The myth of
Separation of Church and State
Now that you
have decided to run and have talked to your family and thought about how you
will handle the publicity about the dumbest thing you ever did, it is time to
talk about your religion. I don’t care
what religion you give, at least lip service to, but rather the religion that your constituents believe in. USA has a national religion. Most Americans
worship at the Church of the Economy.
The ecclesiastical leader is the Head of the Federal Reserve. He or she is appointed for 4 years by the
President. Thereafter, the Head speaks ex cathedra on interest rates and
inflation.
Whenever a
problem appears on the horizon the population flocks to their local
church(parliament) and lays the problem on the altar of Free Enterprise System.
Sermons are spoken by parliamentary members, but the people are reduced to praying
to the free enterprise system to solve the problem whether it is job losses or
lack of health care or affordable housing or an efficient transport system. In
its wisdom, the Free Enterprise System decides if the Economy can fix the
problem.
You may
scoff at my cynical analysis but consider the fact that only Human beings
create religions to explain and solve their Problems. The Westminster Kennel
Club does not elect a Saluki to care for all the needs of dogs worldwide. Even more amazing, no herd of camels or
giraffes have even tried to build a Notre Dame Cathedral.
When you
decide to become a member of Congress you are immediately accepted as an acolyte
into the church of the Economy. You are assigned a windowless cell(cubicle) in
the cloister of fundraising. You have a desk with a telephone with an assistant
next to you, to facilitate your begging. If you fail in raising money, you will
be considered a loser and in fact you will be one.
You may
leave to get coffee, snacks or go to the restroom as you begin the search for salvation(election). If you don’t raise enough money you will be
considered a loser. You probably will
not make it.
During my acolyte
years I ran for the legislature and probably raised $2000. (1970) My next race
was for Governor and I asked a bishop in the Church of Economy(powerful Lawyer)
for a contribution. He said, “When you raise $25,000 come back and I will write
you a check.” I was outraged at the dogma
of the Church. I never raised $25,000
until two weeks before the Primary. I got beaten badly, getting 17% of the vote. That
was 1972 but I never forgot the lesson. I was just bad at the discipline of
begging. I lost 2 Governor’s races after that but raised enough to get elected to
the State Senate four times.
Then I quit
politics and went back to my profession which I loved. I took a job with the
State Department as a regional Mental Health Doctor for 26 countries south of
the equator. There was no fundraising involved and I loved to do my work, not
worrying about the next election.
But I had a recurring
lingering disease called a desire to make change in the world a.k.a. advancing
the Common Good. As a practicing
physician, I could see a patient and, hopefully, help with a problem that
already existed. But it was hard to see problems that I thought could have been
prevented without longing to be back where changes could be made.
My brother and my campaign manager called me in
Zaire and said, ”we’ve got a race you can win.” The devil of the Church of the
Economy comes in many forms, including friends who promise help.
I said, “Do
an honest poll. Not one where you tell the pollster what you want the result to
be. Then raise $30,000 in honest pledges. When you’ve done that, call me back.”
They actually did it because I told them I had two kids in college and I wasn’t
going to jeopardize their futures on some fly-by night poll. I knew when I came back, I had to raise
enough money for TV ads. I knew I needed about $250,00 -$300,000. I had two
opponents who had just finished successful runs for re-election to city council(an
African -American) and county assessor(a female). The question in the district was “Why should we
send one more white boy to Congress?”
Because I was late in entering the race, lots
of my friends from 16 years in the legislature had already committed. I knew what I had to do. Everyday I went to
my old monk’s cell at 7:00A.M. and began
cold calls to people in Washington DC.
It was 10:00 A.M. in DC and their first question was, “Why should I get
into a contested primary in a district that is likely to go Democratic anyway.”
I prayed unceasingly and laid my soul on the altar of the Free Enterprise
system.
I got
elected by the margins suggested in the poll from 6 months before and went on
to get 80+ % in the General election. I hate the system but its very hard to
avoid going to the Church and not accepting the Head of the Fed into your
heart.
The Question
might arise in your mind. Why is it so hard to ask for money for a campaign?
For everyone it is a different problem but there are some common themes.
First Commandment
of the Free Enterprise System: We all grew up in a society where we were
expected to earn what we got. No one should get something for free. We ask for
wages with no problem. But what have you done to prove your value as a
candidate.
Second
Commandment: You must give something in return for your receipt of money. My
whole life was working for wages in grocery stores or on the ore boats on the
Great Lakes or in the USN. I earned my wages.
The question
you have to face is, “What does someone expect who gives you 20$? ”What does
someone expect who gives you the Maximum Individual donation of $2500+?” What
about a $10,000 payment from a corporation?” What will they expect?”
Consider
that one phone call can get you the equivalent of 5000 $20 contributions. Saving 4999 phone calls just requires some
erosion of freedom of action in, perhaps only, one area. It is a small price to
pay for less time in the fundraising cubicle.
If you take $10,000 from a large airplane manufacturer, how vocal and
forceful you will be in investigating safety lapses at that company? And what
will next year’s response be to your prayer for money from the Church?
