The Democratic Party is deeply divided. The Clinton Establishment faction believes that Senator Sanders needs to endorse Secretary Clinton and bring his followers into the party fold. The Sanders “political revolution” movement argues that the Clinton campaign must support a strong, progressive platform in order to assure the senator and his supporters that the Party is serious about significantly altering the power structure that prevents progress on climate change, income inequality, Wall Street regulation and campaign finance reform, among other pressing issues. The two groups appear to be stalemated.

            There is one person, however, who could resolve this knotty problem and unite the Party. That man is President Obama. With little more than six months to go in his presidency, Obama is beholden to no one, not Wall Street, the oil industry, Big PHaRMA, nor any other special interest. He is free to say or do as he pleases within the law.

            Back in 2008, then candidate Obama promised the American people “change we can believe in.” Unfortunately, a great many Americans feel that his presidential performance has not matched his campaign rhetoric. Of course, Obama can blame the unyielding Republican opposition, as well as the power of Big Money and corporate America, for some of his failed policy initiatives. But, the fact remains that Obama did not put up much of a fight, if any, for many of the programs that would have truly demonstrated his commitment to “change we can believe in.”

            For instance, in the battle over the Affordable Care Act, Obama did not push for the ‘public option’ to keep down healthcare costs. (See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/miles-mogulescu/obama-the-public-option-t_b_772514.html.) During the Great Recession, he made sure the big banks, whose reckless behavior was a prime cause of the financial collapse, were bailed out, while doing little to prevent millions of Americans from losing their homes. And now, Obama is vigorously advocating for the passage of the TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership that would empower corporate polluters to challenge environmental laws across the globe and send thousands of American jobs overseas. (See http://www.citizen.org/documents/tpp-wages-jobs.pdf.)

            At this point in his presidency, however, Obama has the opportunity to not only redeem himself, but also unite his party for the November election and help at last deliver the “change we can believe in” that he promised us. First, he could bring the Democrats together by renouncing the TTP, which both Clinton and Sanders have publicly opposed. Apparently, the platform committee split 7 to 6 against including opposition to the TPP because some members did not want to “embarrass” the president. By rejecting the TPP, the President would be freeing those on the committee who supported the TPP in deference to him to reverse their vote. In addition, he would be making a clear statement that the Democratic Party is on the side of American workers, rather than Big Money and corporate America.

            Second, Obama could come out in favor of both a carbon tax and a national moratorium on fracking, both of which were rejected by a divided platform committee. Obama has long advocated for combatting the causes of global warming, but has not taken the bold steps required to succeed in this effort. Approximately two-thirds of all Americans support such measures, including an even larger number of Democrats. An Obama initiative in this critical arena would be supporting the American people and opposing special interests. Moreover, it would again help bring the Democratic Party together.

            And third, the President could state he favors Medicare-for-all or some similar healthcare plan. Obama could promote his endorsement of universal healthcare as the next logical step after the success of his Affordable Healthcare Act. While Clinton recently stated her opposition to such a plan, she has supported it most of her career. Obama’s backing of universal healthcare would give Clinton the cover she needs to reverse her stance. At the same time, it would also help unite the Party.

            These are just three ways Obama could enhance his legacy, smooth the way for unifying the Democratic Party, and help ensure a Democratic victory in November. Of course, there are others. But, the question is: Mr. President, will you finally take a strong stand for “change we can believe in”?

A retired, public sector attorney, Berlin is the author of the recently published book, Breaking Big Money’s Grip on America: Working Together To Revive Our Democracy.

See www.breakingbigmoneysgrip.com for more info.

The Orlando tragedy is just the latest example of what happens as a result of the American people continuing to allow Big Money to control our government. Until we stand up to Big Money and corporate America and take control of our government away from them, we will live by their rules and desires. Come to the Jean Cocteau Cinema tonight at 7 pm for a provocative discussion on Breaking Big Money’s Grip on New Mexico and America. Together, Repubs, Dems & Independents, we can revive democracy in our nation. Go to http://www.jeancocteaucinema.com/…/bruce-berlin-reading-a…/….

            Today America faces many critical problems. Gun violence, climate change, immigration reform, income inequality and terrorism are just a few of the most pressing concerns.

            One issue, however, overrides all the others. That is, the power of Big Money to unduly influence the outcome of our elections and the formation of public policy. Eighty-four percent of Americans believe money has too much influence in political campaigns, according to a June 2015 New York Times/CBS News poll. In addition, a July 2014 bipartisan study found that 74% of all voters agreed that it is necessary to fix our broken political system before anything can be done to solve other important national issues.¹

            Why do we need to get Big Money out of politics first? Because regardless of the issue, Big Money’s grip on our politicians is so strong that they invariably bow to Big Money’s legislative desires at the people’s expense, in order to obtain very large campaign contributions, which help keep them in power.

            For example, despite the fact that 92% of Americans support universal background checks for all gun purchases,² Big Money has been able to buy off our federal representatives and prevent passage of a universal background check statute that would help protect millions of innocent Americans from gun violence. Since the 2000 election cycle, the gun lobby (i.e. the National Rifle Association (NRA), the firearms industry, and the Gun Owners of America) has contributed a combined $81 million to congressional and presidential election campaigns to defeat gun control measures, according to federal disclosures and a study done for the Center for Public Integrity.³ The fact that more than 30,000 people are killed by guns in our country every year, some of which could likely be prevented by universal background checks, seems to matter little to our representatives who receive big campaign contributions from the gun lobby.

