College students in Michigan, working with our friends at Democracy Matters, came up with an innovative and fun way to educate students about the Fair Elections Now Act and get attention from their Congressman, Rep. Vern Ehlers.  It involves signed bars of soap. Check out the local news story. (Apologies that I can't embed the video here; it won't work. But check out the news story -- it's about 2:30 long and quite good.)

Jay Mandle writes a monthly column called "Money on My Mind." The November issue is below. To read past columns, please visit Democracy Matters.

Reform movements have historically understood the need to look to the federal government to solve social problems. That remains true today. Avoiding environmental catastrophe will require public sector initiatives; reversing the trend towards increased income inequality will necessitate new governmental income-support and labor market programs; the same is true if adequate medical care is to be provided to this country's low and middle income population. When markets fail to provide goods and services fairly, only government intervention can rectify the situation.

But a major obstacle impedes reform efforts today -- in large numbers the American people distrust the government. Polling data make clear that this distrust is deep. Starting in 1986, nine out of ten surveys undertaken by the American National Election Studies revealed that more than half the people polled agreed with the statement "public officials don't care what people think." With attitudes like these, it is a very hard sell to convince the electorate to support policies calling for an interventionist public sector. Most voters believe that the government caters to special interests and not to the needs and desires of the American people.

Jay Mandle writes a monthly column called "Money on My Mind." The October issue is below. To read past columns, please visit Democracy Matters.

Polling data make clear that there is a gaping disconnect between the American people and their trust in this country's political system. The United States retains the appearance of a democracy, but its substance has been steadily diminished. Private wealth in politics has alienated the electorate and has imposed a conservative agenda on the country.

That conclusion emerges from a review of surveys undertaken over more than a fifty year period by The American National Elections Studies (ANES) a well-respected research organization. The long term trend toward alienation is unmistakable.

Jay Mandle writes a monthly column called "Money on My Mind." The September issue is below. To read past columns, please visit Democracy Matters.

A bridge on an interstate highway collapses and people needlessly lose their lives. The government's effort to develop alternative energy sources is anemic at best and we continue to pollute the skies, worsening global climate change. The dams and levees protecting New Orleans collapse, leaving the city and its population devastated. These failures are not random events. They are directly attributable to inadequate domestic public investment and the politics that lies behind that shortfall.

Debacles such as those that occurred in the Twin Cities and in Louisiana are not inevitable. It is untrue, as conservatives would have it, that government projects inevitably fail. Forty years after the inter-state highway system was constructed during the Eisenhower Administration, that investment is still the foundation of our transportation system. What matters is whether such expenditures are engineered well and are adequately funded.