GET BIG $$$ out of politics NOW
As they currently are, political
campaigns are enormously long and expensive. Most candidates are totally dependent
on Big $$$’s huge contributions without which success is impossible…so large
that individual contributions from voters cannot stand up their power. “Relatively
honest” politicians admit that they spend more than 50% of their time
soliciting contributions. Can there be any doubt large contributions
necessarily bias our representatives’ relationship to the interests of their largest
contributors? Bottom line: If you can’t pay Big $$$ to play, your concerns are
highly unlikely to even be heard, let alone considered.
Since the Supreme Court’s
Citizens United ruling affirms that “money is speech” and “corporate money”
curiously has “free” speech, this process is locked in place despite the fact
that it is entirely contrary to the language and intent of the Constitution. The
Court’s understanding is an “imaginary legal construct” which defies any
reasonable justification under the Constitution.
Thus we rally with “We
don’t have free speech. We can’t afford it.” This is more than just a slogan.
The political process is so bought and paid for that our vote has become largely
worthless. It’s time for voters to fix
this problem once and for all by telling our candidates: “You’re either with
us, or we’re against you. Pledge to sponsor and support our proposed law
banning big money from politics or lose our vote.” Why is it so important to
make this the central issue in this year’s elections? Because our success on
all other public issues rests on breaking the power of Big $$$. Rightwing,
Independent or Left makes no difference if our voices are not being heard.
Democracy necessarily
takes effort and demands that we voters become educated to the important issues
and candidates,… and then to vote on the basis of that knowledge. The hard
truth is that if we don’t do our part, we will get the kind of government we have
now. So here’s the hard question: Have you begun to study the various proposals
of the many organizations who are fighting to break the power of Big $$$ by
ending Citizens United? OK, grant that there’s a ton of organizations and
ideas. So it is necessary that we need to bring all this energy together in
consensus. If it is to work, our goal of defeating Big $$$ must be comprehensive,…
simple,… readily understood… and far easier to accomplish than most groups
imagine.
We are offering a comprehensive plan for everyone’s
consideration: In a nutshell,
- It can be accomplished by the far simpler Act of Congress as opposed to a Constitutional Amendment.
- With the stroke of a pen, it nullifies the Gordian knot of existing election regulations, laws and court opinions used to justify the status quo.
- It redefines bribery in a way that you will say “Yes, that’s what we need.” Watch for this.
There’s more that can be
added, but that’s the necessary core to Get Big $$$ out of our political
process. Details will follow. Before anything else is asked of you, will you please
spend a little time to read and understand the suggestions and decide if you
agree that this is a path you can support? Only if you agree, will you be asked
to help make this a central issue in this year’s elections.
If everyone who agrees
that this issue is indispensable to renewing our American democratic principles
does their part to spread the word and support this effort, it is possible to remove
the power of Big $$$ within the coming Presidential election cycle. In the
meantime if you agree, please like and share these posts with everyone you can
and forward it to all your candidates and favorite public interest
organizations. We can get this started right now.
Thank you.
Richard S. Galloway
p.s. If you want to read or share our complete introductory series and other blog posts about this and other issues, see our Annotated Table of Contents. Or if you have questions or comments, email us.
Annotated Table of Contents
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/sign-the-pledge-big-out?source=c.em&r_by=14960502
Insist candidates vote for a single act of Congress
stating: “There is no relationship between speech and money stated or implied
in the US Constitution and therefore no such relationship exists” as the basis
of further reforms to limit the abuses of Big Money interests.
Best summary of the proposed “Recover our Democracy Act;”
its Constitutional basis; removing purported legal objections, public financing
of elections, limits on campaign contributions, public funding of federal
elections, preprogrammed campaign website, redefining a bribe and much more
Cut and paste text to share by electronic media to spread
the word on our plan
Our appointment being ignored while lobbyists immediately enter
our Congressman’s office
Being on the outside: Explaining the meaning of our logo…the
corrupting influence of Big Money
Political contributions, Citizens United Supreme Court
Decision, “We don’t
have free speech. We can’t afford it,” our
solution is an act of Congress,
“Backdoor money in politics, quid pro quo, “anything of material value
offered or given to, or received and accepted by any candidate, incumbent or
governmental employee under any circumstance shall be defined as a bribe,” penalties defined for candidates and government
employees.
Our early commentaries: Free speech is fundamental to
democracy, different views, uses and limitations of free speech, public
financing of elections, fair and balanced media coverage
Original free speech: freedom to speak our mind, power
to “buy” both the “content” and the “delivery” of “free” speech, "personhood" of corporations,
Supreme Court and Citizens United,
ownership of the media, points of view, political advertising, educational content,
bought speech,…
Trickle down economics, tax reductions, income disparity,
deregulation, power by changing belief systems, abuses, distortions and lies, is
it regulation or just bad regulation?, affording governmental programs and high
taxes, millennia of struggle by the rich to retain control vs. democracy,
85% of Democrats, 81% of Independents, and 76% of Republicans opposed
Citizens United
Humans speaking their mind
without fear, means of extending the reach of speech [meida], bought speech,
literally “free” speech decoupled from money, power of the media, corporate personhood,
limitations of free speech, campaigns and political speech, alternative communications
for elections: public financing, freedom of the Internet….
Figures on campaign
contributions given by largest lobbying corporations [6+ years old = pre Supepr
PACs]
One of our earliest posts:We don't have free speech
that has meaningful access to our own representatives. Our logo, our slogan, our chants, young adults, spreading
the word on the Internet, Obama’s election, making videos,
Largely unedited, free associated ideas on framing the legislation
Free public website designed
and formatted to conduct campaigns for office and public issues , FEC provided
bank account, and credit cards , campaign accounting system and
regulations, partial design specifications, real time public review access…
…the most logical
public space to allow the free flow of information on issues of public interest
“understanding the
power of corporations as a means of amassing power and money, the founding
fathers originally rejected the existence of corporations,” corporations
are not mentioned in the Constitution and have no protected rights; therefore,
Congress may limit or abolish corporations as deemed necessary for the public
good. Growth of corporate power, personhood of corporations and personal rights
attributed to corporations , theory of 14th amendment [due process]
applies to corporations,
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