Can We Get Money Out of Politics?

Everyone says that we must get money out of politics. There are political action committees (PACs) set up to try. The Democrats in the United States Senate tried to get a bill to a vote in September to overturn the Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court. It failed to get any support from Republicans. Now, they are in control of both houses in Congress. Therefore, it is highly doubtful that they will attempt to change the status quo.

So, what can we do about it? Bill Moyers has a few ideas. In fact, he has eight suggestions. First, is amend the Constitution. If you like that idea, you can go to movetoamend.org/actions and sign up to help.

Next, Moyers suggests Represent.us which is an organization promoting a broad anti-corruption legislation that would place limits on lobbying, political contributions, and PACs.

Another idea is to promote other acts that would promote public financing of political campaigns. One is the Fair Elections Now act: https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/269 and the other is the Grassroots Democracy act: https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/268 Obviously, both of these will die when the 114th Congress takes over in January 2015, but, they could be re-introduced then.

You can also join Lawrence Lessing at http://www.nhrebellion.org/ to take a walk across New Hampshire to focus attention on money in politics.

In 2014, over one million activists requested that the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) make corporations political campaign contributions more transparent. You can join that movement and continue to pressure on the SEC to act.  http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/sec-inundated-by-one-million-requests-for-corporate-campaign-contribution-disclosures/18858-sec-inundated-by-one-million-requests-for-corporate-campaign-contribution-disclosures

Three other options are also discussed in this article:  http://billmoyers.com/2014/11/21/8-ways-get-money-politics/#.VHCVrKrfuUE.twitter

So there you have some choices. Will you take action or merely complain endlessly on how corrupt our systems has become? Choice is yours. I hope you chose action.