Letter to the Editor: Taking democracy to the streets

Peoria Journal Starr Sunday, June 11, 2006 By Sheldon Schafer

Original Source here.

I'm an idealist and want to save the world.

Although I'm not particularly religious, it's definitely a part of me that was instilled by the church I grew up in. I joined the Peace Corps. I work for a non-profit. And in this election, I've been inspired by a candidate I really believe in.

The problem is, he's running on a party ticket that hasn't been established in Illinois, even though it's represented in most of the developed world. According to state law, we need to get 25,000 signatures from registered voters by June 26 to give this candidate the right to run for office.

My candidate's not a crackpot, not a communist, not even a socialist. He's reasoned, well spoken, has a law degree and believes in building bridges with those who disagree with him.

The party believes in grass-roots citizen participation, democracy, environmental wisdom, economic and social justice, and nonviolence, values that few would disagree with, though many have different strategies on implementation.

While gathering 1,400 signatures - I've asked over 25,000 people to sign - I've gained some perspectives about what the man-on-the-street thinks about our democracy.

I'm sure many are suspicious of anyone who has to go out in public to ask for signatures, never mind that state law requires it. Many are too busy or too much in a hurry to be bothered.

Here were some encouraging remarks:

"Everyone should have the right to run for office."

"I probably wouldn't agree with you on the issues, but you should have the right to run." (I love this one.)

"The more the merrier." (It's surprising how often these exact words come up.)

"I'm really unhappy with the choices we have." "You couldn't be any worse than the choices we have now." "We need more choices." "We need more parties."

"You mean you can't run for office unless others say OK?"

"It's not fair" that new parties are required to get 25,000 signatures, while established parties only need 5,000.

"I hope you'll take votes away from Blagojevich."

"Hopefully, you'll take votes from Topinka."

But those responses come from a minority. Most folks are not as positive:

"I don't want anyone to run whose policies I disagree with."

"I'm not sure I agree with your values."

"I can't support you. I like to kill things." (I hope he meant trees.)

"We already have too many parties." (I've always been tempted to ask, "Which of the two, Democrats or Republicans, is too many?" It always sounds like most would prefer a single party system as long as it's their party.)

There are a number of "chicken-and-egg" dilemmas expressed:

"I've never heard of your candidate."

"I don't know anything about him."

"I don't make snap decisions about someone I don't know."

Of course, since most of the media won't report on a new party's candidate unless he/she gets on the ballot, it creates a real dilemma. The Journal Star, in fact, was the only media outlet that covered our candidate's visit to Peoria. One reporter, while fielding a call I was returning concerning questions about our candidate, said: "I'll put a stop to this! Don't call us until you're already on the ballot." This policy apparently didn't apply to State Sen. James Meeks, who was just thinking about running for governor as an independent. Apparently a different set of rules applies for political insiders.

The evidence suggests that our democracy is in trouble, although my faith was almost restored recently while petitioning in front of O'Brien Field. There I was told, "Thank you for taking the time to do this. I hope you succeed."

Still, the frustration lingers. Is asking thousands who don't care or don't understand the political system the best threshold for participating in an election? How is our democratic system made better by keeping good people with new and possibly different ideas from running for office? Is this why most people don't vote? Is there a better way?

Sheldon Schafer, a member of the Illinois Green Party, is passing petitions to get the party's gubernatorial candidate, Rich Whitney, on the November ballot. In his day job, the Peorian is vice president of education at Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences.