THE CONCORD PRINCIPLES
AN AGENDA FOR A NEW INITIATORY DEMOCRACY
Whereas, a selfish oligarchy has produced economic decline,
the debasement of politics, and the exclusion of citizens from the strengthening
of their democracy and political economy;
Whereas, this rule of the self-serving few over the Nations
business and politics has concentrated power, money, greed, and corruption
far beyond the control or accountability of citizens;
Whereas, the political system, regardless of Party, has
degenerated into a government of the power brokers, by the power brokers,
and for the power brokers that is an arrogant and distant caricature of Jeffersonian
democracy;
Whereas, Presidential campaigns have become narrow, shallow,
redundant, and frantic parades and horseraces which candidates, their monetary
backers, and their handlers control unilaterally, with the citizenry expected
to be the bystanders and compliant voters;
Whereas, a pervading sense of powerlessness, denial, and
revulsion is sweeping the Nations citizens as they endure or suffer from
growing inequities, injustice, and loss of control over their future and
the future of their children; and
Whereas, we, the citizens of the United States, who are
dedicated to the reassertion of fundamental democratic principles and their
application to the practical, daily events in our Nation, are committed to
begin the work of shaping the substance of Presidential campaigns and of
engaging the candidates attention to our citizens agendas during this 1992
election year;
Now, therefore, we hereby present the ensuing "Concord Principles"
to the Presidential candidates for the 1992 election and invite their written,
consistent, and continual adherence to these principles during their entire
campaign and in whatever public offices and responsibilities they hold or
may hold upon cessation of their campaigns;
First, democracy is more than a bundle of rights
on paper; democracy must also embrace usable facilities that empower all
citizens
- to obtain timely, accurate information from their government;
- to communicate such information and their judgements to one another
through modern technology; and
- to band together in civic associations as voters, taxpayers, consumers,
workers, shareholders, students, and as whole human beings in pursuit of a
prosperous, just and free society.
Second, the separation of ownership of major societal
assets from their control permits the concentration of power over such assets
in the hands of the few who control rather than in the hands of the many who
own. The owners of the public lands, pension funds, savings accounts, and
the public airwaves are the American people, who have essentially little or
no control over their pooled assets or their commonwealth. The American people
should assume reasonable control over the assets they have legally owned
for many years so that their use reflects citizen priorities for a prosperous
America, mindful of the needs and rights of present and future generations
of Americans to pursue happiness within benign environments.
Third, a growing and grave imbalance between the
often converging power of Big Business, Big Government and the citizens of
this country has seriously damaged our democracy and weakened our ability
to correct this imbalance. We lack the mechanisms of civic power. We need
a modern tool box for redeeming our democracy by strengthening our capacity
for self-government and self-reliance both as individuals and as a community
of citizens. Our 18th century democratic rights need retooling for the proper
exercise of our responsibilities as citizens of the 21st century.
Fourth,
the new democracy tool box contains measures for the purpose of protecting
voters from having their voting powers diluted, over-run or nullified. These
measures are:
- a binding none-of-the-above option on the ballot;
- term limitations, 12 years and out;
- public financing of campaigns through well-promoted voluntary taxpayers
checkoffs on tax returns;
- easier voter registration and ballot access rules;
- state-level binding initiative, referendum, and recall authority,
a non-binding national referendum procedure; and
- a repeal of the runaway White House/Congressional Pay Raises back
to 1988 levels -- a necessary dose of humility to the politicians.
Fifth, the new democracy tool box strengthens taxpayers who wish to
have a say in how their tax dollars are being used and how their taxpayer
assets are being protected. These objectives will be advanced by according
taxpayers full legal standing to challenge in the courts the waste, fraud,
and abuse of tax monies and taxpayer assets. Presently, the federal judiciary
places nearly insurmountable obstacles in front of taxpayers, thereby leaving
the task to the unlikely prospect of government officials taking their own
government to court.
Further, a facility for taxpayers banding together can be
established by a simple taxpayer checkoff on the 1040 tax return, inviting
taxpayers to join their national taxpayers association which would be accountable
to members on a one member-one vote standard.
Finally, obscure, overly complex, mystifying jargon pervading
federal tax, pension, election and other laws and procedures is a barrier
to taxpayer-citizen participation. The language of these laws and procedures
must be simplified and clarified as a matter of national priority; otherwise,
only special interests hiring decoders will be able to participate while
the general public is shut out.
Sixth, the new democracy tool box strengthens consumers
of both business and government services by according them:
- computerized access in libraries and their own homes to the full range
of government information for which they have already paid but are now unable
to obtain, either inexpensively or at all;
- facilities in the form of periodic inserts, included in the billing
or other envelopes sent to them by companies that are either legal monopolies
(for example, electric, gas, telephone utilities) or are subsidized or subsidizable
by the taxpayers (for example, banks and savings and loans). These inserts
invite consumers to join their own statewide consumer action group to act
as a watchdog, to negotiate and to advocate for their interests.
A model of this facility is the Illinois Citizen Utility Board which has
saved ratepayers over $3 billion since 1983, and filled the consumer chair
before utility commissions, legislative hearings, and courtroom proceedings
on many occasions.
