I believe that both Democrats and Liberals, at least the reasonable ones in each party feel that the need to permanently fix our campaign financing system is an important step we need to take. The real question here is; how do we get our Congress to take up this matter and also carry it through?
Since the United Supreme Court overreached in Citizens United vs. FEC we have seen super pacs; independent political action organizations, take advantage of the fact that they can now accept unlimited contributions without even showing their donors until well after the damage is done. Big corporations are pouring endless cash into either defeating a candidate or supporting a candidate, without impunity. Our campaign system is being overtaken by Big Money and gaming the system in their favor.
States that have already gone through their primary process or going through the process, as far as the current Republican presidential nomination race, have seen the airwaves on TV and radio, along with robo-calls inundating their citizens with super pacs along with candidates’ own ads and calls overwhelming them in their homes and cars. Right now it may only seem like a huge nuisance but eventually, it’s going to become a huge factor in our elections.
What voters must ask themselves “Do they want big corporations or even big unions unduly influencing our elections? Do we want our elected office holders, though they are local, state or federal government employees to be beholden to special interests who would influence their actions and their votes on bills put before Congress and state houses with cash thrown at them, directly or indirectly through these super pacs?
We can stop this from happening but we’re going to have to put a fire under the seats of our Congress to propose an amendment and then we’re going to have to see that they carry it through. Believe me, if we don’t see that they carry it through, we will only get lip service. These same corporations, who’re using their money to unduly influence our government in their favor, are also going to use their money to defeat any amendment that is proposed in Congress. We must stand united, both Democrat and Republican; Liberal and Conservative and let them know we won’t take “no” for an answer.
Why it should concern us all is because those of us without huge sums of cash at our disposal lose our voice in government when our elected officials are bribed by those with unlimited amounts of money, which are corporations and even unions. And that’s exactly what it is; bribery.
Write to your congress representatives and demand that they propose legislation to amend our Constitution as this is the only way that we can override the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling and make it stick. Let’s stop the big bucks controlling our government now.