Jerry Nadler: “I want to put this debate into a little perspective. When the United States became independent, when our Constitution…”

“I want to put this debate into a little perspective. When the United States became independent, when our Constitution was adopted, there were many skeptics who said that our new system of government would not last, a republican form of government, a democratic form of government. There had been many republics and democracies in the past and in antiquity, in Middle Ages, but they had not lasted. They all, every single one of them, degenerated into oligarchies or autocracies. Skeptics said this new democratic republic would not last, either. There have been two greatest tests of our democratic system. In the Civil War, because of slavery, Lincoln quite correctly characterized it as a test of whether a government of the people, by the people, and for the people could survive. Now we face a second great test, the increasing domination of our politics by big money. People are cynical, and rightly so. They believe that their participation, their voices, cannot count against the power of big money, and recent experience says they are right. We all know the power of the HMOs, the pharmaceutical companies. We watched this Congress pass a $50 billion giveaway to big tobacco companies. We gave away, not sold, not rented, gave away a $70 billion spectrum to the broadcasting companies. Why? Because of the power of big money.”