Constitutional Guarantee to a Job at a Living Wage

Two Months Severance for Every Year of Service for Laid-Off Workers

Workers Rights to Organize, Bargain and Strike

An End to Bigotry; An injury to One is an Injury to All

Universal Access to Quality Health Care

Less Work with No Reduction in Pay & Mandated Time Off

Paid Family Leave

Access to Quality Public Education

An End to the Corporate Abuse of Trade

An End to Corporate Welfare

A Tax System Where the Wealthy Pay Their Fair Share

A Revitalized Public Sector

An End to Corporate Domination of Elections

A Just Transition Movement to Protect Jobs and the Environment

Worker Inspectors to Enforce Safety & Health Regulations

Worker-Sensitive Technology Development

End Corporate Domination of Elections

The current system of privately financed elections, essentially a system of legalized bribery, takes away our right to vote, makes a mockery of the democratic process and ensures that those who possess the wealth in the United States--the corporations and the rich--also are the ones wielding the political power.

Under the current campaign finance system, the democratic ideal is a sham. Politicians put the vested interests of the rich and powerful ahead of the needs and concerns of their constituents and the nation as a whole. It is virtually impossible to pass legislation that protects and empowers working people.

People who must work for a living are routinely ignored in the halls of power because they have no power, either individually or collectively. We are forced to watch politicians of both parties rob the public treasury of billions of dollars, giving their rich and powerful donors tax breaks, subsidies, bailouts and regulatory exemptions.

The selling of political candidates to the highest bidders, who will always be the wealthiest and most powerful people, determines who gets elected and how they vote (that is, in accordance with the interests of those who bankrolled them into office.) This is a serious and complex problem confronting working people in the quest for meaningful political alternatives.

It's Their Game, Their Rules

There's no way workers and their unions can even begin to match the money that corporations, through their political action committees (PACs), and wealthy individuals put up to buy their chosen candidates--not to mention the millions in "soft money" routinely collected by both political parties. "Soft money" refers to individual campaign contributions supporting federal candidates that are laundered through state (and national) parties to avoid ceilings on contributions to those candidates. The use of millions of dollars in soft money to evade contribution limits obviously undermines the federal election system.

In 1995, Democrats collected over $25 million in soft money; the Republicans pulled in $33.7 million. Financial corporations--banks, investment houses, insurance companies, etc.--contributed the most, $10.5 million (65 percent of which went to the Republicans). Labor contributed six percent of the Democratic Party's soft money, only about 2.5 percent of the overall soft money total.

Corporate/business PACs out-contributed labor PACs by 3 to 1 in the 1994 elections. However, when easy-to-disguise large individual contributions (the major conduit for corporate/business donations to candidates and political parties) were added to the PAC figures, it was found that corporate/business out-contributed labor by a ratio of 7 to 1.

Clearly, labor can never come close to matching the vast financial resources of corporate America in buying political clout. We're beaten in that game before it ever begins. We have to find another way. We have to organize.

Serious Reform Unlikely Without a Shift in Power

What are we up against? Money and corruption in politics at every level is so entrenched and pervasive as to make serious reform impossible unless accompanied by fundamental changes in power relationships in our society--changes whereby working people can gain enough clout to force needed reform.

Item: Members of Congress, Democrat and Republican, publicly support campaign finance reform but oppose it privately and work to defeat it, fighting every effort to reduce the influence of the wealthy because they enjoy six-digit-a-year salaries, the best health care and innumerable perks.

Item: Campaign contributions equal good business investments, and giving to incumbent office holders is even more prudent from a business perspective. Incumbent office holders in Congress therefore enjoy significant advantages over challengers in any given election campaign.

Item: The ongoing failure to confront the problems caused by the link between special interest money, lobbying and elections helps explain why reforms to improve the lives of working people, like single-payer national health care, never get addressed. From 1982 to 1994, when health care costs and prescription drug prices more than doubled, medical industry political action committees--not to mention the insurance industry--poured more than $75 million into the campaign coffers of Congressional candidates, these being the same PACs fighting against reform of the health care system.

Item: It's only going to get worse. Corporate/business political contributions are skyrocketing, and the increasing trend is for the courts to set no limits on the grounds that setting limits is infringing on free speech rights protected by the First Amendment. In other words, the more money you have, the more rights you enjoy--similar to the old saying "Freedom of the press is for those who own the presses."

Steps to Take

Attaining these and other fundamental reforms depends on our ability to organize the Labor Party into a movement capable of delivering real power to working people.

We support all efforts to enhance working people's political power and we oppose all efforts to dismantle majority black or brown electoral districts. In addition, we support statehood for the District of Columbia.

We also want:

• A financial cap on what any candidate can spend on elections;
• Full public financing of state and national elections based on the principle of "one person, one vote" and "government of, by and for the people;"
• Full and equal public financing and media time for candidates who have proven popular support, rather than just access to big contributors; and
• Such funds should be made available only to those candidates who pledge not to raise and spend any private money whatsoever during the primary and general election periods.
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Join the Labor Party! Write or call P. O. Box 53177, Washington, D.C. 20009, 202-234-5190.