Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

Mega-corporate executives have not only purchased our Republican and Democratic elected representatives, but they have also wielded their pocketbooks to determine who shall enter the elite ring of top presidential candidates for the 2008 election. Despite differences in political affiliation, there is little substantial difference among the big contenders. None have consistent pro-life records except John McCain, who seems unlikely to win the Republican nomination, and Sam Brownback, who is not in the elite ring at all. None of the main Democratic candidates are planning appreciable changes in the doomed American foreign policy of "War on Terrorism", and none can be trusted to withdraw completely from Iraq within a year. Finally, none of the presidential hopefuls are offering the right balance of policies needed for effective immigration reform.

Even worse, most of the candidates--Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, and Rudy Giuliani--wish to take America further down the wrong path. Romney and Giuliani would increase defense spending, while Clinton and Obama would raise taxes to facilitate access to abortions.

So what are we Americans supposed to do? Pick the lesser of a dozen evils? That is what many are attempting to do. However, other options are available. We live, after all, in a free country. We are not compelled to accept the mediocre and downright unpalatable choices handed to us on a silver platter. We the people can still determine whom we would like to run for president. But how can we do this? The answer is quite simple: grassroots organization. A great example of the success of grassroots organization is the Save Darfur Coalition of which I am a part. This group succeeded in getting President Bush to mention the Darfur crisis in his 2007 State of the Union address and has persuaded more than 1 1/2 million Americans to divest from Fidelity, an investment company whose business supports the genocide in Darfur.

If we can save Darfur, we can save our own country, can we not?

**To be continued in my next Diary.**