An example of how our democracy should work
So, there’s this bill, the Honest Ads Act, that has bipartisan support and the aim of the bill is something that most people would want passed: do we want transparency in the political ads being shown to us?
We already have rules for disclosures on political ads for TV and Radio (which honestly, also needs to be fixed… “Paid for by Americans for Prosperity” or some other vague PAC name tells us nothing…there’s another bill out there that would require the largest donor(s) for a PAC/SuperPAC to be disclosed, and not just the vague PAC name).
But, the main point that I want to make here, though, is that there’s likely a consensus on the problem that we want to fix: more transparency for political ads.
So, yes, let the tech industry come in with their lobbyists and educate lawmakers on the feasibility and practicality of the law that they’re trying to pass. That honestly is an important part of the democratic process. But right now, what gets lost is the people’s voice.
So, the tech industry wants less regulation, but how will that mesh with the disclosure and transparency that the people want? If our democracy were working properly, then our representatives would see that there’s a political will to get something like this passed and they would talk to their constituents and bring those opinions to the same table where they’re talking with the Tech Lobbyists.
THIS IS WHERE OUR DEMOCRACY IS BROKEN.
The people don’t know what’s being discussed. Not enough people show our politicians that we care, so our politicians don’t fight for it. They listen to the people who reach out to them, and in our democracy right now, those people are the mainly the lobbyists. Even if we want certain kinds of bills passed, our politicians receive zero consequences for not making it happen, so they don’t fight for things.
Unless we the people get involved, our democracy doesn’t work. A democracy works for the people who are engaged, and the general populous is currently not engaged. And unless we start to engage, our country will continue to change in a way that the general populous won’t like.
Please. Rise up. Understand what’s going on :|. (And I’ll try again someday to build a product to help you…)
