SEQUIM — More than 200 people from across the North Olympic Peninsula gathered here Tuesday night to share a lot of outrage — and a few options for solving what they see as large corporations’ unjust takeover of the country.
“Waking Up from the American Dream” was the title of the forum hosted by MoveOn.org, a liberal, nationwide political action committee, at the Guy Cole Convention Center in Sequim’s Carrie Blake Park.
The event was aimed at providing an opportunity for local residents to talk about how corporate lobbying of Congress has affected their lives, and to share ideas for grass-roots solutions.
Organized by Richard Gray of the Clallam County MoveOn.org council, the forum attracted a flock of local activists and a few elected officials, including Sequim Mayor Pro Tem Laura Dubois and Clallam County Commissioners Mike Doherty and Steve Tharinger.
The two hours of discussion vibrated with emotion, and were punctuated with applause that grew lustier as the evening went on.
The first man to stand up amid the full house told of his disillusionment.
‘Bought into dream’
“I bought into the American dream,” began Bill Atkinson of Port Angeles.
“I lived within my means; saved a few pennies . . . and worked until I was almost 70 years old.”
Then he and his wife figured they could at last retire, and “with a minimal return on our savings, we could live a good life.”
A year after they retired, Atkinson’s wife discovered she had breast cancer. She underwent chemotherapy; the injections, Atkinson said, cost $4,000 each.
“Fortunately I had insurance at the time. But then the insurance ran out, and my wife couldn’t get insurance,” he said.
“We had to go into the high-risk pool. Today we’re paying $17,000 a year for health insurance.”
Through all of this, Atkinson believes, his representatives in Congress, the men and women elected to protect his and his wife’s basic rights, “couldn’t care less.”
Moderating Tuesday night’s forum was Ed Evans, a retired KIRO-TV journalist and former pastor of the United Church of Christ in Vancouver, Wash.
He urged attendees to not only share their stories, but to offer ideas for how to change the system that Moveon.org members believe allows corporations far too much influence over Americans’ lives.
Linda Brewster of Port Townsend — a coordinator of Moveon.org’s Jefferson County arm — was one of the many who spoke. She told of working for a large corporation.
“I was one of their disposable psychologists,” she said.
Jeri Weinhold of Port Angeles was among the first to offer encouraging words.
‘Petitions can work’
“I know that petitions can work. I know that voting for people we trust . . . can work,” she said.
“Getting out and talking to people” works perhaps best of all — and it has got to be a primary tactic, Weinhold added.
“People just aren’t aware” of the millions spent on lobbyists who push corporate interests in Congress.
But another forum participant expressed disgust with the on-the-street method.
“I am just so over 50 years of petitioning and lobbying and rallying in the streets to get small reforms,” said Lois Danks of Port Angeles, who organized Stop the Checkpoints in repsonse to Border Patrol checkpoints .
“The government and the corporations are all part of the economic system . . . the role of government is to maintain the status quo,” she said.
When the public applies pressure, “they’ll give a little bit, just enough to keep us from outright rebellion . . . It’s the system of profit that’s behind all of this.”
Two Sequim women offered a hopeful view — and drew clapping, whistles and whoops.
“I work at a local organic farm,” began Kia Armstrong of Nash’s Organic Produce, as the crowd applauded.
‘Vote with dollar’
“[I’m] just throwing a pitch out there to vote with your dollar,” by choosing to buy locally grown goods, including healthful food “so we can get at the root of the health-care problem.”
Cheryl Bell chimed in, adding that Clark Farm in Dungeness now sells locally raised, grass-fed beef, and will soon offer poultry.
“Support your farmers’ market here,” Bell said. “Spend your dollars locally . . . you can vote in elections, but you can vote every day with your money.”
Bell too sparked cheers when she added, “Forget about the big banks. Let’s bail out the local banks,” that back local enterprise.
The law of the land must also change, Earl Archer of Sequim said.
Large corporations should not be permitted to influence Congress — and voters — with giant lobbying budgets and misleading advertising, he believes.
But we can’t wait for a constitutional amendment, because “I see a lot of gray hair here,” said Archer, whose own hair is silver.
Reform corporations code
A federal statute reforming the corporations code is what’s needed, since that is “something we could work on in our lifetime.”
Then the moderator cut in.
“I noticed there’s someone here without gray hair,” said Evans, pointing to the red-tressed Molly Nagin.
“My boyfriend isn’t here because he’s been working all day,” began Nagin, 17. “He’s one of the most amazing people I know,” and the first in his family to go to college.
“He has cancer,” at age 20, she said, adding he doesn’t have health insurance.
“We’re losing our young people because of the insurance companies . . .” Nagin trailed off.
At 9 p.m., the forum’s appointed ending time, organizer Gray sought to inspire the assembly.
He said he reminded of the 1975 horror movie “Jaws,” in which a great white shark — corporations, to the Moveon.org crowd — threatens the lives of three men in a small craft.
One of the film’s famous lines is “We’re going to need a bigger boat.”
“Folks,” Gray said, “you are the bigger boat.”
Moveon.org is organizing rallies, petitions and efforts to “make sure [U.S. Sen.] Patty Murray and [U.S. Rep.] Norm Dicks listen,” he added. Murray is a Democrat from Freeland. Dicks, D-Belfair, represents the 6th Congressional District, which includes the North Olympic Peninsula.
To learn more about those efforts, see www.Moveon.org.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
