STOP A CORPORATE TAKEOVER!

Lucas,

Such a tremendous response!

My thanks to the hundreds and hundreds of Public Citizen supporters across the country who chipped in almost $10,000 in just the past few days to help us take our campaign against corporate power to the next level.

If you didn't get a chance to read my earlier email, it's copied below. Read on to learn more about how we're ramping up our grassroots organizing.

If you haven't had a chance to contribute, now's the time. We need to raise $75,000 right away.

Please give whatever you can to join Public Citizen in fighting the corporate takeover of our democracy.

Everything we accomplish together is possible because citizens like you support our work.

Thank you for standing with us today.

Robert

Lucas,

Our society counts many things by the billions.

The damage Wall Street's recklessness inflicted on our economy. BP's profits just a year after causing the worst oil catastrophe in our nation's history. The stockpiles of cash Big Business hoards while so many people are struggling. The budgets of vital programs and protections held for ransom during the debt and deficit debacle in Congress.

But what is a billion dollars?

Suppose you make the average annual salary in the U.S. of $44,410. It would take you 22,517 years to earn a billion dollars. (Assuming you paid no taxes. Like many of the most profitable corporations.)

Staggering.

And here's something else we'll be counting by the billions: the amount of Big Business money that will flood the 2012 elections.

How can we maintain democracy when our elections are overwhelmed by corporate spending at such an inhuman scale?

How can we preserve government of, by and for the people when our politicians are beholden to the corporate greed that benefits from perpetuating such an unnatural system?

There is a way.

We must expose the corporate spending and its corrosive, corrupting influence. And we must overturn the Supreme Court's Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling that allows corporations to spend literally as much money as they want taking over our elections, our government and our lives.

I'm thrilled to announce that Public Citizen is escalating our capacity for grassroots organizing in communities around the country as the next phase in our "Democracy Is For People" campaign to prevent corporate money from drowning out the voices of We the People.

We're hiring three experienced organizers to work full-time building on the tremendous popularity of our petition for a constitutional amendment to undo the court's disastrous ruling.

They'll work to pass resolutions in key states calling for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. They'll continue Public Citizen's leadership role in bringing other organizations and individuals together in a robust coalition focused on making the amendment a reality. They'll draw in more members of Congress to support our amendment campaign. And they'll reach out to hundreds of thousands of your fellow citizens to join this critical movement.

But the full scope and impact of their work hinges on the financial resources we can attract. We need to raise $75,000 to support our national grassroots campaign and our other work to keep corporate power in check.

Please click here and use our secure online donation form to contribute whatever you can today.

Despite Mitt Romney's folksy assertions, corporations are not people. And you and I know that democracy is for people.

Together, we are spreading that message and reclaiming our democracy. And I need your help to take the campaign to the next level.

We don't need billions. But we do need you.