Veering Wildly: Citizens United
I'm going off brand today.
On this, the 8-year anniversary of the Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court, which recognized corporations as having the same rights as individuals, and agreed that money = speech, and thereby removed all limits on corporate special interest spending, which helped create the cesspool of Congress that is stinking to the high heavens right now, I wrote all my Congressional representatives today to ask them to sponsor/co-sponsor bills to overturn that ruling.
I've posted a copy of my letter below. If you're inclined to do the same, feel free to use any language that works for you. You can find contact info for your reps here:
The House: https://www.house.gov/representatives
The Senate: https://www.senate.gov/senators/index.htm (scroll down for list of senators)
My letter to my senators (revised slightly when I sent to my House Rep. Note: All my reps are Democrats):
Dear SENATOR,
I’m fully disgusted with Congress. Senate Bill 335 passed back in September, and now the reprehensible tax bill has passed. It has to end.
It’s time for Democrats be proactive not reactive. Be a force people can actually rally behind, because you have a platform and set of issues that make them feel hope and agency.
That is why I’m asking you to sponsor and recruit co-sponsors for a bill to overturn Citizens United. The House currently has a measure that is, of course, languishing. (https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-resolution/377/text) Back in 2014, California had a state bill that could also serve as a model (https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB1272)
Please do this thing. To the extent such a position would serve the Democratic Party as a platform issue people can rally behind in 2018 and onward, it has value. But as I believe representatives should serve their state first, not their party, it would be good for the citizens of MY STATE.
Fwiw, this is why I chose ‘Economy & Jobs' as a the topic, because it would have a direct and measurable effect on how legislation is influenced & passed, and be a curb on corporate influence. Congress is there to be, in ways, a ‘union' for the people, because as individuals, we do not have the power business has. Please be our bulwark against the power of corporations to shape our nation
Thank-you for considering this. Please do not respond with a form note. I'd rather you use you and your staff's time & energy to co-sponsor this bill and help move it forward.
I’m well aware there will not be much (any) support for it now, but it has a secondary purpose: it’s a big, visible and coalition-building issue. It's time for the Democrats to DO SOMETHING, something noticeable and agitating and meaningful, and this issue has cross-over appeal to Trump voters and the lost Bernie voters, and could be an incredibly potent rallying point.
Thank-you.
