Hopefully they have a strategy for replacing the unions because the decline of the unions has completely altered the balance of power in the US political system. The US left hasn't been able to balance out the money on the right from business. The old Democratic dream (by some) to usher in a "new left" by joining hands with Big Finance hasn't really worked out well for anyone either. Tony Blair's similar efforts worked out well financially for him on a personal basis (he now works for Big Finance) but for the country, it worked out about as well as Clinton's love affair with that industry. The Independent:
Labour has proposed introducing a ceiling on donations to any political party which could be as low as £500, The Independent has learnt. The move could break the long-running deadlock between the parties on agreeing a new system of financing politics.
Previous attempts to halt big donations have failed, partly because Labour was reluctant to give up its multimillion-pound gifts from the unions. But Mr Miliband is ready to gamble on Labour attracting thousands of small donations from individual supporters as part of a drive to take "big money" out of politics.
He also wants to change Labour's culture by allowing the public a vote when the party chooses its leader. He plans to give 25 per cent of the votes to non-party members who register as Labour supporters. MPs, trade unionists and party members would also each have a quarter of the votes in Labour's electoral college. At present, MPs, union and party members each have a third of those votes.
