War Against the 99+% - AND WE MUST FIGHT BACK!

Mitch McConnell thanking Charles and David Koch

We must ELECT A DEMOCRATIC HOUSE MAJORITY in spite of SUPER WEALTHY AND CORPORATE “DARK MONEY”.

Our weapon in this class war against the 99+% is:

•  UNDERSTANDING THAT THE REPUBLICAN MAJORITY IN THE HOUSE IS A PUPPET OF THE VERY WEALTHY AND POWERFUL
• INCREASING voter REGISTRATIONS
• INCREASING VOTER TURN-OUT
• VOTING A DEMOCRATIC MAJORITY IN THE HOUSE

This is OUR ONLY WAY FORWARD TO AVOID THE WORST OF GLOBAL WARMING.

Given the misleading media coverage of election donations (focusing mainly on regulated donations raised for the “campaign” committees), it is crucial to understand how unlimited “soft” and “dark” money have completely thwarted the 1974-2010 attempts to limit the “buying” of the Presidency and Congress by donations of very wealthy individuals.

In 1971, the first "modern" finance law was passed (FECA). As part of the Watergate investigation, it was discovered that Richard Nixon won reelection with the economic support of ONLY roughly 1200 individual and corporate donors. In reaction, Congress passed amendments in 1974, 1976, and 1979. Upon the basis of these laws, “hard” money donations to campaigns by corporations and individuals were severely limited in specific ways with maximum $3000 corporate donations given through entities called Political Action Committees or PACs for short.

Matson cartoon: Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance

On the other hand, “soft” money donations to political party committees could be unlimited and were nominally intended to promote “party building activities” including “get-out-the-vote” efforts and “ISSUE ADS”, i.e. supporting positions, not candidates. In fact, from 1996 onward an increasing bulk of the “soft” money was spent on ads that were effectively perceived as campaign ads.

After the partisan Federal Court decisions in 2010 (commonly known as Citizens United and SpeechNow), unlimited donations that have paid for the ever increasing, EVEN GREATER flood of attack and “issue ads”. The vast bulk of attack and issue ads are now paid for by corporate (or union) donations explicitly to “advocacy groups” under Citizens United, or individuals, or (technically ) “social welfare” groups NOT REQUIRED TO PUBLICLY DISCLOSE THE SOURCES OF THEIR FUNDING, “DARK MONEY”.  The primary limitation of these new super pacs is that their “political” ad spending is not coordinated with the candidate campaign committees. 
 

              

In short, the 1973 “discovery” that about 1200 individuals and corporations could finance a Presidential campaign, and the consequent attempt to diminish the influence of great wealth in electing candidates that protect the interests of the wealthy and powerful and not those of 99+% of the public, has been DEFEATED! 

"The Kochs are poised to play a momentous role in financing hundreds of candidates across the country and launching attacks on those who oppose their goals. ..." Koch Brothers Move to Influence Congressional and State Races

We MUST ACTIVELY WORK TO:

1. INCREASE VOTER REGISTRATIONS
2. INCREASE VOTER TURN-OUT
3. VOTE A DEMOCRATIC MAJORITY INTO THE HOUSE

This is OUR ONLY WAY FORWARD TO AVOID THE WORST OF GLOBAL WARMING.

#UniteBlue #FlipItDem

DEFEAT CORPORATE CONTROL= DEFEAT TRUMP!

The Republican Party is supporting an American variant of Fascism. 

Americans know 20^th century Italian and German fascism from afar – nothing like that can happen in our democracy. Or can it? The Republican Party candidate in 2016, Donald Trump, stands for, at least, two pillars of the European experience of fascism.

Trump has unquestionably taken positions that contradict Constitutional limits on the power of the Executive branch. Here are some of the despotic uses of Executive/State power Trump supports.

• proposed or praised closing mosques 
• proposed new forms of limitations of speech, 
• favors water boarding (i.e. cruel and unusual punishment”) 
• favors executive action power to incarcerate (noncriminal) subgroups within the population
• favors a partisan judiciary - not an independent check on the Executive branch

Although Trump certainly does not challenge “free market” capitalism, he and the Republican Party share with European Fascism the protection of large corporate profit as long as it does not conflict with the goals of a far more authoritarian State. 

3rd party vote = Trump vote

No vote  = Trump vote

Register & Vote BLUE!

#NEVERTRUMP 

DEM POTUS & Congress = A FUTURE!

