Forum Post: Root Cause - Corruption in Elections!!! We need to make corporate campaign donations illegal!!!
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 23, 2011, 9:48 p.m. EST by LSN45
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If OWS really wants to change things it should focus on eliminating the unfair advantage corporations have over the American people. Thanks to decades of neglect we have a system of legalized bribery today that has left our politician bought and paid for by corporations and special interests. Campaign finance reform should be the number one priority of these protests. We need a constitutional amendment getting rid of "corporate personhood" and setting up a system of publicly funded campaigns so we can get the influence of money out of our politics.
Precisely! This is the root of the problem. There is no 'democracy of the people' when all of our politicians become cheerleaders for corporate policy. We need to repeal the supreme court decision that defined 'corporations as people' to start. The large amounts of corporate funds that are injected into the campaign process undoubtedly skews the decisions of American elected officials, thus degrading the democratic process. This is our starting point.
The $50 or $100 a flesh and blood citizen may make to someones campaign becomes meaningless when multinational corporations are handing out millions. They have effectively disenfranchised the American voting public. They also spend millions on professional marketing, just like they would on a new box of detergent and at the end of the day we all have buyer's remorse.
I 'm with this message! At the root of much of this is simple straight forward corruption.
Spread the word to everyone you talk to - unless we eliminate the corruption in our elections the chance of any of the other reforms coming to pass is almost zero. We need to address the root cause then the rest will follow.
Your right. I belong to the Amend movement already and have been doing just that. We need a 28th A fast or this shit will never end. The Oligarchs and their paid for flunkies and political shills own the system lock stock and barrel now and all the protesting on Earth will do nada if we can't change this.
I agree - if OWS does not make this one of the main goals of the movement they will do so at their own peril. I hope they don't get distracted by the symptoms and actually address the problem.
That's two of us! All this talk about ending Capitalism is a fantasy and these people had better get focused fast or the 1% will quickly be running this whole thing the way they run everything.
You hit it on the head - this movement is going to be co-opted by the special interests just like the tea party was if they don't get their act together. The unions are already trying to get political traction from this. I think it is proving a little harder because they can't pin down any real leaders or specific demands. That is why they better get it right - if any of us what our kids to live in a country where there vote actually means something.
I have a local Occupy group trying to get off the ground( no pun intended) and I'm trying to advise the organizers to be realistic and focused or they'll find themselves rapidly overwhelmed. I like you am worried that a leaderless movement is really more like a ship without a Capt. or a rudder. Being adrift at sea with a ship full of angry directionless people is a scary prospect. In a way I'm not surprised though. The PTB have done an incredible job at atomizing us all and turning us all into isolated alienated individuals. Our group skills aren't great after 40 yrs. of being taught how to see each other as competitors not citizens in a common project. So it might take some time for us to get our bearings. Nevertheless, Citizens United has to be over turned and Corp. person hood buried or this will all be for nothing!!
You are right - I almost fell off my chair when I first heard about the citizens united ruling.
Yes, BV$H and his Oligarch handlers left us the gift that keeps on giving with Alito and Roberts didn't they?