Maybe the
internet will change the dynamics of fundraising. I won with approximately 200,000
votes in most of 14 election victories. I dreamed of schemes to get $10 from
each of them. I could never figure out how to persuade people that $10 matters It would have netted me $2,000,000 with which
I could pay for my campaign AND PAY MY DUES TO THE DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS. I capitalized for a purpose. Newt started dues
in the Republican conference and we
copied it on the Democratic side. My dues as a senior ranking member on the Health
subcommittee was $250,000.
My
fundraising was always hindered by two things: one, how I voted and two, by the
fact that I was in a safe district and won by sizable majorities. In 2000 when Ralph Nader ran, a Green Party
candidate ran against me. There were many Greens in my district whom I urged to
vote for my opponent, but not Nader in the Presidential race. I could see that Gore
couldn’t afford to lose many votes. There were some 20,000 votes for my
opponent who was to the left of me poliically.
He attacked me for not speaking out on behalf the struggle of East
Timor. I am progressive but not as wild
as some in my district and I always had to keep an eye to the left. Voting that
way made some supporters less generous.
But the
problem for someone who has been in Congress is how do you tell people that you
have to raise money to buy your seat on a committee. In 2014 several members on
the Ways and Means committee were perturbed by the fact that I only raised $215,000
of my dues and questioned if I was enough of a team player to keep my ranking
membership on the Health subcommittee. I had given all my money except $15,000
I kept to start the new season of begging.
There is a
saying in DC, “if you want a friend, get a dog.” I plead my case and was given
another term. Consider spending 26 year getting to what you came to do and then
potentially losing your seat because you didn’t raise your dues.
But always
remember that what goes around comes around. One of my “friends” who raised the
question, lost in 2016 and the other had an ethics committee complaint because
of her spouse’s business activities. He was indicted for theft of Federal funds.
She had been Ethics committee Chair in 2011-2.
The impact
of money on politics is constant and there are huge tomes written about how
money corrupts. But let me give an example for my readers to contemplate. The
issue is hydro fluorocarbon use which was destroying the ozone level. The discovery was made in 1973 and by 1987
there was a meeting in Montreal where a treaty was signed to phase out its
use. Among the uses of HFC is the role
in plays in Asthma inhalers.
I and my
mother were asthma sufferers in 1940’s so I personally know the terror of being
afraid that your last breath has happened, and you are going to die, gasping
for breath. Many times, I was rushed to
the doctor’s office to get an epinephrine shot to break the spasm in my
chest. I saw my mother taken to the
hospital in the same state.
Since my
childhood, medicine has advanced in the treatment of childhood asthma, often as
a result of the use of inhalers that used HFC as a propellant to get the
medicine into the affected lung tissue.
The Montreal
ban on HFC use, affected drug companies who made inhalers. They were
researching a substitute propellant but in 1989 had not completed their tests. They wanted an exemption so they could
continue to search for a replacement.
How that
drug company found me I’ll never know. I was new and an M.D. and an active
environmentalist. They approached me to offer the amendment and asked me to
speak about it. Here was my first Congressional medical chance to make a small change
for the common good. I knew the environmental effects long term, but they weren’t
asking for permanent exemption, so I agreed.
Some months
later I had a fundraiser in DC and asked various lobbyist to attend. I received
a $10,000 contribution from the company I had listened to and helped. I was
pleased, needless to say. The question arises HERE: was this a quid pro quo
contribution?
Was the contribution
because I listened and made up my own mind or did I do it in expectation of
later getting some financial help? In my next several campaigns my opponents
raised this issue, claiming that I was a doctor in the thrall of Big Pharma.
On almost a yearly
basis I got a sizeable check this company.
The only other time I worked with them again was about an amendment to
lenghthen a patent on a drug that took a
long time to get through the FDA clearance. I don’t think I won the vote on that issue but
the checks kept coming until they merged with another drug company.
A closer
call on quid pro quo is the practice in many offices that send fundraising
invitations to lobbyist as soon as the Member’s office commits to a meeting
that is important to the lobbyist’ client company. If there is no response, the
member may never meet the lobbyist and their client. How long should wait
before you put the “touch” on someone who wants you to do something?
Being a believer in the Economy and the free
market and miracles have a whole lot in common.
Finally, one
last story about the day I led the Pledge of Allegiance in the House at the
request of the Speaker Pro Tem. This a
ritual by which each day begins in the House by swearing allegiance to God and
Country. I learned the Pledge in elementary school before the Dulles boys
scared Eisenhower into believing that Godless Communism was taking over the
country and that adding “under God” in the Pledge would do what McCarthy could
not do in the Senate. It would expose
communists.
On this
morning as I led the Pledge, I did not say, ”Under God.” This failure was noticed
on TV by some zealot in a Texas religious bunch that then loosed a storm of
Phone calls on my DC office suggesting a number unpleasant things I should do, because
I did not believe in God. For 3 days you could not get a phone call into my
office.
I was never asked
to lead the Pledge again. If I’m caught
in a public setting, now I say, ”Under Gods” in honor of the Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Unitarians and those who just go to the church of the
Economy who serve in Congress.
