[The 90’s Election Specials raw: pre-election survey]

Raw footage for The 90's election specials. Pre-election special material with Wally Nelson, Randy Kehler, Will Newcombem, Bob Suskind, all of whom are cynical about the American electoral process.

00:00Copy video clip URL Black screen.

00:11Copy video clip URL Bars and tone.

00:55Copy video clip URL Black screen.

01:23Copy video clip URL Wally Nelson, an 82-year-old, is working on his farm. He introduces himself and his relationship to non-violence. He says he seeks active involvement in non-violence but does not like to consider himself as an activist. He calls himself a “livist.” He speaks about past involvement with Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the civil rights movement.

04:15Copy video clip URL Nelson says food is a very important starting place and that his farm is nearly self-sufficient. Nelson sells vegetables at a farmers market and says he prefers to deal directly with the consumer.

07:58Copy video clip URL Nelson says he voted once, the last time Franklin Delano Roosevelt ran. He calls it a waste of time and says the election has no valid meaning. He says that politics may be corrupt but he can’t prove it. He cites homelessness and hunger as proof that those in the political machine do not care about people’s needs or concerns. Asked if America is a democracy, he says he’s lived there all of his life and never seen it.

12:54Copy video clip URL Black screen.

13:25Copy video clip URL Demonstrators try to raise awareness about the negative aspect of the Federal Election Commission. Actors represent the FEC, a candidate, and big industries. Randy Kehler speaks on the system of encouraged, legal bribery that has been established with special interests and campaign contributions. He says democracy works for a small elite group but that the government is primarily a plutocracy that alienates the majority.

24:31Copy video clip URL “Working Group on Electoral Democracy.” Speaker says that the movement against corruption needs to be a grassroots, bottom-up reformation movement. They hope to create a pro-democracy platform and a system with publicly funded political campaigns.

28:11Copy video clip URL Pro-democracy rally and speech.

29:41Copy video clip URL Man satires a Nucor PAC lobbyist that extolls the type of democracy fostered by the free market.

34:50Copy video clip URL Bob Susskind says he changed from wanting a well-known and politically savvy candidate to a grassroots educator that would find himself or herself with political power or an intellectual with new ideas for feeding and housing people rather than political objectives.

36:09Copy video clip URL End of tape.