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