            By the same token, our congressional representatives appear more interested in the huge campaign contributions they receive from Wall Street than they are in protecting Americans against fraudulent banking practices. As difficult to believe as this may be, Congressional Republicans and Democrats alike voted to pass a section of the 2015 omnibus budget bill that eliminated a taxpayer protection provision from the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010. In so doing, our representatives gave Wall Street speculators the green light to once more gamble irresponsibly knowing that Congress had restored taxpayer-backed funds for their reckless ventures, just like the ones that had caused the 2008 Great Recession. This same Congressional support for special interests that ignores or rejects the public good exists in almost all areas of government policy.

            While Big Money’s influence is quite formidable, there is, however, a time-tested solution to this problem. As noted in Breaking Big Money’s Grip on America, “when vested interests have constructed seemingly insurmountable barriers to the people’s demands for a more equitable society, Americans have come together and overcome the obstacles…(by forming) mass movements.” Like the Labor, Civil Rights, and Gay and Lesbian Rights movements, among others, now we must build a broad-based, grassroots movement, call it “the Democracy Movement,” to remove the corrupting influence of money in politics and make the government work for all the people.

            Moreover, the effort to build such a movement has already begun. Organizations like Common Cause, the Democracy Initiative, Issue One, Take Back Our Republic and People for the American Way are focusing on campaign finance reform to eliminate Big Money’s corrupting effect and establish political equity so that all Americans have a meaningful voice in our government. Please join them. They need your help.

            Skeptics will say it cannot be done. Big Money is just too powerful. But against great odds, popular, grassroots movements won women the right to vote, labor the eight-hour workday and the 40-hour work week, gays and lesbians the right to marriage, and all Americans a strong voice in ending the Vietnam War.

            Yes, we will need to come together and give it our all. And, it may take a long time. But, what is the alternative? Are we willing to let our great experiment in democracy die? Are we going to leave our children and grandchildren a country controlled by a corrupt political system that has no allegiance to government by and for the people, and no concern for the common good or average Americans?

            As noted in Breaking Big Money’s Grip on America, over the course of our history “millions of Americans have sacrificed their lives valiantly fighting for freedom and justice. While today the forces opposing our democratic way of life are neither foreign nor military, they are as strong and dangerous as America has ever faced in the past.” Now it is up to us. We must halt the push toward plutocracy and build the movement to revive democracy in America.

¹ See Parick Caddell et al, “Americans Consensus: Fix the Corrupt System,” Popular Resistance Org. July 5, 2014.

² See “Release Detail,” Quinnipiac University, July 3, 2014.

³ Alan Berlow, et al., “Gun Lobby’s Money and Power Still Holds Sway over Congress,” Center for Public Integrity, May 1, 2013.

There has been a lot of news recently about the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails and whether she violated the law by using an unsecured email server for official business at her home while she was Secretary of State.

Hopefully, this question will be resolved soon and not become a big issue in the election. But time is running short. The Democratic convention is less than four months away. Of course, if Sen. Sanders wins the nomination, Clinton’s legal problems won’t matter in the election. However, at this point Clinton is still favored to win the nomination.

For the sake of the country, I think Clinton should do everything she can to have this matter resolved before the convention. Obviously, she is not in control of the investigation. Nevertheless, she could request that it be expedited. Clinton should ask that she and other witnesses be interviewed under oath this month and that a decision about whether to bring charges be made by the end of May.

President Obama should also do whatever he can to get the FBI to conclude its investigation in the next couple of months. The Democratic Party, let alone the country, cannot afford to have this cloud lingering over the fall election campaign.

America is faced with many problems today: Gun violence, climate change, immigration reform, income inequality and terrorism, just to name a few.

However, one issue overrides all the others. That is, the power of Big Money to unduly influence the outcome of our elections and the formation of public policy. Seventy-five percent of all voters agree that it is necessary to get Big Money out of politics and fix our broken political system before anything can be done to solve these other important national issues.

For example, despite the fact that 92% of Americans support universal background checks for all gun purchases, Big Money has bought off Congress and prevented passage of a universal background check statute that would help protect millions of innocent Americans from gun violence.

However, there is a time-tested solution to this problem. As noted in Breaking Big Money’s Grip on America, “when vested interests have constructed seemingly insurmountable barriers to the people’s demands for a more equitable society, Americans have come together and overcome the obstacles…(by forming) mass movements.”

Like the Labor, Civil Rights, and Gay and Lesbian Rights movements, among others, now we must build a broad-based, grassroots Democracy Movement to remove the corrupting influence of money in politics and make the government work for all the people. Visit www.breakingbigmoneysgrip.com for how you can start working to revive democracy in America.

Thursday, March 17, 8 am, I’m on KFSR 101.1 FM, the Radio Cafe talking about Breaking Big Money’s Grip on America

I’m in California now. I will be giving two public talks and book signings this coming week. On Tuesday, March 8 at 6:30 pm, I will be at the Noe Valley Library, 451 Jersey Street, San Francisco. This event is sponsored by N. California Common Cause. Call 415-531-1744 or email hgriego@commoncause.org for more information and to pre-order Breaking Big Money’s Grip on America.

On March 10 at 7 pm, I will be discussing Breaking Big Money’s Grip on America and signing books at Books Inc., 2256 Chestnut Street in the Marina District of San Francisco. Call 415-931-3633 for more information.

Clearly this is a critical time for our country. While my presentations will examine how Big Money has corrupted our political system, they will focus on how we Americans can work together to build a nonpartisan, grassroots democracy movement. If you are in the Bay area, I hope you will come and join in the discussion to revive our democracy.