I hope you will take the time to read this essay I've written. It describes the systematic failure of our political system.
The Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) of 1972 required candidates to disclose sources of campaign contributions
and campaign expenditures. It also limited spending on media
advertisements. But that portion of the law was ruled unconstitutional —
and that actually opened the door for the Citizen's United decision.
This was a step forward for equality and transparency of our elected
officials. But the very powerful very rich were still in pursuit of
more control and contrived a treacherous plan to deceive us by suing in
two important cases.
In 2010 the US Supreme Court ruled on the
Citizen's United vs Federal Election Commission and gave corporations
and unions the right to spend unlimited sums on ads and other political
tools. It's important to note that the Citizen's United decision was
about spending, not about contributions. This did not affect
contributions. For that they created what is know as
"independent-expenditure only committees" such as Speechnow.org which
represent spending by individuals, groups, political committees,
corporations or unions expressly advocating the election or defeat of
clearly identified federal candidates.
In 2010 the D.C.
Circuit Court of Appeals also issued its ruling in the Speechnow.org v.
FEC which removed contribution limits as applied to SpeechNow.
Previously the courts had ruled that limits set by the Federal Election
Campaign Act applied to this group called SpeechNow. It is still
illegal for companies and labor unions to give money directly to
candidates for federal office, but together with the Supreme Court’s
earlier Citizen's United decision allowing unlimited corporate
expenditures, the SpeechNow ruling was just what the ultra wealth needed
to create a government controlled by "Political Action Committees"
(Super PAC) where most of the funding comes from just a few rich
individuals.
The Supreme Court kept limits on disclosure in
place, and super PACs are required to report regularly on who their
donors are. The same can’t be said for “social welfare” groups and some
other nonprofits, like business leagues leaving another loop hole for
the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers to create a nonprofit called
the “Association for American Innovation” that will act as a hub for
funneling undisclosed spending towards the Kochs’ political projects.
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is another "Business
League" which allows corporations and wealthy individuals to use
congressmen as lobbyist and collaborate on bills, often presenting
industry-backed legislation as a grass-roots organization. It brings
Republican state legislators and big corporations together to frame
right wing legislative agendas in the form of 'model bills'.
In
November we will have an opportunity to vote on reversing the 2010 U.S.
Supreme Court ruling for Citizen's United. Please vote.
As you know I am an advocate of the https://mayday.us/
superPac. It's time we used their trickery and corrupt laws against
them and put an end to "Political Action Committees" (superPAC) . Jim
Rubens is the only Republican running for Senate that supports Campaign
Reform, but there must be others who would like to get back to running
the country rather than spending 70% of their resources on being
re-elected. If we persist we can make this happen. Please contribute
to Mayday.us
