A Jew In The White House?
Why The Hell Not?!

Here we go again.

If I hear — or read — one more word about whether the country is ready for a "Jew in the White House," I’m going to puke.

Whatever the candidate’s faith, whether and however he or she prays (or not), is no more my business than what the president of the country is doing with his willie.

Here’s some irony. The very same Connecticut Senator who was the first publicly to criticize Clinton’s private life is now up for examination for his own. Granted it’s his faith, not his morals, under scrutiny, yet still something that shouldn’t be John Q. Public’s concern.

And anyway, here’s a newsflash: Americans are not all WASPs. Where are all the headlines screaming, "Another Rich WASP Headed For The Oval Office"?

What is happening to democracy in the United States, the so-called land of
opportunity?

The Democratic and Republican national party committees have raised over $250,000,000 so far in soft money, according to Common Cause. Former Republican Party chairman Frank Fahrenkopf told The Washington Post that the political parties rely on the conventions as a "captive audience" of donors. As U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) pointed out in his speech at the Shadow Convention in Los Angeles last Sunday, Fahrenkopf "as much as admitted that the reason the party conventions drag on for so long is simply to help the politicians extract money from wealthy donors."

Feingold said, "This is not a system of one person one vote, or one delegate one vote, but a system of one million dollars, one million votes. It is a system of legalized bribery and extortion …"

No one past puberty could believe that the cogs of the political wheel would turn without "green grease." However, something needs to change so that the voices of the majority of Americans, not just those of the corporate wealthy, can be heard.

Jewish Joe Lieberman’s voice has been one of Congress’ loudest demanding reform; he co-sponsored the bill President Clinton signed last week that eliminates the anonymous Political Action Committee (PAC) donation. At least now the public can find out who’s paying into the slush funds. But it makes you wonder where the anti-Semitism originates.

While there are sensible restraints on what individuals or PACs contribute to candidates, when it comes to donations to the parties’ "committees," the sky is the limit, and the pockets of favor-hungry corporations are deep. What they "contribute" is called "soft money." It’s essentially payola.

What can be done? It seems obvious, but we all can and should write our Congressmen and women and demand that soft money contributions be disallowed entirely. Would any of us really miss the long and drawn out mudslinging fests called campaigns this money enables? All it would take would be for one major party to take the lead and not accept the bucks; the other party would have to follow, or look pretty money-grubbing.

Maybe then we could get down to the business of solving the huge problems facing our nation: drugs, violence, poverty, environmental protection …

Maybe then we could hear those honest, idealistic voices that are being drowned out by the drone of bi-partisan propaganda.

One of those voices is that of Winona LaDuke. Most likely, you’ve never heard of her, but she’s running for Vice President. She and her running mate, Ralph Nader, are already on the ballot in more than 40 states, but have about as much chance of winning the election as does Captain Morgan. She has no soft money, but she is pictured on
MODE Weekly’s cover, and she has her own opinions about what’s wrong with our current system. To find out what they are, turn to the interview on page 6.

Read on.

Lisa E. Paige, Ph.D.