More Americans are increasingly hungry, scared and insecure.

We are losing our democracy.

We are losing our middle class.

We are losing the American Dream.

Most people agree that government is failing on most fronts.

Americans don't vote.

Blue states are remaining blue. Red states are remaining red.

America is not getting better.

OK. If things are that bad, why aren't people engaged in politics?

Why don't people remain engaged in politics between elections? Heck, why don't people even get engaged in politics at election time? Why don't more people even vote?

Why should they?

Few people care about whether or not a particular politician has a job following any given election.

What people care about is - ISSUES.

And, what are ordinary citizens least likely to impact by involving themselves in elections, campaigns or politics? You got it. ISSUES.

There's a big disconnect between politics and the issues that matter to real people.

Citizens know who wields the power in the state houses, in Congress, in the Senate. They know it's not regular folks. They know it's lobbyists, power brokers and corporations. They know their own issues aren't being counted with the proper weight.

See, people are fed up.

In our system, whoever wins an election gets "all" the power. Under these circumstances, both sides move to the middle (i.e. take few stands on anything at all thereby leaving most problems unsolved). They think that that's where most of the votes currently are. All they do is avoid doing their jobs. Issues get watered down and set aside.

And, engagement in between elections? Once the elections are over, the parties aren't rallying the issues anymore.

The issues served the purposes for the party or the candidate, that is, the issues rallied some support for somebody's campaign. Now that the election is over, parties don't want ordinary citizens participating in the issues. No, that would be a distraction. Too messy. Too complicated. Politics returns the all of the power to the handful of elected individuals.

And in the world of politics, winning is not just about the next election. It is also about the next job. So we get a seniority system, in which incumbents climb the ladder of success and are socialized by our elite, candidate-centered apparatus in the process.

That such politics fails to mobilize, inform, and inspire half the eligible electorate is not surprising. That it has failed to respond to the needs of America's citizens, in particular our most needy citizens (i.e. senior citizens, children, mothers, students, the unemployed, etc.), is no longer even shocking.

The fact that our nation's current policies exclusively serve primarily the elite and the well connected - that fact seems like regular business, old hat, the way of the world.

But, it wasn't always that way. We used to be a democracy.

At critical times in our nation's history, people have risen up when the pendulum swung too far right or got stuck in a position that simply serves the elite.

If the last six years should have taught us anything, it's this. Elitism in politics undermines democracy. It sweeps away effective problem-solving and participatory citizenship, like some old loose beach sand in a relentless riptide.

All that we talk about anymore are the tides.

Those tides will not heal our nation.

What do I mean by elitism? Sure, elitism in part refers to the corporate and lobby powers in control of campaigns and legislative activities of both parties.

The conservative backlash against the citizen activism of the 1960s and 1970s has brought us over thirty years or more of rigorous and relentless efforts to render citizens powerless.

But that's not the only problem. Out of our increasing sense of powerlessness, people have become competitors, consumers and confederates. What about citizens? Where are the citizens?

Politics is not a football game that happens every two years. It's not about rooting for your team and then going home. If the people's party wants to regain its foothold in citizen politics, the first thing it needs to do is to behave like a representative group in a democracy. No more elitism.

A pro-democracy movement would focus renewed attention on the importance of ensuring to everyday citizens a more meaningful voice as well as a real opportunity to participate throughout the democratic process and not just on election day.

It would challenge the rules that give the current (dead and dying) party structure a political monopoly.

For organizations to represent issues of interest to real people, they need to be rooted in the communities where citizens reside and engaged on a daily basis in issues that citizens care about.

But they also need to develop mechanisms and structures of accountability to their constituents.

Just claiming to speak in the name of everyday people is not enough. Listening tours and fact finding meetings organized by traveling contingents from capital cities - are good only for newspaper headlines. They do little for pro-democracy activism.

Citizens might only sustain participation in democratic practices within organizations dedicated to their interests and speaking not only for them, but also with them. They know the difference between photo opportunities, media moments and true democratic practices.

This requires structural change, not just a different set of leaders.

Unlike our current system, in which incumbents are reluctant to do anything to broaden the electorate that put them in office, issue-oriented elections will bring out the voters.

It means locally grounded, issue-oriented political organizations.

It involves REAL GRASS ROOTS. Remember grass roots? Anybody remember it?

Grass roots = Issues oriented politics.

Issue oriented campaigns and issue oriented organizations can also support the development of local political organizations that educate and mobilize voters because rallying around issues changes the incentive structure for elections.

But voting for a candidate or a party is not enough just because they support the issues or take stands on the issues.

It is only when voters are vigilant, even after the votes are counted, that issues can drive politics and turn red states blue.

That's when elected officials either behave like "winner-take-all, candidate-centered" or they behave like "voters-are-my-employers."

Of course, there are downsides to issue-oriented politics that builds from the bottom up. Such efforts require enormous energy from people whose lives are already consumed with the burdens of survival.

But the upside is a powerful antidote to the sense of futility and isolation that often accompanies the daily grind for those who act alone.

Organizations, including political parties, that promote issue-oriented agenda, that are rooted in the interests and the energy of everyday lives, and that are committed to vision of true democracy, will offer, provide, and reap enormous and self-fulfilling opportunities to experience the joys of solidarity.

Greater numbers of people involved! Larger shares of the vote! More people voting!

Politicians, office holders and campaigners would be supported when they addressed issues after the election. Politicians would receive more critical support while in office when they need to rally public sentiment for legislation or executive actions. They'd have year round cheering squads and mobile teams.

Opportunities for renewed faith that comes from collective struggle.

Collective struggle can also bring that sort of job security that politicians crave. It's harder won, but lasts longer.

How are our leaders feeling now? If they are feeling like happy clams, they aren't the least bit interested in people-powered politics. They are quite pleased with corporate sponsored politics.

What about the red states that want to turn blue? They won't get there by just trading a red tie in for a blue one. Blue voters are too savvy. They won't turn out. If you want blue voters, you've got to be blue.

Local, community-centered, issue-driven organizations would give those constituents greater tools of accountability and greater incentives for sustained participation. They would enable them to fight the power with a new kind of power-from-within.

Should we wait for candidates to make the clarion call for citizen-powered politics? Well, they won't. So, we shouldn't.

Perhaps some frustrated party leaders who want to turn the color of their state to another color will make the call, but, don't count on it. Most party leaders are out of touch. They have little to no incentive or reason to change. They have their reasons for liking status quo or just being happy with small measured incremental changes.

My special message to party leaders that are not happy with the color of their states or their party's hard scrabble status:

You say you want more voters, more turnout, more candidates, more money?

Well, the only way you'll make those changes or turn the color of your state around - is through issue oriented activism. Join us.

These times call for broader brushes. We probably cannot wait on the old guard to figure it out. Far too much hangs in the balance now, like no other time since the 1960s and 1970s. Too much is at stake now.

Yes, we want to work in the parties and the campaigns and the elections - but, not the way it works now. No.

Remember, "winner takes all" is not democracy.

What we need here is real democracy again.

IF DEMOCRACY WINS - that's the only time that we all win.

That's a campaign to get behind.

This is NO LONGER about playing ball with either party in its current form, if what we want to fight for is a return of democracy.

What we need is - citizens willing to crash the political party gates.

The game doesn't belong to the candidate or the party.

You want to win?

Commit to issue-oriented elections.

No, not candidate-centric politics.

Issues!

Crash the party with us.

(photo courtesy of Kasmira)