Robert Reich: The Selling of American Democracy - The Perfect Storm
http://robertreich.org/post/27128864190
The Selling of American Democracy: The Perfect Storm
FRIDAY, JULY 13, 2012
Whos buying our democracy? Wall Street financiers, the Koch brothers, and casino magnates Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn.
And theyre doing much of it in secret.
Its a perfect storm:
The greatest concentration of wealth in more than a century courtesy trickle-down economics, Reagan and Bush tax cuts, and the demise of organized labor.
Combined with
Unlimited political contributions courtesy of Republican-appointed Justices Roberts, Scalia, Alito, Thomas, and Kennedy, in one of the dumbest decisions in Supreme Court history, Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, along with lower-court rulings that have expanded it.
Combined with
Complete secrecy about whos contributing how much to whom courtesy of a loophole in the tax laws that allows so-called non-profit social welfare organizations to accept the unlimited contributions for hard-hitting political ads.
Put them all together and our democracy is being sold down the drain.
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This coming Monday, for example, the Senate has scheduled a cloture vote on the DISCLOSE ACT, which would at least require that outfits like the Chamber of Commerce and Karl Roves Crossroads GPS disclose whos contributing what. Contact your senators, and have your friends and relatives in other states especially those with Republican senators (who have been united in their opposition to disclosure) contact theirs. If the DISCLOSE ACT is voted down, hold accountable those senators (and, when and if it gets to the House, those House members) who are selling out our democracy for the sake of their own personal ambitions.
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