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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThis Kid Made An App That Exposes Sellout Politicians
By Hannah Ewens Jul 7 2014
But thanks to 16-year-old Nick Rubin, keeping track of just how much politicians have sold out has become a lot easier. He created Greenhouse, a new browser plug-in that operates under the motto "Some are red. Some are blue. All are green." The plugin aims "to shine light on a social and industrial disease of today: the undue influence of money in our Congress." It sounds like a bit of a lofty aim for an app, but it's actually pretty simple and effectiveit provides a breakdown of a politicians campaign contributions when that politician's name comes up in an article. It is currently available for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari and is completely free. As you can imagine, reading about how your member of Congress voted in a recent health bill becomes all the more enlightening if you know how much money the health industry showered him in at the last election.
I spoke to Nick Rubin about the plugin, politics, and what he calls the "money stories" behind what you read in the news.
It works by highlighting the name of any member of Congress on any website, and when you hover over these names a little box appears that shows detailed contribution information with amounts and where those amounts have come from. Its basically a list of the top-ten industries from which they receive their money. My goal was to create something that promotes transparency. It would be great if people used it on sites where theyre reading about politics every day. For example, if youre reading a piece on Congress votes for energy policy, you might see that a sponsor has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the oil and gas industry. I like to say that Greenhouse allows people to see the money story behind the news story.
I just want it to educate people because thats really the first step toward a solution. Thats exactly why I designed Greenhouse with simplicity in mind, so that everyoneeven kidsare able to understand it. In terms of whether Greenhouse will solve this issuewell, education is the first step. I really do believe that increased transparency will help fix the problem. Easy access to data empowers voters to make better decisions. Once people are informed, they will reject elected officials who are motived by money instead of principles. But for now, Ill leave the solution to others.
Smart kid and a neat tool. The full interview is at this link: http://www.vice.com/read/greenhouse-app-hannah-ewens-nick-rubin-201
I found his website where you can download the plugins. http://allaregreen.us
ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)Bravo, Nick!
think
(11,641 posts)TY
chrisstopher
(152 posts)Gotta be a Dem.
A republican would try to hide that info.
AAO
(3,300 posts)Great app.
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)Obviously, the kid is a potential terrorist who threatens the safety of politicians earning a living the American way.
Orrex
(63,210 posts)Has he been disappeared yet?
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)TRoN33
(769 posts)K&R-priceless!
conservaphobe
(1,284 posts)At that age, I was using my technical expertise for pranks and being a little shit.
AAO
(3,300 posts)Shit, am I an old fart!
dickthegrouch
(3,174 posts)It would be much more useful if we knew where Holder and others were getting the bulk of their "salaries" from.
Great tool. Go Nick.
annabanana
(52,791 posts)DirkGently
(12,151 posts)AllyCat
(16,187 posts)Inkfreak
(1,695 posts)I'm looking on my iPhone and not finding it.
Inkfreak
(1,695 posts)L0oniX
(31,493 posts)dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Reviews
Just to let you know, Rated 2 out of 5 stars
by ChameleonToo on June 29, 2014 · permalink · translate
When in doubt, as with this one, I started to install in Chrome instead, since that's already really buggy as far as what it allows and doesn't and this is what Chrome posted prior to installation:
"It can:"
followed by this:
"Access your data on all websites."
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/greenhouse/
Union Scribe
(7,099 posts)I was going to add it to Chrome but thought better of it. I imagine it has to access what's on your browser to pop up the info, but it sounds bad.
I like the young man's idea though, and even more that young people are critical of money's influence in politics.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)No way in hell, I says.
He built a tool that interfaces with Open Secrets site, it appears.
Clever idea, and I am sure it will be copied for various things, perhaps not in a good way.
Dark n Stormy Knight
(9,760 posts)companies.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Dark n Stormy Knight
(9,760 posts)panader0
(25,816 posts)Sure beats my idea--back during one of the campaign/debate periods I wished for a red light bulb on top of every TV
that would light up when a candidate told a lie.....
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)It is like saying wet water
Dr. Strange
(25,921 posts)Here's an "app" that lists all sellout politicians in Congress:
Senators
Representatives
tclambert
(11,086 posts)That was The Five's reasoning behind the Citizens United and McCutcheon decisions. And all five of them went to law school, so they must be really smart.
Yeah, it's their intelligence that led to these decisions, not their own corruption, not their own desire to sell us out to the corporations.
tclambert
(11,086 posts)So far I've drawn a little dial with the needle set to the zero mark. Huh, I think I might be done.
Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)This should be sent to EVERY Sunday gop proaganda talk show, where the gop has an open mike to spread false information. It should have a runner at the bottom of the screen, stating which companies are contributing to whomever is yakking. Like little Johnny Mac, how much does he receive from the weapons industries that he needs to start more wars? How much did Turtle McConnell get from the Koch brothers to block EVERYTHING the President has tried to do?