Watching an Idea Take Hold

Have you ever watched an idea take hold?

Here's your chance.

Right now, the idea of publicly financed, or clean, elections is taking hold across the country. In California, hundreds of thousands of people signed a petition to put an inititiative for Clean Elections on the ballot. Voters in Portland watched the system work well on its maiden run. In North Carolina, they're advocating to expand clean elections beyond just judicial races. A couple of weeks ago in Maine, voters chose the Republican gubernatorial candidate running "clean" over a Republican candidate who was not only running "dirty," but pressing to cancel the Clean Election system.

And across the country last night, thousands of people sat in hundreds of homes and watched a new Robert Greenwald film, The Big Buy: Tom DeLay's Stolen Congress, that documents the misuse of campaign contributions -- and the need for Clean Elections reform.

If you're late to the concept....Clean Elections let qualified candidates run their campaign with public funds instead of raising money from private sources.

And don't let the politicians say we didn't ask for this. For years, Americans have been demanding genuine campaign finance and lobbying reform. Earlier this year, it seemed Congress was about to bow to their wishes, and institute at least some lobbying reform. It is, however, no surprise that the Washington Post recently reported this legislation had been killed. Once again, politicians acting for the good of donors -- not voters.

California has the chance to bring Clean Elections to the center of the national attention. The Secretary of State has just certified the Clean Elections initiative to appear on the November ballot -- and it can act as a catalyst for change across the nation. This kind of bipartisan, even-handed reform will strengthen our democracy and let elections be decided by a debate of ideas and values, not fundraising. Won't you join the campaign?

Follow Deborah Burger on Twitter: www.twitter.com/NationalNurses