Check out the ballot initiative for getting corporate money out of politics called The Montana Plan. We are starting to collect signatures to get it on the ballot. It basically changes the Montana constitution to redefine corporations so that they cannot contribute to campaigns.
If I had to identify just one thing that's wrong with politics these days, it would be money. And, in order to be honest about this, I'd have to say it doesn't matter where it comes from. Money simply distorts what's good for us as human beings, but the bright and shining line where that distortion is most evident and most destructive is our political fabric. As long as candidates can buy an office, there will be shenanigans in how our laws are made and enforced.
The reality is that unless we change how our lawmakers get into office, we'll be stuck with laws that are often created into a mechanism that perverts what's good for people. I see only two ways to bring this to an end and that is term limits for elected officials and a cap on donations that has teeth in it. Oh, and I guess there would have to be a third thing, that being a requirement to vote in order to keep that right (In conjunction with that, I'd make election day a paid national holiday provided you vote) All this could get a little more complicated in practice, but the fine point is to eliminate outsize donations from any source.
A quick look at the volume of corporate donations just from companies engaged in the billion dollar industry of prisons shows that such donations more than doubled in the last election cycle and over 90% of it went to GOP candidates. It gets worse, far worse, when you look at other donor blocks.
What I see coming, thanks to the slight wokeness on this issue among the electorate, is the destruction of both the GOP and the DNC. Maybe this a good thing. George Washington warned us about this eons ago, but right now, it's the GOP who benefits by far from such donations and, just now, the only party that might be induced to do something about it is the Democratic Party. Voters may just stay home if they feel their vote doesn't really count and we can't afford that.
"Whether big-money candidates win or lose, democracy is distorted when hundreds of millions of dollars nationwide are spent in elections by corporations, uber-wealth donors and super-PACs."
Absolutely. In spite of the Citizens United decision, Corporations aren't people, and should not have excessive power in funding elections. Neither should PACs. They distort the will of the people and minimize the power of an individual's vote. Yes, we need campaign finance reform. Using Illinois as an example was surely convenient. The problem reaches across the whole country. As long as we're thinking reform, consider the effects of the lobbyists who go on all year filling the pockets of legislators with money from their corporate masters for favors.
It’s always about the money.
Even if Congress did something (not very likely, since they're the ones who benefit from the largess), the Supreme Court would overturn it!
We will need a Constitutional Amendment unless the Supreme Court rejects its earlier ruling that a corporation is a "person."
Is it within the Supreme Court's purview and power to do so?
Check out the ballot initiative for getting corporate money out of politics called The Montana Plan. We are starting to collect signatures to get it on the ballot. It basically changes the Montana constitution to redefine corporations so that they cannot contribute to campaigns.
If I had to identify just one thing that's wrong with politics these days, it would be money. And, in order to be honest about this, I'd have to say it doesn't matter where it comes from. Money simply distorts what's good for us as human beings, but the bright and shining line where that distortion is most evident and most destructive is our political fabric. As long as candidates can buy an office, there will be shenanigans in how our laws are made and enforced.
The reality is that unless we change how our lawmakers get into office, we'll be stuck with laws that are often created into a mechanism that perverts what's good for people. I see only two ways to bring this to an end and that is term limits for elected officials and a cap on donations that has teeth in it. Oh, and I guess there would have to be a third thing, that being a requirement to vote in order to keep that right (In conjunction with that, I'd make election day a paid national holiday provided you vote) All this could get a little more complicated in practice, but the fine point is to eliminate outsize donations from any source.
A quick look at the volume of corporate donations just from companies engaged in the billion dollar industry of prisons shows that such donations more than doubled in the last election cycle and over 90% of it went to GOP candidates. It gets worse, far worse, when you look at other donor blocks.
What I see coming, thanks to the slight wokeness on this issue among the electorate, is the destruction of both the GOP and the DNC. Maybe this a good thing. George Washington warned us about this eons ago, but right now, it's the GOP who benefits by far from such donations and, just now, the only party that might be induced to do something about it is the Democratic Party. Voters may just stay home if they feel their vote doesn't really count and we can't afford that.
"Whether big-money candidates win or lose, democracy is distorted when hundreds of millions of dollars nationwide are spent in elections by corporations, uber-wealth donors and super-PACs."
Absolutely. In spite of the Citizens United decision, Corporations aren't people, and should not have excessive power in funding elections. Neither should PACs. They distort the will of the people and minimize the power of an individual's vote. Yes, we need campaign finance reform. Using Illinois as an example was surely convenient. The problem reaches across the whole country. As long as we're thinking reform, consider the effects of the lobbyists who go on all year filling the pockets of legislators with money from their corporate masters for favors.