I chatted with Jon Scheide about his upcoming documentary, Acts of Congress, which has just begun raising funds on Indiegogo.
Q: How did you get involved in the project?
I created it. It’s the evolution or distillation of my desire to make some sort of statement going back to the all the radical changes that have happened since 9/11. The Patriot Act, American abandoning diplomacy in Iraq and actually throwing the first punch, Citizen’s United, Voter Act and protection law changes, Wall Street breaking the economy, etc.
As I looked at all the issues I kept coming back to the realization that at the core the only group that could actually do anything, that could make the difficult, informed and patriotic choices was Congress, the people’s voice in the 3 tiers of our government. And time and time again they failed.
So, it finally dawned on me that there may be a window to a film, a record of the time, the zeitgeist, in a midterm year that could be pivotal as we move forward. So I had to wait until the last moment, so all the info, the players, the perspective is current and relative and I need the film to be unencumbered so that I can afford to release it at bare bones coast in order to hit the biggest audience
Q: Why is it important to get made/seen?
If ya piss Americans off, they can do amazing things. Right now the stupidity and lunacy of Congress and our elected representatives is like an annoying tiny drip in the sink, (annoying, but if you turn the TV you don’t notice) but if I can collect all those little drips and fill a bucket then pour it out in one sitting maybe American will get up off the couch and go vote.
Q: What do you think is the main reason Americans have mostly abdicated their power by paying more attention to Kim Kardashian than they do Congress?
It’s so much easier, and being wrong has no real consequence. Politics is hard, very, very, very few issues are black and white, yes or no, us or them. Just look at movies. Studios go for white hat vs black hat easy peasy films that audiences can understand and where they can easily identify with the ‘good’ guy and then leave feeling smart, smug and satisfied. Indie films or the rare “indie type” filmmaker has tried to tell the more complex story; guys like Lumet, Peckinpah, Fuller. In fact, I would bet that most people have no idea the title of the Capt. America film “Winter Soldier” comes from a Thomas Paine poem that compares Summer Soldiers and Sunshine Patriots to the hardcore Winter Soldiers. Or, that this film is supposed to be about Captain having deep internal conflicts while taking down futuristic hover jets with his shield.
Also, it can’t be discounted that the skills of media and marketing pros have risen to the point where they can sell ice water to eskimos… so the ability to craft message and spin in a positive way is much much less transparent and obvious.
Q: Are we too far gone to make any difference?
I don’t think so. If the tools of internet can be used to bring together the Tea Party, Occupy Wall Street, the Arab Spring, etc. then there must be a way to motivate people to go vote, and by voting, move the electoral needle more toward the center.
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I may have to go see this one. Yes, Americans should get off their couches and go vote more so than they do now. However, in recent years, inner city voting has risen dramatically and has tipped the scales in favor of Democrats. When it was mostly the rural areas and the elderly that voted, we had a Republican majority most of the time. But now, with immigration from all over the world, newly minted U.S. citizens are now able to vote. And in so doing, they bring their own values and beliefs to the polls with them – which, in many ways, concern some natural-born American voters. Like it or not, our social landscape is changing. And with it, the political landscape is destined to change with it. Values and systems of belief from all around the globe are converging at an astronomical rate to create a new vision of America. Gay marriage is being adopted by more and more states at an astonishing rate. Marijuana is being legalized across the country (it was just a matter of time). Caucasians are fast becoming a minority. Spanish is the fastest growing spoken language in the U.S. What does this hold for the future of American politics and Government? That is the question of the day. Our current government isn’t perfect, but perfection is a flat-out impossibility. Human beings are not perfect and we never will be. It’s all in what we use both our strengths AND imperfections for that makes the difference. If we as a nation vote weak-minded, corporate sellouts into office, that’s what we get. If we vote incompetent numbskulls into office, we have a numbskull government. The education in this country is deteriorating rapidly and the election results speak volumes for that. As voters, we need to become more educated on who is running for office and whether or not we want them to represent us as a nation. The sooner we start doing our homework and getting the right people in office, the better off we’ll be in the future.