Berkeley protesters fume over Supreme Court decision on campaign financing

[alp227]

Source: Oakland Tribune

BERKELEY -- Roughly 40 people gathered at UC Berkeley's Sproul Hall Plaza late Wednesday afternoon to vent their frustration with the Supreme Court's decision to strike down limits on federal campaign contributions.

"It's so outrageous what they did," fumed longtime Berkeley resident Marty Schiffenbauer. "It's so blatant that the country has become a plutocracy where rich people will be able to pass rules and tax breaks."

Susan Messina was nearby: "We're losing our rights as individual voters," she said. "We're losing our voice. We're losing our power."

The 5-4 ruling on McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission struck down limits on the two-year ceilings on donations to candidates, parties and some political action committees combined. The ruling follows the 2010 Citizens United decision that struck down independent campaign spending limits by corporations and unions.

Read more: http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_25482096/berkeley-protesters-fume-over-supreme-court-decision-campaign

[Nanjing to Seoul]

1. Don't protest. VOTE! Vote in people that will reshape the SCOTUS and undo the damage

Vote out the Republicans that support this shit (oops, bad word. Someone will get offended).

Bring people to their place of polling and vote, dammit (oops, another bad word. Someone will get offended).

[blkmusclmachine]

2. Many "Democrats" are Blue Dogs, GOP-lite. They call themselves "New DEMS/Third Way DEMS," but they

always want "compromise," they want to be "pragmatic," and they NEVER want to be seen as "political."

[Nanjing to Seoul]

6. And alot occupy DU and alert posts that "offend them" even if the post is right

The Democratic Party really does need to purge itself of fake Democrats. The Republicans that leave that party are pushing us too far to the right.

[Zorra]

11. People who protest are actually smart enough to protest, and vote as well.

Don't protest? Is this the new RW meme?

Protesting makes more people aware of an issue, helping increase voter left wing turnout, and vote out the RW.

WTF?

[Nanjing to Seoul]

12. Protesting does nothing and don't call me a Right winger. Them's fightin' words

I've seen more accomplished at the ballot box than at the protest rally.

[Zorra]

13. And I've seen a lot more get accomplished through the ballot box because of protesting.

You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city's white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.
---
You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood. The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue.

http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html

[theHandpuppet]

20. +100

[countryjake]

14. ...

"Tank man" blocks a column of Type 59 tanks heading east on Beijing's Chang'an Boulevard (Avenue of Eternal Peace) near Tiananmen Square during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Taken on June 5, 1989, by Jeff Widener.

[Nanjing to Seoul]

15. Didn't work, i live in China. The things Tank Man protested are still here and have been expanded

In the US, protests don't work. Occupy didn't work.

[countryjake]

16. If you don't believe that protests open minds & make others think...

and, that they have done just that throughout the history of our nation and across the rest of the world, then there's not much I can say that might convince you.

Study a bit about the struggles that have taken place here, during the past century; learn the story of Unionization, take a look at the fight for Women's Lib, Civil Rights.

Learn about the history of our country. That just may change your mind.

[Nanjing to Seoul]

17. 40 people protesting does nothing. Thanks for giving a PhD candidate in history

a condescending lesson in history.

[countryjake]

18. Oh, so now you say it's "small" protests that accomplish nothing?

Good luck in finishing that degree!

[SwankyXomb]

19. You're right, in that 40 people in Berkeley does nothing

What we need then, is 400,000 people in Washington calling for these 5 traitors to America to be brought out for a proper hanging.

[marions ghost]

21. Occupy worked in the sense that

--for the first time the finger of guilt was pointed straight at Wall Street. That in itself was a major achievement.

The spirit lives.

When you reach people through the heart it enhances performance at the ballot box.

[Zorra]

22. Do you think the protests in Venezuela are working? nt

[C_U_L8R]

3. Our votes trump their dollars

Just ask Mitt Romney.

Let's make the Republicans lose more money. VOTE !!!!

[blkmusclmachine]

4. That was THEN. This is NOW. The rules have changed, you know?!!

[C_U_L8R]

5. And the solution is ....

[rpannier]

7. If you're not angry about the decision you're either a billionaire or an idiot

[TomCADem]

8. Tom Perkins: People With More Money Should Get More Votes

I guess they are on the same page with Tom Perkins.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/14/tom-perkins-votes_n_4788086.html

Tom Perkins is desperately trying to extend his 15 minutes of infamy.

The 82-year-old venture capitalist, who recently made a lot of people angry by comparing progressives to Nazis, told an audience in San Francisco Thursday that people who pay more money in taxes should get more votes.

"The Tom Perkins system is: You don't get to vote unless you pay a dollar of taxes," Perkins said during an event hosted by Fortune's Adam Lashinsky. "But what I really think is, it should be like a corporation. You pay a million dollars in taxes, you get a million votes. How's that?"

The audience responded to his claim as any sane humans would: with laughter. After all, that’s not really how democracy works. And not that Perkins would care, but his proposal wouldn't really be fair given that poor Americans already fork over a larger share of income to Uncle Sam than their richer counterparts, according to a 2013 report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

[rpannier]

9. I have a counter suggestion for perkins

percentage of your income you pay
most middle class people pay a higher percentage
probably mean he'd actually be at the bottom of the vote getting

[freshwest]

10. Perkins isn't saying anything that any teabagger wouldn't say. Not new at all. Been arguing with

these boot licking characters since the coup of 2000. They say the only people that should have say so are property owners who pay taxes. And they are against women voting, too.

They have enacted regulations in some benighted locales that only allow property owners to vote on the basis that they are the only ones who pay property taxes, and claim renters don't. Which is not true, as a landlord passes the cost of taxes on.

That was a dozen years ago. Now they demand not only that they should never any pay taxes for anything, but that other groups still shouldn't be allowed to vote anyway.

They start off being Tenthers, say nothing beyond the 10A should apply, but really, they want the Articles of Conferation. And we know what that means. The Koch brothers are going all out this year to change all city and local offices to do their will.

Pau;l Ryan wants to get enough red legislatures to rewrite the Constitution. They can do it, too. It will be custom written for the Koch brothers. We're seeing it state by state already.

Solution, get out and vote every GOP out of office possible. Or get ready to live under something that we have never before seen in our lives. End of SS, ACA, public ed, equal protection under the law and due process.