Bill Moyers - March 21: Who's Buying our Midterm Elections?

[Triana]

http://vimeo.com/89677372

In the coming weeks, the Supreme Court is expected to issue another big decision on campaign finance, one that could further open the floodgates to unfettered and anonymous contributions, just as the Citizens United case did four years ago.

This week Bill speaks with investigative journalists Kim Barker and Andy Kroll about the role of dark money — and the wealthy donors behind it — in this year’s midterm elections.

Already, three times as much money has been raised for this year’s elections as four years ago, when the Citizens United decision was announced. “This is the era of the empowered ‘one percenter’. They’re taking action and they’re becoming the new, headline players in this political system,” Kroll tells Moyers. Kim Barker adds, “People want influence. It’s a question of whether we’re going to allow it to happen, especially if we’re going to allow it to happen and nobody even knows who the influencers are.”

LINK: http://billmoyers.com/episode/whos-buying-our-midterm-elections/

[ananda]

1. This is important.

.

[yeoman6987]

2. I think that each party should only raise a max of 50K

If you can't get your message out with 50K of donations then perhaps you are trying to bull shit the voters. A two-week pre-election campaign with 50 grand. I don't want outside groups involved nor giving government money either. Being able to raise 50 grand should not be that big of a problem. Of course as we go along with my proposal, we can fix it if it is really that difficult to raise that amount. Bottom line, both parties raise no more than the max.

[ananda]

3. Yep, campaign finance reform is desperately needed here.

..

[Enthusiast]

10. I'll go with that.

No perhaps about it on the bullshit part.

[sailfla]

4. The ONLY answer is Public Financing

[mountain grammy]

5. When you look at the crackpots in Congress you know something sinister is at work here

Bachmann, Gohmert, Cruz, etc, etc. These people wouldn't find a soapbox to stand on if it wasn't for the money pouring into their campaigns. They would be banished to the fringe where they belong without right wing control of the media and the drumbeat of millions of dollars of negative, scary campaign ads.

Thank you, Bill Moyers, for honest and real interviews. If all journalists were like Moyers, we wouldn't be in this mess.

[llmart]

8. You said it mountain grammy.

We need a thousand more Bill Moyers. But I fear the general public is more interested in what Beyonce is doing.

[adirondacker]

6. Big K&R! Thanks for posting. nt

[woo me with science]

7. K&R

[loudsue]

9. We SERIOUSLY need a constitutional amendment that declares corporations are NOT PEOPLE

And we need to quit giving corporations more rights than citizens.

We also need to quit giving rich people more rights than everyone else in our courts.

[Enthusiast]

11. Right on, Sue! Say it loud!

[Enthusiast]

12. K&R! This post should have hundreds of recommendations!

[sabrina 1]

13. Yes, it should since is the #1 issue facing the this country's future. Until the money is taken out

of politics, nothing is going to change the course we are on.

Our system has been poisoned and is only getting worse.

I don't know what can be done to stop it now.

They fully own the Republican Party.

And are well on their way to owning the Dem Party.

And need Congress in order to stop them.

Which is why they are buying Congress.

[Enthusiast]

16. That's it, exactly.

They are in the process of ruining the nation.

[Andy823]

14. I agree with other posts here

We need to take the huge sums of money out of politics, the only problem is that the people who have to do that are the same people that are raking in the big money, congress!

As long as the Supreme court is controlled by republicans, we will continue to have to deal with the majority of the court doing the will of the rich and powerful. We need to make sure we stop them in 2016 by putting a democrat in the WH who will be able to replace the judges who retire, or pass away in the coming years. We also need to do all we can this year to replace as many of the right wing nut cases in congress with democrats, and we need to make sure we GOTV in November, otherwise nothing is going to get done.

And let me add that we need to get out and vote in the primaries to try and get more people like Senator Warren and Sanders in office. If democrats get out and vote, changes can happen.

[hfojvt]

15. okay I had a good laugh

First there was the teaser to the show

followed by a list of the shows corporate sponsors.

[Triana]

17. The show has one corp sponsor, clearly stated as such.

That you would blow off this entire segment by Bill Moyers based on that is - well, be my guest. Whatever.

[hfojvt]

19. well that and the Carnegie Corporation, Ford Foundation

Herb Alpert foundation, and three or four more foundations got to blow their horns, as it were.

I just found that beginning to be quite surreal.

[G_j]

18. excellent

K&R!