Curb the Special Interests

Public Citizen has sent me more email that may be of interest to you my readers. Special interests have politicians in their pockets because they have millions to spend and free rein on spending it.

Joseph, Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that corporate political spending is the same thing as free speech by living, breathing people. Hundreds of thousands of people like you have signed petitions calling for a constitutional amendment to reverse this absurd ruling.  Now, let’s tell our members of Congress where we stand. Tell your members of Congress to support a constitutional amendment and legislation to undo the damage of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.  Thanks to people like you, the movement to amend the Constitution to combat corporate control of our elections is growing stronger every day. In addition to a constitutional amendment, there are several steps Congress can take to help stop the corporate takeover of our government: Support the Fair Elections Now Act, which would let candidates for Congress run viable campaigns based on small-dollar donations from real people, matched by public funds, so they could avoid taking corporate cash. We expect it to be re-introduced soon. Support shareholder protection to stop activist CEOs from using shareholder money to further their own political agendas. Corporate political expenditures should require majority approval of all shareholders. After all, corporations aren’t people, but shareholders are. Support disclosure of election spending. The American people should know who is trying to influence their votes. New laws are also needed to prevent foreign money from flowing into U.S. elections and to stop political spending by corporations that receive government money. Tell your members of Congress to support these critical fixes to our broken system. Go to www.citizen.org/congress-v-corporate-influence Thanks for all you do, Rick Claypool Public Citizen’s Online Action Team amendment@citizen.org P.S. Support our work against runaway corporate power with a contribution of $40 or more and we’ll send you “The Story of Citizens United” on DVD.

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