YOU are what democracy looks like!

If you haven't heard by now, the statewide petition drive to collect 194,000 signatures to repeal House/Senate Bill 1 came up short. The referendum campaign sought to overturn the law passed by the lame-duck Ohio General Assembly last December which:

- Legalized for the first time in nearly a century the right of business corporations to divert corporate profits to political advertising
- Quadrupled contribution limits from $2,500 to $10,000 (a 400% increase)
- Banned union dues for political purposes

The campaign was spearheaded by the Ohio AFL-CIO and endorsed by several justice, democracy, religious, farm and other grassroots groups and supported by many Democratic County Chairs.

More than 80 of you on this list (which focuses especially on the threat to democratic self-governance by legally and constitutionally granted corporate "rights") circulated and turned in petitions. I suspect a large portion of the rest of you signed the petition. Together, YOU were responsible for more than 2600 signatures collected from at least 22 counties.

YOU are what democracy looks like.

What happened? Not enough time? Not enough money? Not enough support? To some extent, yes, yes, and yes.

Different people will have different interpretations about why the petition drive didn't gather enough signatures. Having served on the oversight committee of the campaign, my perspective is this: the leadership of the Ohio Democratic Party simply did not prioritize this campaign, believing that big individual contributions (or investments, take your pick) and big corporate contributions/investments will help top-of-the-ticket statewide Democratic candidates. The Ohio Democratic Party, for example, for the first time posted information on the campaign on their website 10 days before the petition deadline. Many Democratic party chairs, State Representatives and State Senators didn't even know about the campaign until it was nearly over.

This is NOT what democracy looks like.

Factory workers, social workers, teachers, students, environmentalists, peace activists, farmers, the unemployed, musicians, lawyers, retirees, priests, professors, office workers, engineers, and others circulated petitions, many in bad weather and within a tight time schedule. People concerned that big money in politics from corporations and wealthy people would further drown out the voices of those of us without money -- our interests, our communities, our needs. People who cared. People who sacrificed time, energy, even some money (to mail back the petitions) to press the flesh, gather signatures, and send them in.

This is what democracy looks like.

On the other hand, top Ohio Republicans (with their corporate and wealthy backers) rammed this bill through the legislature just before Christmas while top Ohio Democrats (with more wealthy and corporate backers they may now be dreaming of attracting) did next to nothing over the last 3 months to repeal it. Whose interests were served by this? Whose were and will be hurt?

This is NOT what democracy looks like.

This campaign demonstrates clearly that the hope, faith, and future of a better, more inclusive, just, and sustainable society ahead does not reside in the corridors of either major political party, their leadership, or their wealthy and corporate funders/investers. It lies instead in (Y)OUR heads, hearts, and hands. We must become the change we wish to see -- and work to translate our values into laws and constitutions.

YOU are what democracy looks like!

Thanks for all your efforts.

If per chance you gathered signatures (however many or few) but didn't send them in, please still do so. We want at some point to contact all signers with a report of what happened ... and how they might become more involved.

To be continued...