emocracy is the most powerful political idea born on this planet. But, because its lifeblood is trust, it is also the most fragile. In 1958, 73 percent of the American people said they trusted the government to do what is right ''most of the time.'' Today, that figure is 29 percent.
Trust has been betrayed and attacked from many fronts, but nothing breaks down trust in democracy as powerfully and surely as money. It is like a great stone wall that comes between the people and their representatives. A great wall that prevents each from hearing the other. Ever wonder why Congress seems so paralyzed and indifferent when it comes to child poverty or the economic anxieties of Americans who aren't wealthy? Or why the HMO bill of rights debate ends up as it did, with insurance companies the winners?
In a curious way, money in politics turns everyone into an interest group. You're either, for example, a gun owner or a trial lawyer or a tobacco company, each with its own fund-raising machine. Or, you're in the great ranks of the nongivers, without a voice. One of the consequences of this is that when voters don't get the results they wanted, they feel cheated and ignored. If one person, one vote is the essential equation of our democracy, money skews that simple logic, for money makes one person's vote more important than another.
So what do we have to do in order to restore trust? We must make money much less important and make ideas, character, and experience count for more. How?
We need to change the rules of the campaign finance system. I advocate several concrete steps that would break the stranglehold money has on our democracy.
First, we must end the ''soft money'' game immediately. Soft money is the unregulated, unrestricted financing that pours into politics from corporations, labor unions, and wealthy individuals. I have challenged all other presidential candidates to disavow soft money intended to affect federal elections.
Next, we need to make clear that money must come from the public and be accountable to the public. Today, as many as 24 states and a few cities are in the midst of a great experiment in public financing of political campaigns. A Bradley administration would propose a 2-to-1 match for contributions of $250 or less in federal congressional primaries and public financing for general elections.
We must also ensure meaningful communication between candidates and the public. Therefore, I will also propose that free television time be made available to all viable candidates who accept public financing and its limitation on total expenditures. Television broadcasters have been granted one of the most valuable public trusts in the history of our nation. With a public trust like that comes public obligations, and no obligation is greater than that of citizenship.
But decreasing the role of money in politics is insufficient unless we also strengthen the role of citizens in our democracy. Just as the number of people who trust the government to do the right thing is dropping, so, too, is the number of Americans who vote. We have to reverse these trends.
One of the most basic things we can do is encourage national same-day voter registration. Think about it: If voting is the most important right we have as American citizens, why is it the only right we have to register in advance before we can use it? You don't have to register to contribute money to campaigns. You don't have to register to speak. You no longer even have to register for jury duty. Why do you still have to register in advance to vote? In an age of computers, anyone should be able to walk into a voting place, demonstrate proof of identity, and cast a vote that very day.
I would make voting even easier by allowing people to cast ballots by mail and will propose a voting leave law requiring employers to give employees a minimum two hours off in order to vote.
Some say these kinds of reform are too big. To the doubters, I say one thing: Don't underestimate the people. They want the wall of money to come down. They want them to believe in democracy again. They want the trust back.
Bill Bradley, a former US senator from New Jersey, is a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.
