Rick at Burlington City Hall
Wednesday June 28th, 2000
The Threat To Our Democracy
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INTRODUCTION
BY MURRAY BANKS: Rick Hubbard is a native Vermonter, born in Middlebury and
now living in Lamoille County. Though Rick doesn’t flaunt it, he has an
unusually strong and deep educational background, with 2 graduate degrees,
the first, a Masters in Business Administration from Dartmouth’s Amos
Tuck School and the second, a Doctorate of Law from Georgetown University
Law Center.
When
he’s got the time, Rick loves to hike up Mt Mansfield or meet friends
for weekly trail runs up the Honey Hollow side of Camel’s Hump. Most of
you might not know that Rick, in sections, has completely hiked both the
Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine and Vermont’s Long Trail from
Massachusetts to our Canadian border.
Since last fall Rick has been walking throughout Vermont to advocate for
national campaign finance reform. So far Rick has visited over 70 of
Vermont’s 251 communities and walked over 400 miles.
He’s demonstrated his commitment and earned the right to lead on
this issue
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Rick |
RICK'S REMARKS:
Dear friends and Vermonters
Only a few days from today, we will celebrate our country’s Declaration of Independence. It is a time to gather together and reflect upon the ideals expressed in this important part of our history. For 224 years, our democracy has endured. Yet it is in trouble today! It is threatened by the corrupting influence of big money and special interests.
The money from these special interests causes the shameless sale of public policy by Congress and everybody knows it. This practice costs us hundreds of billions of dollars collectively as citizens. It limits and defines our choices of candidates. It defers, misdirects, and blocks legislation to change our national priorities -- even when these changes are in the common interests of American citizens.
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It prevents us from protecting and strengthening social security.
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It prevents us from improving our national educational achievement.
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It prevents us from more fully protecting our environment.
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It prevents us from providing comprehensive health care for all Americans.
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And it prevents us from working more cooperatively with our world neighbors.
We must declare our independence from the corrupting bonds of big money in our election campaigns by reforming our campaign finance system. We must alter our very system of government. As a people, we know how to declare our independence and authorize alterations of our government.
Here is how we did so in Congress, July 4th, 1776.
“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness – That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.”
Fellow Vermonters, we would never seek to abolish what has become our cherished United States. But it is our constant responsibility that it remains a government of, by and for the people, not the special interests. We struggle here for the very survival of representative democracy. Our right to alter our government for the common good must be used to sweep the halls of Congress clean from the greedy interests, to restore our government in service of our common interests as citizens, and to protect the condition of our earth. It is our duty to our children and to future generations of American citizens.
To do this we must replace campaign money from special interests with money on behalf of all citizens. We must provide our elected Congressional Representatives with proper incentives to again pass legislation on behalf of all citizens. We must broaden our choice of candidates to include those who are not independently wealthy or beholden to special interests. In sum, we must completely repair our democracy and restore faith and trust in our elected representatives and institutions of government.
Since I announced my candidacy for the United States Senate, I have walked throughout Vermont to advocate for meaningful national campaign finance reform and changes in our national priorities. My Walk Vermont effort is designed to draw the attention of all Vermonters to these issues. So far I have visited over 70 of Vermont’s 251 communities and walked over 400 miles. Along the way I have been meeting with Vermonters, giving interviews with radio, television and newspaper reporters and commentators, and gathering petition signatures to raise my voice for these issues in the upcoming elections.
I have met wonderful people on my walk. They have opened up their hearts and their homes to me. They have shared their concerns about our democracy. I have seen first-hand what a caring and patriotic people Vermonters are. They despair of their democracy now, as it seems so lost to the corruption of the large campaign donors.
Vermonters of all backgrounds, interests and political affiliations understand that the power of big money from special interests treats all of us, Republicans, Democrats, Progressives and Independents with equal arrogance.
We all pay the higher prices for brand name drugs before being allowed to buy cheaper generic substitutes, because Congress, in return for $27 million in campaign contributions, passed legislation to extend their drug patents longer, costing us as consumers as much as $550 million a year at the pharmacy counter.
We all pay for extra gallons of gas at the pump because Congress, in return for over $5.7 million dollars in political contributions, has failed for the last 5 years to increase the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards to require that the Automobile industry continue to manufacture a mix of automobiles each year that are increasingly fuel efficient. The extra gas costs us an estimated $59 billion a year at the pump.
Taken together, we all pay hundreds of billions of dollars for these and for other benefits conferred by Congress on these special interests. We pay part of this money out of our wallets at places like the pharmacy counter and at the gas pump. We pay more money from our checkbooks, for higher taxes to replace the money that never came into our federal treasury, due to Congressional subsidies and gifts to selected industries.
There is broad support among Vermonters of all backgrounds, interests and political affiliations to remove from Congress the excessive influence of big special interest money and to repair our democracy. As I have walked last fall, this winter and this spring throughout our wonderful State, you have demonstrated this support by signing my petitions.
Across our state, there is broad diversity in your petition signatures. Of every four of you who have signed, one of you has signed as a Democrat, one of you as a Republican and two of you as Independents. Collectively, you know and demonstrate that meaningful reform must set partisanship aside and draw support from all political parties. Our next U.S. Senator must establish strong and respectful working relationships across party lines to build support in Congress to repair our democracy.
Thus it is with great pride that I, a native Vermonter, stand before you today to announce that over two thousand Vermonters have signed petitions supporting me to bring attention to this shameless sale of public policy and to repair our democracy.
Democrats, Republicans, Independents and Vermonters who associate themselves with other parties all have combined to qualify me in 3 separate ways to be on the ballot in the upcoming Vermont elections as our next United States Senator. You have qualified me to run in the general election as an Independent. You have also qualified me to run in both the Democratic primary and in the Republican primary.
Together, we have made the point that meaningful reform must set partisanship aside and draw support across all political parties. Other candidates declare this big money from special interests to be a terrible problem and propose solutions, which if fully enacted, will not stop the sale of our public policy or save you a dime of the hundreds of billions of dollars we collectively pay at the pharmacy counter, or at the gas pump, or in higher taxes to replace money given by Congress to special interests. I will expose this transparent effort to divert you. In return for your support, I pledge to provide you and other Vermonters with a meaningful way to vote for true campaign finance reform in the upcoming elections.
Given the broad mix of support among Vermonters of all backgrounds, interests and political affiliations, it is appropriate that I be on the ballot in the November election as an Independent.
However it is also important and appropriate that this issue of the shameless sale of our public policy not be ignored during the primary election period. Since it is so fundamental to our democracy, it should be vigorously discussed and debated. All Vermonters should have the opportunity to choose in the primary, a candidate who will commit to fully repair our democracy.
For this reason I will be making a decision on which primary to enter within the next few weeks. In making this decision, I will adhere to one primary criterion. How can I draw the biggest distinction between my position and that of other candidates and focus the most attention among Vermonters and the media on how money from these special interests causes the shameless sale of public policy by Congress? Further, how can I best provide you and other Vermonters, whether Republicans, Independents or Democrats with a meaningful way to vote for true campaign finance reform in the upcoming primary election?
I thank you for your support and your trust. I will do my best to represent you in the upcoming elections.
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