(Credit: Jeff Malet/maletphoto/everlite via iStock/Photo montage by Salon)

A DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENCY & CONGRESS would END REPUBLICAN LEGISLATIVE ROAD BLOCK, SLOW GLOBAL WARMING, and PROVIDE an ECONOMY for the 99+%. 

It is our BEST CHANCE to ENSURE a FUTURE for GENERATIONS TO COME.

Trump will continue, at every turn, to demonstrate his ignorance, leadership incompetence and threat to the safety of Americans and the world.

Unacceptable behavior accepted: The media has continued to fail to provide Americans with a minimum of critical analysis of Trump’s claims and emotional provocation - and the result is that lying, deliberate distortions and anger that “suggest” that partisan violence is acceptable are treated as legitimate/acceptable behavior. 

Likewise, the uncritical support by the Republican Party Leadership, especially House Speaker Ryan (the spokesman for legislative gridlock on behalf of economic interests of the very wealthy), also legitimates the anger/hatred and pervasive bigotry and dehumanization consistently demonstrated by many Trump supporters.

Trump’s assertions that Obama and Clinton are “founders” of ISIS illustrate Trump’s use of deliberate distortion and misstatement that both misleads his followers and provides extraordinary recruiting propaganda for ISIS.

The continued silent support of the Republican leadership reinforces the acceptability of Trump remarks that increase the risk to Americans (and all that might oppose the ultra-violent extremists) of ISIS and other violent anti-American groups AND THEIR INDIVIDUAL SUPPORTERS on the battlefields and on all the “soft” targets everywhere: schools, entertainment events and, indeed, ANY PUBLIC GATHERINGS!

Yes, Trump’s defeat is obviously essential BUT IT IS NOT ENOUGH!

First and foremost, AFTER YEARS of THE COAL, OIL and GAS INDUSTRIES "buying" the Republican Party, we URGENTLY need a CONGRESS with SUFFICIENT DEMOCRATIC MAJORITIES TO PASS LEGISLATION TO SLOW GLOBAL WARMING.

We also need a DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS TO ROLLBACK THE DECADES LONG REPUBLICAN ATTACK UPON THE QUALITY OF LIFE – economic, health, educational & employment opportunities… - FOR THE 99+%. 

The MOST IMPORTANT WORK you can do IS HELP WIN A DEMOCRATIC MAJORITY IN THE HOUSE! 

The HOUSE is the BULWORK that the REPUBLICANS HAVE CONSTRUCTED TO PROTECT THE VERY WEALTHY AND THEIR ECONOMIC CONTROL OVER OUR LIVES! 

The GOP has: 

1. redrawn House districts to disadvantage Democratic candidates
2. utilized unlimited “dark money” support from extremely wealthy individuals and corporations
3. encouraged the creation of State laws to limit or discourage likely Democratic voters

              

• BECOME ACTIVE. 
• SPREAD THE WORD. 
• HELP WHEREVER & WHENEVER YOU CAN.

Vote Clinton/Kaine!

#betterthanthis

VOTE OUT #GOP

VOTE BLUE: Help WIN a DEM House MAJORITY

Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump is unqualified in every relevant way to be President. 

In particular... 

• his explosive, angry behavior makes him an extremely dangerous President in the age of nuclear war
• his behavior and hate-filled, prejudiced remarks are deepening an ugly, potentially violent divide in American society

Make no mistake, however, the majority leaders in the Senate and the House, Paul Ryan, uncritically support Trump.

Ryan endorses Trump

Why? PRIMARILY because Trump’s behavior and wide ranging hate-mongering are acceptable so long as HE CARRIES THE BANNER OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY OPPOSITION TO APPROPRIATELY HIGHER TAXES ON THE WEALTHY AND ON LARGE CORPORATIONS – to undo the Republican tax reductions and special benefits, starting with President Reagan, that have SHIFTED THE TAX BURDEN TO THE OTHER 99+% OF AMERICANS.

Seats Democrats must win to retake the House

To pass new tax legislation that is fair to the LOWER 99+%, 

we MUST WIN a DEMOCRATIC MAJORITY in the HOUSE. 

YOU CAN HELP. Vote Out #GOP! Vote In Democrats!

This is the election year of your life! 

VOTE BLUE: END THE REPUBLICAN HOUSE MAJORITY “VETO”

Since 1993, the continued power and profits of the fossil fuel industry have been ensured by the opposition of Republicans in the House and/or the Senate. In other words, the failure to enact policies to slow global warming has been THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

(photo credit: jmcdaid)

In the last three sessions of Congress (2011 to the present), the Republican majority in the House has blocked global warming legislation as well as the Democratic legislative agenda in general.

