Forum Post: Please Support Fair Elections Now Act-It's in Committee

Every election cycle, we hear “vote the incumbents out!” Yet, as long as the process remains the same, it does not matter who gets elected, b/c no matter how noble the “public servant” may appear in the beginning (i.e., Obama in 2007), public servants will eventually learn to eat or be eaten.

Perhaps one way to change the system is to support campaign finance reform to limit the amount of corporate corruption that finances Washington now. The Fair Elections Now Act (Senate Bill 750 and HR Bill 1404) was re-introduced in April 2011. It’s limited to congressional elections and hopefully, in the future, the same premise may help shape the presidential elections.

Although far from perfect (it’s voluntary), it may help legislators to remember that their constituents’ interest are not the same as Wall Street, and may also allow the legislators to focus on the issues instead of fundraising. Details about the bill can be found at www.fairelectionsnow.org/about-bill.

Opponents of the Fair Elections Now Act believe that money equals free speech, as expressed in the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v FEC. A lot people think the Citizens United established that corporations are people, but this definition goes back as far as US Supreme Court decisions from the 1880s. Citizens United, in addition to overruling established case law to limit corporation donations, says that limiting money to campaigns violates free speech. That is, the court is interpreting Thomas Jefferson’s 1st amendment protections to suggest that corporations have individual human rights! CRAZY. CRAZY!

But, we can support this bill. It’s a start, and maybe it will begin to crumble evil corporatism that must make our founders fathers roll over and over and over...

Bill Summary & Status 
112th Congress (2011 - 2012) 
S.750
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S.750 
Latest Title: Fair Elections Now Act 
Sponsor: Sen Durbin, Richard [IL] (introduced 4/6/2011) Cosponsors (13) 
Related Bills: H.R.1404 
Latest Major Action: 4/12/2011 Senate committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights. Hearings held.