Forum Post: OWS needs central mission - Campaign Finance Reform seems to be best, most logical and feasible choice

Funny, if I saw this title I don't think I'd be impressed. I came to this site a little over 12 hours ago- sickened by our economic and political quagmire and the total disgust I've come to feel for my multinational corporate employer (see my post: http://occupywallst.org/forum/this-capitalist-republican-wants-to-tax-the-very-r/). Like many, I perceive OWS as too fragmented to make a real difference. But from what I've read in the few hours last night and this morning, I think that campaign finance reform would be the best focus of our efforts, would improve the biggest complaints, and garner respect and support. I hope you posters listed below don't mind my using your words. I am giving credit where credit is due, but you gave me a mission - to do what I can to bring about financial reform:

LSN45 I'm like you - I have deep "conservative" roots and I know others like me. To assume that this is just a "liberal" protest would be a big mistake. Forget the right vs. left labels - they are a distraction from the real rip-off that is going on. I believe what we need is REAL capitalism, not the corporate socialism / neo-feudalism we have now. For decades now both the right and the left have been bought and paid for by the corporations and special interests. They have corrupted our political process through campaign donations and paid lobbyists - a cycle which with every passing year strengthens the grip of the rich and powerful by increasing their ability to influence our laws and policies in their favor at the expense of the everyday American citizen. What we need to do is GET THE MONEY OUT OF THE EQUATION. WE NEED REAL, LOOP-HOLE FREE CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM. This could come as a result of many different things that you can read about on the different posts (I really like the idea of public financing of campaigns and banning paid lobbyists). Wouldn't it be neat to have companies rise and fall based on the value they bring to the American public, rather than based on how many politicians they can bribe? Imagine - an America where our children's vote is not nullified by some special interest using their money to "speak" as if they represent millions of Americans. THE main goal of these protest needs to be GETTING THE MONEY OUT. Once this happens other meaningful reforms have a chance of happening.

Amen88: do you not agree that it is high time that this movement come up with a "central effort" say ... GET MONEY OUT OF POLITICS? one of the main criticisms of the occupy movement is that it is made up of a bunch of different interests with no clear central agenda, and from what i have seen is that there is some truth in this assertion. while i am all for an "organic" growth approach to this thing, it would be nice is there were efforts being made to narrow down the list to the most important of complaints or rather, go back up the trail to find out what is most responsible for the current mess that we are all having to endure.

Puff6962 First, you ban all corporate donations to political campaigns. Corporations are not citizens of this country and should not be treated as such. Second, you make access to politicians by corporations commensurate with that given to an average constituent. More specifically, you ban all personal access of lobbyists and require that any contact between lobbyists and politicians be written, recorded, and entered into the Congressional record.

ARod1993 This is a really good idea; the only thing I would add to it is cooldown periods in between working for the government and working in any large corporation, particularly if you played a role in regulating that corporation. As far as a balance budget amendment goes, the answer is NO. We should work toward eventually balancing our budget, but right now "balancing the budget" has become a codeword for crippling and/or eliminating the social safety net without doing anything about the defense budget or the country's revenue stream... Punish outsourcing with punitive corporate taxation and tariffs on goods made abroad, and then see what happens. puff6962 Those are all good points, and solutions will likely be much easier, if the basic framework of how corporations interact with our government are radically altered. ARod1993 Exactly, and that's why campaign finance and lobbying reform need to come first.

wallster: What people are starting to realize is that through Government assistance, corporations and special interest groups have been sending our jobs overseas so they can exploit slave wage labor. They've changed the US economy (from a manufacturing economy) in to a consumer driven economy. We can't compete with someone who makes $40. a week and now we can't compete with a consumer population of over one billion people. This is what the 99% are realizing. None of this could have been done without corporations and special interest lobbyists groups (especially Wall St. Bankers) buying legislators through campaign donations.