Lucas,
It's the season for blockbuster action films.
Millions of Americans will pack into theaters to munch on overpriced popcorn while watching stalwart heroes save the world from maniacal villains.
But outside the cineplex, there is a decidedly nonfictional threat to our way of life and our very existence:
"Big Business, Part II: Greed Never Sleeps"
Fake movie titles aside, we — everyday citizens like you and me — must step up now. And I mean right now, with everything we have.
We must be heroes.
Corporate greed has infected every aspect of our lives.
Corporations are taking over our elections.
Emboldened by the Supreme Court's dumbfounding Citizens United ruling, corporations are buying off politicians left and right. I really don't know how we can expect democracy to survive if we allow dollars to trump votes.
Corporations are taking over the courts.
They use their lackeys in legislatures to keep fair judges from being appointed and they sneak fine print into contracts for everyday products and services, denying us access to the courts when they rip us off.
Corporations are taking over the media.
Mainstream newspapers, radio stations and television networks are giving up on investigating corporate wrongdoing and, too often, devolving to be little more than plasterers of pro-corporate propaganda. The infamous billionaire Koch Brothers — who have spent hundreds of millions meddling with elections and who don't believe in climate science — are now trying to buy venerable papers like the Los Angeles Times and
Chicago Tribune.
Corporations are taking over national sovereignty.
Not content merely with record profits in the United States, corporations like Apple, Pfizer and Citgroup are offshoring profits to avoid their fair share of taxes while simultaneously backing absurd multinational "trade" pacts that pit countries against each other in a race to the bottom for food and product safety, labor standards, and environmental protections.
They are the bad guys.
We are the good guys.
And we need to fight back with all the strength and passion we can summon.
This isn't just about safeguarding consumers from unsafe products or corporate rip-offs.
Though that is something you do as part of Public Citizen.
This isn't just about advancing progressive ideals like fairness, justice and the American Dream.
Though that is something you do as part of Public Citizen.
This isn't just about operating deftly in the particular environment inside the Beltway.
Though that is something you do as part of Public Citizen.
This is about standing up — together — to save our country, our fellow citizens spanning the globe, our planet itself from the contagion of corporate power.
That is the essential thing we all do as part of Public Citizen — and today I'm asking you to do it in one specific way:
Make a donation. Fund our fight.
In the movies, the heroes always seem to have the resources they need to match their resolve.
In the real world, where people like you are the heroes, it takes financial strength to back up heroic intentions.
When you donate right now, a group of Public Citizen benefactors will match your contribution dollar-for-dollar up to $500,000.
Even at inflated prices, that's a lot of popcorn.
But I promise you we'll spend it on something much more substantial: starring in a leading role in the ongoing saga of the fight against runaway corporate power — as we've done since 1971, the last time Sean Connery appeared as James Bond, by the way.
And unlike James Bond's martini, we all must be stirred, not shaken.
Onward,
Weissman. Robert Weissman
President, Public Citizen
P.S. Remember, we just launched a matching gift campaign, and we have to raise the first $100,000 by midnight this Saturday. Please contribute right away.