Not voting for a Democratic House of Representatives – whether that be by not voting at all or voting for third parties – is ABANDONING RESPONSIBILITY for PRESENT AND FUTURE GENERATIONS to the DISLOCATION, DESTRUCTION, PHYSICAL & MENTAL HARM AND DEATH THAT RUNAWAY GLOBAL WARMING WILL BRING.

We cannot allow Trump and the GOP to win! 

Our very lives depend on it!

Unite-Vote BLUE! 

VOTE IN #HRC & a Democratic House MAJORITY for positive policy changes and for CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION!

www.gw2016legacy.org

DON’T WASTE YOUR VOTE: VOTE BLUE!

Every vote counts AND VOTES for THIRD PARTY CANDIDATES in the HOUSE ELECTIONS – ESPECIALLY IN DISTRICTS THAT DEMOCRATS NEED TO PICK UP – are VOTES that may COST US A DEMOCRATIC MAJORITY IN THE HOUSE. 




At this point in the 2016 campaign, more and more Republican leaders, candidates, and very wealthy corporate and individual Republican supporters are assuming a Democratic Presidency and a Democratic majority Senate. And so the focus of the corporate and individual wealth that the Republican Platform is designed to favor is now on the House races.

Current House of Representatives count.

The Democrats need to add at least 30 House seats in order to have a majority. The last election with such a large gain for the previously minority Party in the House was the Johnson – Goldwater election of 1964. This was also the last time there was such an extreme division in the Republican Party.  

The 30 seat gain hurdle is particularly hard to overcome because of:

1. the Federal Court decisions permitting unlimited “dark money” into the political process
2. the historically extreme number of House districts that have been redrawn to protect Republican candidates
3. the numerous actions at the State and local levels that differentially discourage Democratic voter turn-out (Refer to NY Times article of July 31, 2016, Critics See Efforts by Counties and Towns to Purge Minority Voters From Rolls)

~To see where and how you can help Democrats pick up House seats in the 2016 elections, visit Global Warming 2016 Legacy.~

Thus, in the 2016 election, more than ever before, every vote counts AND VOTES for THIRD PARTY CANDIDATES in the HOUSE ELECTIONS – ESPECIALLY IN DISTRICTS THAT DEMOCRATS NEED TO PICK UP – ARE VOTES THAT MAY COST A DEMOCRATIC MAJORITY IN THE HOUSE.

We must NOT UNDERMINE our ability to regain DEMOCRATIC House seats by voting for third party candidates. This is EXACTLY WHAT THE GOP wants you to do.

Without a DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT and BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS, RUNAWAY GLOBAL WARMING WILL, NO DOUBT, DEFINE OUR FUTURE.

Save our country and our world! 

Make YOUR VOTE count by voting Democratic! 

NO 3rd party candidate votes!

www.gw2016legacy.org

Vote Blue if you believe Global Warming is a Real Threat!

Scientific Consensus:  Human Activity is Driving the Threat of Runaway Global Warming

Now with Party platforms and Presidential candidates finalized, the importance of voting for Hillary Clinton and a Democratic Congress is clearer than ever.

On the one hand “the center” of Democratic policy is a call for carbon pricing and other policies to slow global warming – TOTAL MOBILIZATION TO AVOID THE THREAT OF RUNAWAY GLOBAL WARMING.

On the other hand, Trump and Republican leadership are on record as not recognizing that human activity is the primary driver of global warming and offer no policy to slow global warming. 

photo credit: Huffington Post

The U.S. Department of Defense and other national security assessments have long recognized that increasing global warming is an unquestionable conflict amplifier, meaning the droughts, wild fires, flooding, extreme temperatures, etc., caused by global warming are the causes of mass migrations of people due to lack of water, food and shelter. These extreme, prolonged conditions are then the cause of actual conflict between nations as people fight for their own survival.

Reference #1: Scientific Organizations That Hold the Position That Climate Change Has Been Caused by Human Action

Reference #2: DoD Releases Report on Security Implications of Climate Change

The U.S. Dept. of Defense also recognizes increasing global warming as A THREAT TO CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT.

Trump calls global warming a HOAX – He is COMPLETELY OUT OF TOUCH WITH SCIENCE AND WITH THE AMERICAN PUBLIC.

VOTE IN HILLARY CLINTON for POTUS!

VOTE IN a DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS!

#UniteBlue