes right along with the idea that the Rich should be above the law.  It doesn’t matter what topic is being discussed:  Climate Change, Poverty or Unions, Regressives unfailingly take the position that profit margins should take priority over the necessary steps to preserve life.  Hell, they shut down the Constitutional government twice to try and take away Health Insurance from those who needed it the most.  One notices again that the military and intelligence branch was relatively unaffected.

Ethnic minorities should have no rights.

Again, it doesn’t matter whether it’s the inevitable Regressive “reverse-racism” call when it comes to police brutality or the endless attempts to disenfranchise legal voters or hatred of immigrants from Mexico, Regressive policies invariably take on some form of repression of ethnic minorities as a basis for white Christian male privilege.  No wonder they can’t stand Obama, only non-white President in our history.

Women shouldn’t be treated like people.

Between the constant and self-conflicting attacks on abortion and on contraceptive birth control, it’s pretty obvious that Regressives don’t want women to have any say over what happens to their own bodies.  Add in the endless attempt to justify paying women less in the workplace, and essentially you’ve got a party that wants to keep women barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.

After decades of women fighting for the right to vote, the right to work for equal pay and the right to be treated as people, this is nothing short of an attempt to turn back the clock.

The poor and downtrodden deserve less than what they get.

This goes right along with all the others, and is usually justified by an Ayn Rand quote.  “Right-to-work” laws invariably end up meaning “right to work for poverty wages”.  When combined with all the other attempts at gutting of public education, poverty relief and the rabid attacks when challenged, we’re left with a party that wants to crush the weakest among us underfoot.   Where the great statesman Solon once claimed that the most perfect popular government was “that where the least injury done to the meanest individual, is considered as an insult on the whole constitution”, the Regressives are absolutely out to ensure that popular government is anything but popular.

In the end, the entire Regressive agenda is bad for our nation, both materially and spiritually.  I can understand why the unelected powers of the economic engines to which our national security is so closely tied would support it – after all, they benefit the most from this agenda – but I find it sickening that so many people whose lives are directly and negatively impacted by this agenda are so easily duped into supporting it.  

Our very nation's existence hangs in balance -- we cannot let its enemies on the inside destroy it.

Off of the Sidelines

I had the most enlightening experience this week with the NYCLU’s Lobby Day in my old hometown of Albany, NY.  We were going in to lobby support from State Assemblymen and Senators for a bill that would increase funding to Public Defenders across the State.

The bill was the result of a successful lawsuit by the ACLU against 5 counties in NYS, where those who couldn't ordinarily afford an attorney were given substandard defense in court.  In NYS, the individual counties are responsible for funding Constitutionally-guaranteed Public Defenders for those defendants who can’t afford an attorney otherwise.  The problem is that demand far outstrips supply when it comes to Public Defense, so these Public Defenders often have such a huge caseload on their desks that they barely have time to review the cases they’re defending, or even answer the messages on their overloaded voicemail, let alone to do the necessary investigation to mount an effective defense for their assigned clients.  They’re given the bare minimum of resources to pay for such investigations or to support a staff to do the necessary work.  So, the clients are often put into a position where they have to plead guilty to crimes they often didn't even commit.  Innocent people are sent to prison, or bankrupted by exorbitant fines.  Their lives are often ruined because they have no effective defense against a system that, instead of presuming their innocence, makes a large private profit off of assuming their guilt.  

ACLU's lawsuit established the idea that the State is mandated to make appropriate resources available to the individual counties, and while it has begun to do so for the 5 counties listed in the lawsuit, it has not done so for all 62.  We were there to push for a bill that would require it do so immediately.

After a strong rally in front of the State Capitol building, which featured speeches by several State Assembly members, we divided up into teams to start meeting.  I was assigned to go to one of the speakers, who listened very patiently to my fellow team-mates’ stories and happily signed the Pledge to support the bill that we were passing around.  He admitted that there was a lot of opposition to our bill -- particularly from the Republicans -- and that the system was so broken that no single bill would be adequate to fixing the problem by itself.  I got the feeling that we were preaching to the choir in his case, but was told by other teams that other members weren't nearly so easy a sell.

With the Honorable Luis R. Sepulveda of NYS District 87

I brought up my concerns to the NYCLU staff, who were running the event, and suggested that our time and resources would be better spent convincing the opposition rather than preaching to those already on our side of the issue.  Taking this initiative paid off.  

Since I had only been assigned to one Assemblyman and, because I’d made my own travel arrangements rather than join the throngs on the chartered bus (I had gone up the night before and stayed in my childhood home), I was invited to tag along on the NYCLU’s most important meeting of the day – with the staff of the Interim Speaker of the Assembly and Senate leadership.  The meeting was run by the top leaders of the NYCLU and I was presented as an NYCLU member.  I got to be a fly on the wall for the real nuts and bolts of State politics, as concerns of financial feasibility and rhetorical spin were haggled over.  We came away hopeful that we'd potentially gained an ally, or at very least had one or two fewer power-brokers against us.  

I got to see first-hand how complex even the simple matter of issuing a statement can be, and how, the further up the food-chain one goes in government, the more complex and delicate the process becomes.  It was a sharp lesson for me in the difference between philosophy and reality.

But the “eureka!” moment for me actually came earlier in the day, during the rally outside.  As our public employees addressed us, we were accosted by a homeless man.  This man illustrated perfectly how completely the system has failed as he, in his simple eloquence, called us out with the voice of the very desperation our system exacerbates and feeds upon.  Everybody instinctively avoided or ignored this man, not listening to what he was saying.  It’s a shame that happened, as he was highlighting the very issues we were there to address.   As the rally was wrapping up, I approached him alone and pointed out that the issues he was talking about were correct and that my group was at the Capitol that day specifically to address them.  I handed him a $20 bill and received a tearful hug in return.  It was a true moment of humanity, odor and all.

Speaking truth to power rarely works.  Leveraging power works most of the time.  Directing power towards the greater good is of utmost importance.  But at the end of the day, we who fight for real positive change can’t afford to lose sight of the human beings that we’re trying to help, the way entrenched power already has.