Jay Mandle writes a regular feature for Democracy Matters called Money on My Mind. In his most recent entry he tackles why liberals in the Democratic party are having such a hard time promoting policies in which the federal government intervenes on social problems: a public distrust of government fueled by special interest intervention in government (powered by campaign contributions).He's critical of Democratic leaders who try to push their agenda without addressing the fundamental public discomfort with government priorities. Without addressing the distorting effect that money in/favors out has on public policy, Mandle says politicians are just fooling themselves:  In this, formal support for a publicly funded election system, without making it a top priority, is not good enough -- though this is the approach adopted by several of the Democratic presidential candidates. The public’s skepticism is so profound that only by making “fair and clean elections” a matter of great urgency will people come to believe that its advocacy is not simply sophisticated dissembling.