David Sirota in Chicago

Written by: Sandra Verthein on Jul 3, 2008 8:16 AM EDT

Linked to groups: Northside DFA

[This essay was written by NDFA Steering Committee member Frank Palmer about our June 21st Northside DFA forum. The photo was taken by NDFA member Fran Tobin.]

David Sirota, author of the New York Times best sellers The Uprising and Hostile Takeover, spoke in a NDFA forum in Edgewater about his books and his political beliefs. The format -- he was interviewed by Ben Joravsky of The Reader and then answered questions from the audience -- was somewhat discursive, but Sirota returned to several recurring themes.

Sirota rejects waiting for the ideal politician to be elected to a position from which he can solve our problems. He thinks that the proposed solutions have to come from below with enough pressure to make their passage politically profitable. He pointed to Lyndon Johnson's adoption of the civil rights ideal; Johnson's political record before the White House supported segregation. Sirota pointed out that these groundswells have long periods of organized preparation before they reach the consciousness of the electorate. (And he pointed out elsewhere that politicians were usually the last to notice.) He quoted FDR speaking to some advocacy group: "You've convinced me. Now make me do it."

Asked specifically about Barack Obama, whom he has praised elsewhere, he said that Obama is passionate about themes, not about policies. An Obama administration would be open to solutions from the grassroots, but we should not expect the election of  Obama to provide the solutions. Again, change comes from below; only when the people are convinced will the leaders follow.

(Continued.)

One of the audience asked whether the people shouting "change" are dupes or a new force. Sirota's answer was that some are one and some are the other. Simply getting Obama in will not bring solutions, but it will bring a new openness for solutions from the bottom. Some of his supporters will become disillusioned and cynical when the change is slow. Conservatives will exploit those as they have done before. Some of them, we hope, will stay organized and put forth new agendas. "The best politician is a worried politician," he said. He likes the situation in New York City where term limits for city council lead to a constant supply of former council members looking to move up. That makes congressmen and state representatives nervous, which makes them more responsive to their constituents. (Other than that positive benefit, he doesn't support term limits for legislators; he does for executive positions.) For related reasons, he favors primaries whenever possible. This is especially important in one-party districts.

Joravsky asked what would be the first steps for people taking back the power in their
government. Sirota's first step was merely to get to know each other. We can't do anything until we do that. His second was to pick a target. You only need to put one politician at risk to make all his colleagues nervous.

Sirota compared the relation of politicians to laws to that of corporations. Corporations are in the business of maximizing profits. They will do anything that they can do to make money. The answer is not to ask that they improve their ethics; the answer is for government and laws to regulate what they can do. Similarly, we don't need more ethical politicians. We need laws that restrict what they can do and punish transgressions. Among the lws that he mentioned are more restrictions on campaign finances.

Sirota was asked how he got started. His first introduction to politics was as a high-school sophomore in Philadelphia. He took a class with seniors which involved a good deal of research on the Kennedy administration. As one of the few underclassmen, he bore much of the burden of the research. He went to college in Chicago, and got involved in Howie Carrol's campaign to succeed Sid Yates. "Why Carrol? Joravsky asked. "Because that campaign asked me." He came away from that campaign with a fairly negative view of politics. "Politics was not that cool." He had experience, though, and went on to support Bernie Sanders (independent Congressman, and currently Senator, from Vermont) and later Ned Lamont (the man who defeated Lieberman for the Democratic nomination for Senator from Connecticut and then lost to him in the election). He went from being a campaigner to being
a columnist and author.

The meeting was in Loyola University's Simpson Multi-Purpose Room.

[Note: To learn more about David Sirota and The Uprising go to http://www.davidsirota.com/]

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Location: Chicago, IL 60640