Lucas,
It's hard not to feel shaken by an election of the kind we just went through.
We face a House of Representatives dominated by a party that has proclaimed its intention to roll back regulations that protect the American people from future financial crises, to escalate income inequality, to undermine the rights of victims of corporate greed, to expand job-offshoring trade deals, and to clutch desperately to outmoded and unsustainable energy structures.
We face a Wild West campaign finance system that has rocked our democracy to its foundations. An unprecedented $4 billion was spent on these elections--huge chunks of it by shadowy corporate front groups, and most of it with no disclosure of the true source.
We must not allow dismay to fester into indifference or inaction. We need to understand what happened, then roll up our sleeves and get back to work.
Public Citizen has issued a number of analyses of the election.
Our Global Trade Watch group shows how candidates advocating fair trade did better in the election and highlights the strong support across party lines to address offshoring and make trade fair (PDF).
Our Congress Watch team examines how winning congressional candidates benefited from disproportionate spending by outside groups.
Tyson Slocum, director of our Energy Program, looks at what the election means for energy policy.
Earlier today, I presented a webinar analyzing why things turned out the way they did. In a nutshell, the Obama administration's failure to tackle the economic crisis with bold policies and its embrace of the Bush administration's Wall Street bailout--and the Supreme Court's absurd ruling that allows corporations to funnel staggering amounts of money through front groups to influence our votes--made last night's election results all but inevitable. (Look for a separate email with a link to a recording of the webinar.)
No doubt--there are serious challenges ahead. But, working together, we will rise to those challenges.
The team of advocates, organizers, researchers and policy experts here at Public Citizen will continue to keep you informed and involved.
Public Citizen knows how to block corporate politicians from undoing the rules that protect us from corporate predators. We know how to win in a difficult political environment--protecting consumers, advancing justice, building power for the public interest. And we are ready to scale up the campaign for a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's decision and reclaim our democracy.
We can do this. We will do this.
Robert Weissman, President