The Biggest Issue in American Politics Today?
You are what you settle for.
-Janis Joplin
What do you believe is the biggest issue in American Government today? The government’s biggest negative issue needing repair? We believe that issue is money in politics. While we normally don’t write about politics, we recently read two great articles that quickly changed our minds.
Why did we pick this issue as the biggest issue in American politics today? Recent elections point the way. In the wake of our most expensive midterm elections ever, decided with the lowest turnout in over 70 years, it’s no wonder that a majority of Americans are fed up with the way big money is distorting our politics.
The first article we’d like to discuss is “8 Things You Can Do to Help Get Money Out of Politics” by Bill Moyers staff. If you are wondering how bad this issue has gotten, check out what this article has to say:
In the battle for the Senate, 42 extremely wealthy donors accounted for nearly a third of all super PAC spending. Whatever one’s political philosophy may be, the fact is: wealthy donors are now able to drown out your voice.
But maybe some help is on the way:
But perhaps if there was a silver lining in the elections’ display of plutocratic might, it’s that there’s growing awareness of how a flood of money is distorting our politics. And watchdogs at Open Secrets, The Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, The Sunlight Foundation, Democracy 21, Public Citizen and countless other organizations have been working to turn back the tide.
Here are 4 of the 8 best campaigns we selected from this article that are working to money out of politics. And more importantly some things you can do to help.
Amend the Constitution
The movement for an amendment to overturn Citizens United has quickly gone from pipe dream to mainstream, says Public Citizen’s Rachel Lewis. Since the Citizens United ruling, over 300 cities, towns and counties have passed resolutions, as have 16 state legislatures. And President Obama has voiced his support.
What you can do
At the Move to Amend website, you can follow their barnstorming tours, and latest campaigns. You can also sign onto “Democracy is for People” — Public Citizen’s campaign to pass a constitutional amendment.
Grassroots and public financing
Most of the organizations surveyed support some combination of grassroots contributions and public financing of elections. Common Cause highlights the Fair Elections Now Act, which would give candidates the option of public financing if they raise a large number of small contributions from their local communities.
Public Citizen sees possibility in a bill called the Grassroots Democracy Act, first introduced in 2012 by Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD), which would match grassroots contributions of $100 or less with public funds. Shortly after Sarbanes defeated a Republican challenger earlier this month, he told reporters that he will reintroduce the bill in 2015.
And if you’re looking to do something fun and creative, check out Ben (of Ben & Jerry’s) Cohen’s StampStampede.org website. Their campaign involves stamping money with clever messages like “not to be used for bribing politicians.” They also have a Tumblr where you can upload pictures of money that you come across that’s been stamped. They’ve already sold over 11,000 stamp kits (at cost) and given out over 5,000.
SEC regulation
The Securities and Exchange Commission has the power to issue a rule requiring publicly traded corporations to disclose their political spending. According to Ian Vandewalker of the Brennan Center for Justice, last year the SEC was “poised to consider a petition for rulemaking submitted by 10 experts in corporate and securities law, asking the agency to require publicly traded companies to disclose their political spending.”
The issue fell off of the agency’s 2014 agenda, but activists hope that grassroots pressure they applied earlier this year — over one million people requested the SEC make corporate campaign contributions more transparent over the summer — can lead to SEC consideration in 2015.
What you can do
You can petition the SEC to take this step via Public Citizen or Common Cause. Both groups are members of the Corporate Reform Coalition.
Executive orders
In 2011, the White House considered a draft of an executive order that could go a long way toward reining in undisclosed “dark money.” It would require any company that held contracts with the federal government to make its political spending public.
As journalist Paul Blumenthal noted at the time, “the order would cover a huge swath of the country’s companies. JPMorgan Chase, Exxon Mobil, General Electric, and the Koch Industries all hold government contracts. Thirty-three of the 41 companies listed in the top 100 campaign contributors over the past two decades are recipients of federal contracts.”
The following year, under intense pressure from the Chamber of Commerce, the White House backed away from the idea. But having gone through a 2014 midterm cycle that was dominated by dark money — disproportionately on the side of Republican candidates — the Obama administration could see the issue differently, especially if they see grassroots pressure to do so.
What you can do
You can contact the White House and let them know what you think about the idea.
A second article we found very interesting was Greenhouse. Greenhouse was designed by 16-year-old Seattle programmer Nicholas Rubin.
Wouldn’t it be nice to easily be able to see who’s funding your congressperson? A new browser plugin for Safari, Google Chrome, and soon Firefox, can do just that.
The free plugin, called “Greenhouse,” was created by 16-year-old Nicholas Rubin, a self-taught programmer based in Seattle. Greenhouse was designed to expose the role that money plays in Congress by offering “detailed campaign contribution data for every Senator and Representative, including total amount received and breakdown by industry and by size of donation.”
It works simply: After you install the plugin, hovering over the name of a congressman will display the latest 2014 contribution data available on opensecrets.org , as well as an option to see which campaign finance reform bills are supported by the congressman from reform.to.
In Safari, users will also see a “$” button appear in the toolbar, which, when clicked, will allow you to search and browse through the financial profiles of any member of Congress.
Though Rubin can’t even vote yet, he said he created Greenhouse to provide “increased transparency around the amount and source of funding of our elected representatives [and] play a small role in educating citizens and promoting change.”
The motto of Greenhouse is: “Some are red. Some are blue. All are green.” What it signifies is that the influence of money on our government isn’t a partisan issue. Whether Democrat or Republican, we should all want a political system that is independent of the influence of big money and not dependent on endless cycles of fundraising from special interests.
The United States of America was founded to serve individuals, not big interests or big industries. Yet every year we seem to move farther and farther away from our Founders’ vision.
Exactly one hundred years ago, in Harper’s Weekly, Louis Brandeis made the frequently quoted statement that “sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.” Brandeis’s preceding sentence in the article may be less well known, but it is equally important: “Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases.”
Rubin created Greenhouse to shine light on a “social and industrial disease” of today: the undue influence of money in our Congress. This influence is everywhere, even if it is hidden. His aim is to expose and publicize that disease through technology that puts important data where it is most useful, on websites where people read about the actions, or inaction, of members of Congress every day.
Rubin says he plans to “continue to refine this resource and expand it into other areas.”
We can hardly wait.
Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.