That we should change our flag and take the stars off of it and replace them with dollar signs since that is the only thing that matters to most of our representatives in government.

Here's an idea for a grass-roots campaign: every time we sign one of these petitions, let's go to www.opensecrets.org and find out how much that person may have received from the corporation in question, i.e., insurance companies, and remind him of that in the part of the letter that we can personalize.

And remember it if you are lucky enough to have primary elections in your district where conservative Democrat incumbents are challenged. 

Our system is broken. A huge part of the problem is that it costs millions of dollars to run a campaign for Congress. Big campaign cash comes from corporations who expect the candidate, once elected, to protect the vested interests of the corporations who financed their campaign or else those funds will dry up when it comes time for them to stand for re-election.

This is why we see bailouts for Wall Street and hedge fund investors, but not for homeowners.

This is why bankruptcy laws were written by banks and credit card companies - who made lavish contributions to Congress while that bill was being negotiated.

This is why under Medicare Part-D, the federal government is prohibited by law from negotiating lower prices for prescription medicines - a back room deal, the payoff for pharmaceutical companies for their contributions to campaigns and lobbyists.

This will all continue to be true even if we introduce a third or fourth party. In fact, that new party will not have the ghost of a chance for success unless we first change how campaigns are financed. Those of us who would like to see a viable Progressive Party or Social Democrats, or whatever, should first work to achieve campaign finance reform.

The Fair Elections Now Act (H.R. 1826) would publicly fund all races for the U.S. Senate and House, paid for by a tax on the largest media conglomerates. It would allow candidates to run a viable campaign for elected office with a mixture of small donations and limited public financing. Candidates would qualify for limited public funds by raising a specific number of small donations from members of their communities. Once qualified, they would receive a four to one match on the small donations, and be prohibited from taking any large donations.

Modeled on successful programs that are law in seven states and two cities, the Fair Elections Now Act would free our elected officials from the fundraising treadmill and allow them to focus on the challenges we're up against and their constituents' needs.

If you want to change our system, and you want to be successful at it, start with campaign finance reform.