Bernie Sanders Plan to Address Big Money in Politics

[HerbChestnut]

From the website: https://berniesanders.com/issues/

Freedom of speech does not mean the freedom to buy the United States government. Oil companies, pharmaceutical manufacturers, Wall Street bankers and other powerful special interests have poured money into our political system for years. In 2010, a bad situation turned worse. In a 5-4 decision in the Citizens United case, the Supreme Court opened the floodgates for corporations and the wealthy to spend unlimited and undisclosed money to buy our elected officials. The Supreme Court essentially declared that corporations have the same rights as natural-born human beings.

Our democracy is under fierce attack. Billionaire families are now able to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to buy the candidates of their choice. These people own most of the economy. Now they want to own our government as well. The Koch brothers, the second wealthiest family in America, plan to spend some $900 million in the coming 2016 election — more money than either of our major parties spent in the last election. That is not democracy. That is oligarchy. To restore our one person-one vote democracy, Congress must pass a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and move toward public funding of elections.

[JaneyVee]

1. Mmm hmm.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/05/14/hillary-clintons-litmus-test-for-supreme-court-nominees-a-pledge-to-overturn-citizens-united/

[Dawgs]

3. That's what she's saying now.

Can we really trust that she will keep that promise? Remember, she does like to change positions with new information.

[TM99]

2. More information...

Here’s how we do it:

Citizens United: Bernie wants to overturn Citizens United, a “disastrous Supreme Court decision” which allows unlimited sums of money to be funneled into electoral politics.

DISCLOSE Act: Bernie wants to enact legislation to protect the integrity and transparency of federal elections by establishing disclosure requirements for all contributions.

Public Funding of Elections: Bernie wants to move towards public funding of elections to promote a more even playing field where all Americans can participate.

Democracy Day: Bernie wants to celebrate democracy by creating a holiday to encourage voter turnout for elections.

Gerrymandering & Voter Suppression: Bernie wants to curb redistricting as well as reinforce the Voting Rights Acts by making it easy for anyone to cast a vote, including former felons who have served their time.

The Two-Party System: Bernie Sanders believes that many Americans have “rejected the two party system” and is one of the US Senate’s only two Independent members. He has supported legislation to introduce Instant Runoff Voting in order to give third parties a fair shot at competing in our elections.

I’m glad Bernie won’t take Super PAC money but everyone else is. How do we address Citizens United?
Bernie believes a new amendment is a necessary in addition to all other election reform efforts (see Public Financing, below) because it would firmly strike down the Citizens United Supreme Court decision and make it clear in the Constitution that only human beings, not corporate entities or unions, have the right to vote and to contribute to campaigns.

Here he discusses this proposal in the Senate back in 2012:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=303&v=fKV2iJj9Quc

What’s Bernie’s proposed amendment?
Bernie introduced the Democracy is for People amendment in 2013. Where previous attempts to amend the Constitution and fix money’s influence on elections focused on prohibiting for-profit organizations from contributing to campaigns, his amendment draws its attention to who should have the right to contribute.

In other words, Bernie’s proposed constitutional amendment reaffirms what’s already in the Constitution: which is that the right to vote belongs to people, and not corporate, nonprofit, or private entities whose money is drowning out votes by actual U.S. citizens.

http://feelthebern.org/bernie-sanders-on-political-and-electoral-reform/

There is a ton more of information well worth the read for those that actually care and are not simply posting childness snark.

[aidbo]

5. +1 for Democracy day!

[LWolf]

4. K & R

[nc4bo]

6. Kick.