You Hear That One About the FEC?

So. Yesterday I heard on the radio that the FEC, which requires a quorum of six in order to accomplish most functions, is down to a mere two. They no longer have enough members to even hold official meetings. It seems like a silly piece of bureaucratic trivia - how silly! Such governmental idiocy! Let’s move on.

No. This is important, and let me tell you why. First, some slight background. The FEC, or Federal Election Commission, is composed of six members, and by law no party can hold a majority. They are responsible for the oversight of campaign financial donations.

Wait, what? These are the people who track where the money is going and coming from in elections? And now they have been hamstrung in cracking down on illegal campaign donations? Right before the 2020 election?

Yeah. The current situation is that they are still receiving campaign finance reports from officials running for office, and they are making them available for public scrutiny, as they are matters of public record. Unfortunately they are having difficulty legally doing much more than that.

In the years that President Trump has been in office, he has nominated one person to sit at the FEC - one. A Republican. Due to the legal requirements, he would need to appoint a Democrat or Independant after that - and I’m not sure President Trump would appoint a Democrat to man the fire engine if his mansion was ablaze, let alone to an office which oversees financial contributions to campaigns.

But this is not all on one man. Congress has failed to approve his appointee, and so the FEC continues in its severely underrepresented current situation. The 2020 race could easily become the worst cesspool of dark money and election rigging that this country has ever seen - and I think by now we can all agree we’ve seen some shit. But again, why would any of them step up to ensure their financial dealings are monitored and on the up-and-up? 

Oh, right. Integrity. Seems to be in short supply in our world these days, and especially in our government. But here’s the thing. When you insist on integrity in yourself in small things, it prepares and trains you to respond with integrity in big things. That’s why we teach our kids not to lie about taking cookies, so they won’t end up lying about stealing the neighbor’s car. And if we don’t insist on (and enforce!) integrity from our elected officials, then we’ll be left watching as they rob and rape our country into the ground.

It’s so easy to say, “Well, I’d probably do that too. I’d hook up with the aide. I’d  bomb the man who tried to kill my father. I’d bail out bankers to avoid a Second Depression. I’d play nice with tyrants and start trade wars with allies and manipulate foreign powers to favor my personal corporations.”

You know what? We might. That’s why no one’s putting us in charge of an unimaginably wealthy, unbelievably powerful country, with battalions of soldiers and silos of nuclear missiles and trillions of dollars at our disposal. 

But we might not. And that’s why it’s so important - so incredibly important - to put the people who probably wouldn’t betray their integrity into power. And why it’s absolutely necessary to find the ones who scoff at the trust placed in them and remove them from any position of such grave responsibility. We can do it. There are avenues available to the People - contacting Congress, reading FEC reports, staying abreast of news, rallies and protests, popular referendums, mass labor strikes, Constitutional amendment proposals; all of which rank far above writing inflammatory blog posts on an obscure website.

But we do what we can. I wish you luck in your efforts, as I hope you wish me in mine. Until next time, God bless you.