The power of a documentary and a grass roots effort to still make change in our government.

Originally posted at http://www.duskbeforethedawn.net

With the media trying desperately to draw our attention to a muddled presidential race and the war in Iraq, we Americans sometimes forget that democracy begins at home. Large issues, some in far away places, makes us forget that it is the grass roots efforts of non-politicians (vs. who raised more money than who multi-million dollar fundraisers for presidential campaigns) that make democracy truly the voice of the people.

Which brings us to my friend Bill Molina and his award winning documentary, Truth Be Tolled.

In the interests of full disclosure, I went to high school and college with Bill. I was even in one of his first movies (which hopefully will never make YouTube, but Bill had an evil glint in his eye about that when I last saw him).

At the recent WorldFest (also known as the Houston International Film Festival), Truth Be Tolled received the Platinum Award (highest award) in its category (feature documentary). Another of Bill’s entries, the short documentary Chichen Itza got the Gold Award for cinematography.

So Bill is talented, not a hack. You can lookup his other impressive credits.

The story of Truth Be Tolled is two-fold: the Texas Department of Transportation (and, I would speculate, other state highway departments) are trying to double tax citizens by putting tollways on existing, already-paid-for-by-our-taxes roads; and secondly, TxDOT is attempting to push the massive TransTexasCorridor, a quarter-mile wide set of tollways, rail and other conduits, through the Texas legislature with nary a citizen vote. The documentary also depicts how both of these activities are being done without or in some cases in spite of citizen feedback. The TTC project is especially scary, as it plans to use the concept of emminent domain to grab land for the massive Mexico to Oklahoma corridor.

Now my point is not that TxDOT and the Texas Governor’s office are doing something wrong or illegal (as some would claim) nor am I coming down on the side of the lobbyists and pundits pushing to eliminate the TTC. I have not had the time to research who is doing what, who is saying what.

My point is that Bill made this film to make a point, to get citizens like me interested, to educate. And it appears to have worked. Bill and his team gave copies of Truth Be Tolled to each and every member of the Texas legislature (for free, as in Bill paid for this himself, please send him money or travelers checks!).

On May 2, the Texas House approved a measure the Texas Senate had already approved, to place a two year moratorium on TTC activities. Govenor Perry is expected to act on these bills within the next few days. He could veto, sending it back for a 2/3 majority override, assuming he does so while the Legislature is in session.

So Ultimate Kudos to Bill. His movie is excellent, beautifully photographed, obviously passionately done. He has gotten a lot of people talking and discussing and acting on an issue that normally would not have been on the radar screens. And that is ultimately what democracy is for.