I remember watching a movie about life in the future as I was growing up that showed a society in which the bulk of the people lived in squalor and ghetto settings, the elite living in safe and bright societies far above with strong security systems protecting them from any infestation from those below. I remembered thinking how stupid these projections of our future were given that we lived in a democracy, no one would ever allow the political control by citizens to deteriorate and allow this kind of desecration of society and values to occur.
It is Nov. 11 as I write and I realize that the democracy our ancestors fought for, that I grew up fervently believing as I listened to the words of this day that say we should never forget, that we should always stand up for our way of life, is under attack. Democracy is something that is not guaranteed to us but if want to keep it, we need to fight for it. This is our war for democracy and will we step up to fight for it?
Jason Kenny has introduced a bill to the house changing the Local Elections Act which will allow a $30,000 donation limit to third-party advertisers, which will allow big money being introduced into municipal elections. Local communities will not know who is behind this advertising and it will be a direct threat to those who do not have the big money support. Our local governments tend to include people who live in a community and see problems that they think they can fix, and decide to step up and try to make a difference. They are not political, they do not come into the political process with big money, but they know and love their community and they care about what happens to the place they and their children live.
How many local citizens or corporations can afford to spend $30,000 in a local election and we should ask who would be willing to spend that kind of money to have the people they want in office to win? Does this give advantage to say developers whose interests are directly controlled by local government? We should ask why given all the problems we face with COVID-19 and the threats to our economy, are we taking time to bring dark money into our elections now? Could it be people are distracted and scared about the future of the economy and can be more easily side-stepped by special interests? Have we not seen the threat to citizens’ rights by the US politicians with the impact of increased amount of dark money?
The final insult to our democratic elections is that they are also eliminating the requirement that people who want our votes and trust to represent our interests in office no longer have to disclose their donors to the public prior to the election. This act of full disclosure to the public is seen by the Kenny government as unnecessary red tape. God save us.
Why is the Kenny government introducing the threat to democracy of increased dark money into our local governments? If you are concerned let your government know and check out what the opposition party’s positions are. In a democracy your vote is powerful and needs to be used when your rights are being undermined.
Shannon Bailey