This type of facility costs taxpayers nothing, costs the
carrying companies or government mailings nothing (the consumer group pays
for the insert and there is no extra postage) and is voluntary for consumers
to join. Had there been such bank consumer associations with full-time staff
in the 1970s, there would not have been a trillion dollar bailout on the
taxpayers back for the S&L and commercial bank crimes, speculations,
and mismanagement debacles. These would have been nipped in the bud at the
community level by informed, organized consumer judgement. So too would have
costly and hazardous energy projects been replaced by energy efficient and
renewable power systems; and
- Citizen consumers are the viewers and listeners of television
and radio. Federal law says that the public owns the public airwaves which
are now leased for free by the Federal Communications Commission to television
and radio companies. The public, whose only option is to switch dials or turn
off, deserves its own Audience Network.
The Audience Network would enhance the communication and mobilization process
between people locally and nationally. The owners of the airwaves deserve
a return of their property for one hour prime time and drive time on all
licensed stations so that their professional studios, producers, and reporters
can program what the audience believes is important to them and their children.
The proposal for Audience Network, funded by dues from the audience-members
and other non-tax revenues, was the subject of a Congressional hearing in
1991, chaired by Congressmen Edward Markey.
Similarly, in return for cable company monopoly and other
powers, cable subscribers should be able to join their own cable viewers
group through a periodic insert in their monthly cable billing envelopes.
Modern electronic communications can play a critical role in anticipating
and resolving costly national problems when their owners gain regular usage,
as a community intelligence, to inform, alert, and mobilize democratic citizen
initiatives. Presently, these electronic broadcasting systems are overwhelmingly
used for entertainment, advertising and redundant news, certainly not a fair
reflection of what a serious society needs to communicate in a complex age,
locally, nationally, and globally.
- Access to justice -- to the courts, to government agencies, and to
legislatures -- is available to organized, special interests, and they widely
use these remedies. In contrast, when consumers are defrauded, injured, rendered
sick by wrongdoers or other perpetrators of their harm, they find costly dollar
and legal hurdles blocking their right of access. They also find indentured
politicians and their lobbying allies bent on closing the doors further.
Systems of justice are to be used conveniently and efficiently by all the
people in this country, not just corporations and the wealthy. Otherwise,
the citizen shutout worsens.
Seventh, the new democracy tool box for working people contains rights
of bringing ones conscience to work without having to risk being unfairly
fired or demoted. Ethical whistle-blowers have alerted Americans to numerous
abuses in the workplace that damage workers health and safety, contaminate
the environment, and defraud consumers, taxpayers, and shareholders. However,
they often pay the penalty with the loss of their jobs. The exercise of conscience
needs simple, effective legal protections which will build inside the corporation,
government, or other large bureaucracies the incentives for care, prudence,
and accountability that foresee or forestall larger harms.
Eighth, working people, who own over $3 trillion
in pension monies, need a reasonable measure of control over where these
monies are invested. Presently, a handful of banks and insurance companies
control and make these decisions. During the 1980s the use of pension monies
for corporate mergers, acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and other empire-building
maneuvers showed what does happen when ownership is so separated from control.
Control by the few often left economic wreckage behind in many communities,
and such capital draining takeovers did not produce employment or new wealth.
Pension monies are gigantic capital pools that can be used
productively to meet community needs, but not when their owners are excluded
from any organized participation or even the right to know and review what
has been decided.
Ninth, the new democracy tool box applies to recognizing
shareholder democracy as well. Whether large, small or institutional shareholders
(such as pension or other trust funds), the separation of ownership (of the
company) from control has been documented impressively, starting with the
celebrated study by Berle and Means fifty years ago. The business press is
filled with reports of executives of large corporations repeatedly abusing
shareholder assets and worker morale with huge salaries, bonuses, greenmail,
and golden parachutes, (untied to company performance), self-perpetuating
boards of directors, the stifling of the proxy voting system and blocking
other shareholder voting reforms such as cumulative voting powers and access
to relevant shareholder lists and information. The owners of corporations
should be able to prevent their hired executives from engaging in what "Business
Week" called casino capitalism that often ends with mass layoffs, loyal shareholders
losses and communities undermined.
Tenth, the new democracy tool box needs to be taught
in its historic context and present relevance as part of an engrossing civic
curriculum for our country's schoolchildren. Involving all students during
their later elementary and secondary school education in practical civics
experience so as to develop both their citizen skills and the desire to use
them, under the rule of law, can enrich schools, students, and communities
alike. Where teachers have made such efforts, the children have responded
responsibly and excitedly to the frequent surprise and respect of their elders.
Schooling for informed and experienced participation in democratic processes
is a major reservoir of future democracy and a profound human resource to
be nurtured.
In conclusion, these tools for democracy have fairly common
characteristics. They are universally accessible, can reduce government and
other deficits, and are voluntary to use or band together around. It matters
not whether people are Republicans, Democrats, or Independents. It matters
only that Americans desire to secure and use these facilities or tools.
Without this reconstruction of our democracy through such
facilities for informed civic participation, as noted above, even the most
well-intentioned politicians campaigning for your vote cannot deliver, if
elected.
Nor can your worries about poverty, discrimination, joblessness,
the troubled conditions of education, environment, street and suite crime,
budget deficits, costly and inadequate health care, and energy boondoggles,
to list a few, be addressed constructively and enduringly. Developing these
democratic tools to strengthen citizens in their distinct roles as voters,
taxpayers, consumers, workers, shareholders, and students should be very high
on the list of any candidates commitments to you. Unless, that is, they just
want your vote, but would rather not have you looking over their shoulder
from a position of knowledge, strength and wisdom.
Ralph Nader
February 1, 1992
