How Much Influence Do You Have…?

I got a little excited. Recently an email arrived inviting me to a breakfast in St. Louis with the current U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan. If I attended, the email said, I’d learn about the state of education in America – something I’m passionate about.

The catch: $1,000 a plate to attend. (Proceeds going to the National Democratic Party…)

Oops. The cost of this kind of civic engagement sure wasn’t in my July budget.

What Main Street Women Said

The Main Street Women I interviewed talked a lot about how challenged they feel to engage in meaningful civic and political activism. They want to engage and can’t quite figure out how beyond what several called “my one little vote.”

Some questioned if democracy is ‘broken’ in America because the money of a few men, and their corporations, seems to have much more influence than citizens’ votes and the voices of ordinary people.

Others spoke about the ease with which they used to participate through protests, writing federal legislators (post Anthrax, some Congress persons don’t even accept letters), or having time to actively participate in local initiatives.

Economic Survival Consumes

The “beyond busy” theme rang across women’s stories. A woman in Wisconsin said, “We’re so busy –I’ll speak for myself—I’m so busy that I can’t march on the Capital. I believe things have to change but who is going to get things done?”

Behind the “busy” was economic survival. A Minnesota woman I interviewed shared her inner dialogue:

“I ask myself, why am I not doing more? Why am I not more engaged in doing more for my community, my country? I believe these things take time, energy and engagement and that it is tough to change our institutions and make a difference – that is truly what bothers me the most personally, that I am focused on surviving rather than making a difference.“

The Forgotten People?

In Massachusetts, a woman who is politically and civically active talked about elected officials, “During elections they’re the ones after you. After they get elected, you have to be the one after them. They forget you.”

A lifelong Mississippi woman said, “I’m actually thinking about running for office. I see that women aren’t represented in politics and especially think about health care issues – we need more women’s voice in politics so maybe I’ll have to make that career change and just run.”

One New Hampshire woman had a different experience leading up to the 2012 election, leading Obama campaign activities and taking pride in the fact that New Hampshire elected an all-female federal delegation and a woman Governor. (She’s a busy Mom of 3 and was not in the paid labor force at that time.)

Same As It Ever Was?

Historians may say this is nothing new – money has always had a huge impact on U.S. policy and politics.

Yet today, it could be that we’re more aware than ever that there’s a gaping disconnect between citizens’ voices and desires and what elected leaders do. Occupy Wallstreet, the Citizens’ United Supreme Court decision, and Congressional approval ratings provide fuel for our awareness.

According to a study, billionaire Bill Gates is the greatest individual influencer of U.S. education policy – has been for over a decade.

The billionaire Koch brothers, meanwhile, spend more money than anyone else in the U.S. to influence election outcomes and policies: half of our sitting Congress got donations from the Kochs who fund the Tea Party, CATO, Americans for Prosperity, Heritage Foundation and too many universities and state candidates to mention here.

(Watch Alex Gidney’s documentary “Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream” to learn more about other billionaire influencers.)

In the past, working people unable to afford individual financial influence joined together with others through their unions that arguably wielded great influence. However, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2012 the union membership rate had decreased to 11.3 percent, down from 20.1% in 1983 (first year statistics were gathered).