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CONTACT: Brennan Center for Justice Jeanine Plant-Chirlin, 212-998-6289 or 646-265-7721 Susan Lehman, 212-998-6318 |
Fair Elections Now Act Would Break Special Interest Grip on Congress
Wall Street Influence Peddling Highlights Need for Sweeping Reform
The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law and a coalition of other good-government groups helped craft this crucial legislation. Also sponsored by Reps. John Larson (D-Conn.) and Walter Jones (R-N.C.), the proposal provides qualified congressional candidates Fair Elections funding to run a viable campaign if they agree to take no contributions larger than $100 and by first raising a large number of small contributions from their home states. Those contributions would be matched on a four-to-one basis, up to a certain point.
"Congress is facing a number of enormous challenges, including the collapse of our financial institutions and its impact on Main Street," says Laura MacCleery, Deputy Director of the Brennan Center's Democracy Program. "Strong oversight and bold solutions are needed today more than ever. The Fair Elections system would allow members of Congress to act in the interest of the country rather than contributors."
The Fair Elections Now Act is modeled after elements of similar programs in states like Arizona, Connecticut, Maine and North Carolina. Their success also showed that a more diverse pool of candidates can run under a system like Fair Elections, ensuring that elections will be a contest of ideas, rather than a competition of corporate fundraising.
For more information and to arrange an interview, please contact Jeanine Plant-Chirlin at 212-998-6289 or at jeanine.plant-chirlin@nyu.edu or Susan Lehman at 212-998-6318 or susan.lehman@nyu.edu. Additional information will be available at http://www.fairelectionsnow.org, including polling information, a bill summary, and facts and figures about money in recent elections.


2 Comments so far
Show AllIs there much hope of this becoming law and would it really do any good? For 3 reasons I am inclined to say it will not work. Those 3 reasons are nancy pelosi and harry reid and the contingent of republicans that will, once again, shove the democrats aside to maintain the status quo. Well make it 4, because the bluedogs of whom pelosi and reid are members, pretty much make the chances of passage pretty close to nil.
Democracy, in it’s current form, is the tyranny of a cunning class with controlling and omnipotent lobbies and mass media propaganda, that use the ignorant majority ‘mandate’ of the voting masses for their treacherous agenda. Most pivotal parts of this machine are made out of the elite’s cronies and benefactors of this abominable theft and fraud. Their lobby established a system that played tennis with the citizens’ votes, draining all chance for a desperately needed radical change of ways. Anyone denying that a radical change of ways is desperately needed is part of this morose parasitic machine.
But the general political comprehension and activism have changed. People have been rattled awake by reality. We have a different ball game now.
Up to now the two party oligarchy that manages the profit and wealth flow for a small elite has been able to keep the voting masses in a state of acquiescence and convenient ambivalism. Common lifestyle was provided by loan, education is geared around producing useful subjects rather than freethinking, the masses were kept occupied with inane entertainment, silenced by welfare payments and manipulated by corporate controlled mass media. And preoccupied by hope-inducing wishful hogwash that we have a choice under this system.
Now, that even the most vacuous voter feels reality biting, things have changed. Suddenly it’s not only the “left and progressives” who criticize but the whole populace. Now more and more people wake up, take note and form an opinion. Now THAT is democracy.
Historically a collapse of a system, as logical consequence of its abuse, was mostly beneficial for the parasites of such a system. This round however, the top-shots and cronies of finance, banking, politics, lobbyism and corporatism have, in their obscene greed and treacherous ruthlessness, underestimated the self-propelled dynamic their deeds have developed. Things have gotten out of hand. They also have underestimated the wrath of what they see as underclass. And almost everybody is “underclass” in this colossal swindle.
Up to now, actually up to the last election, millions of gullible ignorami, appeaseable with banal consumerism and manipulated by corporate media filth, have given their vote only to be instantly rendered voiceless by this system. They slowly but surely realize that they had been duped. Again!
The masses are angry. And rightly so. The system had a mandate and it failed its responsibility hideously. The machine has not changed (and never will by itself) but it will have to be dismantled sooner or later, not because of ideological differences, but because people will be hungry. And they will be informed more than ever before in history. Thanks to the power of the Internet! Information is everything!
Democracy..."people rule/strength".
Parasites, be afraid, be very afraid.