Democrats, Republicans, Greens, Libertarians ... I think we can all agree

[Hotwheelz]

Corruption in our political system is a humongous problem right now. Politicians are allowed to take what amounts to legalized bribes in the form of unlimited campaign contributions. They're essentially beholden to their donors, not the people.

I believe that we can't have a legitimate democracy as long as our representatives are bought by corporations and unions (regardless of whether you support them or not).

How can we fix this? We make the people the donors.

There's a group out there fighting for this:

Wolf PAC

Do you care about the debt? How about gun control? The environment, entitlements, the military, or gay marriage? Wolf PAC has no opinion on these issues. The problem: As far as our government is concerned, you might as well not have an opinion either... that is unless you can shell out a few million in the next election. No matter what YOUR issue is, there is only one issue that has to come first: Get money out of politics. That is what we care about and that is why we need your help.
Our plan is simple: Since Congress can't stand up to their donors, we're going to the States directly to get an Amendment to the Constitution proposed through a Convention. The bar is high, as it should be, this is the Constitution after all. We need 34 States to call a convention and 37 to ratify any proposal. But Congress, the Governors, even the President gets no say. A Convention is called by your local representatives in your State legislature. They are the politicians most likely to listen to you. We need your help to get this done.

If you're in Texas, there's already a bill you can support.

HCR25

WHEREAS, it was the stated intention of the framers of the
Constitution of the United States of America that Congress should
be "dependent on the people alone." (James Madison, Federalist 52);
and,
WHEREAS, that dependency has evolved from a dependency "on
the people alone" to a dependency on those who spend in elections,
through campaigns or third-party groups; and,
WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court rulings in Citizens
United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310 (2010) and
Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976) removed restrictions on amounts
and transparency in political spending; and,
WHEREAS, the removal of those restrictions has resulted in
the spending in elections becoming disproportionately dominated by
corporations, unions, interest groups, and wealthy individuals;
and
WHEREAS, it was the stated intention of the framers of our
Constitution that citizens should exercise their right to propose
amendments to the Constitution as described in Article V of the
Constitution; and,
WHEREAS Article V of the United States Constitution requires
the United States Congress to call a constitutional convention upon
application of two-thirds of the legislatures of the several states
for the purpose of proposing amendments to the United States
Constitution; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, that the legislature of the State of Texas hereby
applies to the United States Congress to call a Constitutional
Convention pursuant to Article V of the United States Constitution
for the purpose of proposing Amendments to the Constitution of the
United States of America to address concerns raised by the decision
of the United States Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal
Election Commission (2010) 130 S.Ct. 876 or substantially similar
purpose;

http://www.wolf-pac.com/operation_texas

Let's save our democracy

[IHaveALight]

http://represent.us/

The American Anti-Corruption Act

[nyuk nyuk]

I wish we did like the Chinese and simply hanged these people.

[W*GS]

Originally Posted by nyuk nyuk

I wish we did like the Chinese and simply hanged these people.

Inside every hardcore right-winger is an admiration for authoritarianism.

[BroncoBeavis]

Originally Posted by W*GS

Inside every hardcore right-winger is an admiration for authoritarianism.

And in every lefty there's a limitless capacity for sarcasm, yet a complete inability to detect it in others.

And trying to restrict things on the contribution side is a game of whack-a-mole.

The real problem is government influence in day-to-day life. If we didn't make it so profitable to curry government favor, people would spend far less to find it.

Power corrupts. This was well understood back in our early days. That's why our government was designed to limit and check its own power. The more power the federal government wields, the more corrupt it becomes.

[Blart]

Originally Posted by BroncoBeavis

The more power the federal government wields, the more corrupt it becomes.

And that's why ExxonMobil supports limiting federal powers, they're concerned about us.

[BroncoBeavis]

Originally Posted by Blart

And that's why ExxonMobil supports limiting federal powers, they're concerned about us.

Neat game. Exxon is bad mmmkay. And they want limits on federal power. So limits on federal power are bad, mmmkay.

Do you want me to go through this exercise with people who've desired a more powerful central government? It's a real ****list throughout history if you'd like to go there.

[Blart]

If you only look at one type of power, you're only seeing one part of the problem.

[BroncoBeavis]

Originally Posted by Blart

If you only look at one type of power, you're only seeing one part of the problem.

That's true, so long as you factor in populism as one of those types of power as well.