Forum Post: Signature Issue – Get the Money Out of Politics
Posted 12 years ago on Dec. 7, 2011, 9:51 p.m. EST by billclare3
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The Occupy Movement needs a signature issue.
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Such an issue should meet the following criteria for popularity, effectiveness, unification, and practicality:
• Almost all citizens can agree to it.
• It will significantly empower citizens relative to entrenched interests, in the interests of fairness.
Note the distinction here between citizens versus interests, rather than citizens versus citizens.
• It can focus and unify many disparate interests within the Occupy Movement.
• It is achievable.
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My proposal for this is simple – i.e. a Constitutional Amendment to limit money and other favors for government officials or candidates. There are several candidate wordings for such an amendment.
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Or more simply - “Get the Money Out of Politics”
. ..................................................................billclare3@aol.com
Bingo! Amen! You hit it on the head! Spread the word! Share this with those that make fun of the movement and watch the change come over their faces. Here's my 2 cents:
There are a lot of improvements that need to be made. The list reforms people Americans want to see is long and varied depending on who you talk to. That said, I believe there is one reform that would provide the American people the best chances of seeing other meaningful reforms actually happen - that is REAL, loop-hope free CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM! I have seen others on this site calling this the "fulcrum" or pivotal issue. Right now the current legalized bribery, pay-to-play system of campaign donations and paid lobbyists has disenfranchised the American voter. Until this is fixed, any other reform the politicians may try to placate us with (be it a change to healthcare, clamping down predatory school loans, new financial regulations, etc.) will be about as effective as a farmer putting a new roof on his CHICKEN COOP, but still letting the FOX guard it.
We need to go back to the original political currency. Instead of the current system of who can collect the most money from corporations and special interests it should be who has the BEST IDEAS to EFFECTIVELY RUN THE COUNTRY (we don't need "Wealth Redistribution," what we need is "Political Influence Redistribution")!
For the sake our our children and future generations of Americans, we need to take back our democracy from the rich and powerful who are using their vast sums of money to "speak" as if they represent millions of Americans. This "Corporate Personhood" that has crept into our laws is allowing them to manipulating our policies in their favor at the expense of the average American (the recent "Citizens United" Supreme Court ruling is a miscarriage of justice and must be reversed. The $50 or $100 a normal American may give to a political campaign becomes meaningless when corporations or other special interests are handing our millions to buy political access to the decision making process.
For decades now the corporations and special interests have had our "representatives" bought and paid for (both on the right and the left). Concentrating our efforts on getting the money out of our politics is the best way we can create an environment in which further reforms can be realized. Until we end the current system of legalized bribery (campaign donations) and paid lobbying our politicians will continue to be the LAP DOGS of the corporations and special interests. What we need first and foremost is real, loop-hole free CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM!!!! If the corruption is not dealt with first, the chance of any other meaningful reforms becoming a reality is almost zero - the special interests will just use their money to buy votes and put forward bills that create loop-holes or otherwise twist the law in their favor. If we want our children to live in a country where there vote matters, we need to get the money out of our politics, otherwise they will increasingly become the 21st century version of the "landless peasant." Spread the word - End the LEGALIZED BRIBERY!!! CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM needs to be THE main goal of the protests!!!
I would agree that this is number one.
www.getmoneyout.com
Rep. Ted Deutch's "Occupied Amendment" is a start:
http://www.theoccupiedamendment.org/
Yeah, I've said this, so have a few others, and Rep. Deutsch of S. Florida has even put forward such an amendment (see the post from yesterday) named after the Occupy movements. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be garnering the kind of support it needs to go anywhere, even though it addresses the most crucial points and at this stage is hardly set in stone anyway.