Why Democracy Santa Fe? Don't we already live in a democracy?
Sure, we are allowed to vote once in a while, but multinational corporations have become the governing institutions – largely determining for us how our food is grown and distributed, how we heat and light our homes, and what poisons we breathe, drink and eat. Giant corporations largely decide what controversies get attention, how wealth is shared and distributed, what solutions are acceptable, who gets elected to public office and how the United States treats other nations.
Everyone knows that corporations wield tremendous power, and many citizens valiantly try to break their stranglehold by getting strict regulations passed, but it is not enough to set regulatory hurdles which large corporations will ultimately walk over and pay minimal fines – calculated into their cost of doing business, and then recouped as tax-deductible expenses.
We must have the right to set laws and limit commercial activities to those appropriate to our environment, culture and customs.
As with the struggles against slavery, for women’s right to vote, and the right to collectively bargain with our employers, this struggle confronts existing law head on. We cannot win through clever legal strategies.
This struggle calls on us to come together as a community and assert our sovereignty in the face of corporate challenges.
We think that is what democracy means.
Click here to read the summary of our Democratic Self-Government Ordinance Prohibiting Corporate Mining and Chemical Trespass.
Click here to download the entire Ordinance.