Lucas,
We're fighting tooth and nail against the corporate takeover of our democracy.
You're probably aware that our long-term goal is a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's ruling that lets corporations spend as much as they want to influence elections.
On the way to achieving an amendment, there are steps we can take to lessen corporate influence and amplify the voices of real people.
Tell your members of Congress to do everything they can to undo the damage of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
Here are the policies that will help disentangle the corporate tentacles from our government.
1. Shareholder Protection
Corporate America shouldn't be able to use your retirement savings or other investments as its political war chest. When you own stock in a corporation, you own the corporation - and you should have a say in how it spends your money. The Shareholder Protection Act (H.R. 2517, S. 1360) would let shareholders, not CEOs, decide whether and how corporations spend money to influence elections.
2. Disclosure of Political Spending
Transparency will enable the public to hold activist corporations accountable. The Securities and Exchange Commission should require publicly traded companies to disclose their political spending, and President Obama should issue his executive order requiring disclosure of election spending by government contractors.
3. Public Financing of Elections
The Fair Elections Now Act (H.R. 1404, S. 750) would enable candidates to run competitive campaigns on small contributions matched by public funds, leaving them no excuse to chase after campaign cash from lobbyists and wealthy special interests.
4. Constitutional Amendment
Ultimately, we need a constitutional amendment to tell the Supreme Court that corporate spending is not the same thing as free speech by real people. Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) -- who used to work for Public Citizen -- and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) have shown leadership on the issue, introducing an amendment in the House (H.J. Res. 78).
Tell your members of Congress to support these critical fixes to our broken system.
Thanks for all you do,
Rick Claypool
Public Citizen's Online Action Team
action@citizen.org
P.S. Want to be more involved? We're ramping up our amendment campaign with house parties across the nation on November 9, with special guest Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Learn more and sign up to host one today.