Michele Swenson

Election year choices are increasingly reduced to the lowest common denominator, disconnected from most people's lives, controlled by the Democratic-Republican duopoly in thrall to corporate megabucks that buy off government, and covered by corporate media like a horse race.

There is a widespread sense that Washington is broken, purposefully...

Constituents who carried a message to members of the Colorado congressional delegation the week of December 1st (I was one) told them that Washington has been engaged in the wrong conversation. Rather than a "deficit crisis," ours is a jobs crisis that demands immediate action. The best deficit reduction and...

Taking to the streets is the only recourse for a people frozen out of the political process, where there has been a massive sell-off of any pretense of democracy to big money interests at every level of government. For over 30 years, public education has been a primary target of...

Political actors in Washington and corporate media often bounce off each other as though in an echo chamber. So it was no surprise to hear NPR's national political correspondent Mara Liasson refer to Medicare as the "biggest driver" of the deficit. Never mind that health care in general,...

Please, sir, may I have another cup of poorr-ridge?

The U.S.'s Dickensian economy is a legacy of Milton Friedman's 40-year promotion of unregulated capitalism advanced by the University of Chicago School of Economics. The neoliberal model widely disseminated through many U.S. universities has been exported worldwide. Naomi Klein (Shock Doctrine:...

Supporters of Senate filibuster reform rallied Monday on the steps of the Colorado State Capitol. Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet sent representatives to speak. Among speakers were three state representatives, the city auditor, a Denver School Board member and a student Dream Act activist.

Obama either does not understand the game of corporate billionaires versus the working class that Republicans have played for decades, or he willingly capitulates to it.

The president revealed in early November on 60 Minutes the extent to which he will bend to seek "bipartisanship" -- not achievable...

Achieving a truly energy-efficient home may be easier in concept than in execution, though the components of energy-smart construction should be well-known by now.

The easiest energy improvements can be realized in an existing home by the simple measures of caulking around windows and doors and increasing attic insulation to...

In our broken political system, candidates are propelled by 30-second sound bites funded by large sums of money from undisclosed corporate and special interests. Over 30 years there has been a concerted political right effort to subvert U.S. democracy and redistribute wealth to corporate and religious right allies. Democrats have...

The Comment Period regarding EPA regulation of coal ash has been extended to 11/19/10 online. Comments (referenced as "Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-RCRA-2009-0640") can be emailed to rcra-docket@epa.gov or mailed. For info., visit www.regulations.gov and search "EPA-HQ-RCRA-2009-0640."

The largest industrial hazardous waste spill in U.S. history occurred at the...

It is a mark of the distortion of language around health care access that in a debate between T.R. Reid and Jon Caldara about Ballot Amendment 63 (to overturn the individual mandate of federal health care reform), Caldara's arguments frequently doubled back on themselves.

Debating on Rocky Mountain PBS's

Why They Owe It To Colorado Democrats to Pay Andrew Romanoff's Debt

The day after Andrew Romanoff announced his senate bid in September 2009, President Obama endorsed Michael Bennet. The administration's interference in a state primary divided the rank-and-file Democratic Party, and those who protested were simply dismissed.

One big take-away from the recent Colorado U.S. Senate election (and others) is the fact that only the moneyed elite, or those backed by moneyed elite, can run for office. President Obama, who eschewed special interest PAC money during his presidential run, has since demonstrated an affinity for high-dollar top-down...

The disappointment of Robert Gibbs with a "professional left" pales next to the anger of the electorate over business-as-usual, corporate-controlled Washington.

Precisely because his presidential run inspired a high level of long-hoped-for change, the crushing disappointment with Barack Obama's failure to make a dent in the corrupt political culture of...

Before she left Congress in 1997, Colorado Rep. Pat Schroeder made a powerful commentary, holding a "Sold" banner at the base of the Capitol dome. By the late '90s, corporations had become entrenched puppet masters in our government-of-the-highest-bidder, controlling congressional policy-making in return for big bucks.

Both the Republican and...

On Monday, two brothers from Minnesota, Robin and Laird Monahan, made a detour to Denver on their cross-country walk to encourage people to reclaim democracy and restore the citizen sovereignty that has been displaced by the "corporate stranglehold on all three branches...

Tuesdays with the Speaker
As Speaker of the Colorado House, Andrew Romanoff opened his Capitol office doors to the public every Tuesday, inviting anyone to bring his/her concerns to him. It was the Speaker's way of bringing some balance to the statehouse, where the influence of lobbyists predominates. Romanoff...

The Colorado Citizens (Publicly-Funded) Campaigns Initiative 53 is not modeled on Arizona and other states' public funding initiatives that use matching funds to level the election playing field. Foreseeing the direction of conservative Court challenges to matching funds over the past decade in places like Arizona, authors of...

Assuming responsibility for personal and institutional sins has not been a strong suit of the Church, fallen evangelicals, or corporate plunderers. It's easier to blame a media campaign against the Church, or in Rep. Mark Souder's case, a "poisonous" Washington environment seeking to twist "personal failing ... for...