They may have a tiny voice if they can raise $5,000 a plate to contribute to President Obama's reelection campaign.
On Thursday, (4/21/11) a group of 21 activists wanted to speak with President Obama about Bradley Manning, the U.S. soldier charged with treasonous aiding of the enemy and facing a life sentence for allegedly sharing government documents with WikiLeaks.
To speak with President Obama, they attended his $5,000 a plate dinner at the posh St. Regis hotel in San Francisco, paying $105,000. When they raised their voices at the dinner, including singing a brief song, some were told to leave. But $105,000 is a lot of money and President Obama met with those allowed to stay.
What kind of a voice is this? Could you afford to spend $5,000 to speak with President Obama? Can most people? Other than to write a big check, is there any other way to speak with him? And if you do write such a check, you may get 3 minutes with him. But a Wall Street firm or an oil company will spend far more than you and will gain the President's undivided attention for two hours and similar attention from Congressmen and will receive an exchange of benefits for the money they spend.
This is our government, yet for non-lobbyists and non-bigwigs, the access is virtually non-existent and the effect when access is given is practically nill. Together, we must set aside petty bickerings and change this and we have the power to do it if we choose to exercise it.
Dick
* "WikiLeaks Suspect's Backers Confront Obama," The Wall Street Journal, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704071704576277242283323236.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
2 comments:
...and what about this debt ceiling? Why is it one party or the other? Why is it either cut spending or raise taxes? Why can't it be both? Why can't we cut out supporting societal parasites (and I am not saying there aren't people who need help, just that many take advantage), and tax the super rich. Like how about raising taxes on diamond jewelry? Furthermore, when do the working class in this country get a voice - mostly, how? In just the last couple days, I have asked several people their opinion on the debt ceiling issue. Most have replied with 'the what?' Only one person had a clue. Being in the working class myself, I can tell you that most of us want a voice, we just don't know how (or we are so busy busting our asses to support this country we don't have time to even think about how).
...and by the way, most people have no faith in writing to Congress or their local Representatives; they reply with 'Yeah right, like that's going to make a difference.' So, perhaps as in the days of the civil war when the ability to effectively network vastly improved (ie the telegraph and the railroad),we need a new method. Sure, we have the internet, but that's still not cutting it!
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