Sunday, January 31, 2010

THE STRAW THAT BREAKS THE PLUTOCRACY'S BACK


the straw that breaks the plutocracy’s back

Pro-democracy groups, business leaders, and elected representatives are proposing mechanism. The outrage ignited by the Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission extends to President Obama, who has promised that repairing the damage will be a priority for his administration
  • Amend the U.S. Constitution to declare that corporations are not persons and do not have the rights of human beings.
The push for the 28th Amendment is coming from the grassroots, where a prairie fire is catching on from groups such as Public Citizen, Voter Action, and the Campaign to Legalize Democracy.
  • Require shareholders to approve political spending by their corporations.
Public Citizen and the Brennan Center for Justice
Britain has required such shareholder approval since 2000
  • Pass the Fair Elections Now Act, which provides federal financing for Congressional elections.
Moveon.org, the NAACP, the Service Employees International Union, and the League of Young Voters, Ben & Jerry’s, Hasbro, Crate & Barrel, and the former head of Delta Airlines
  • Give qualified candidates equal amounts of free broadcast air time for political messages.
Ban political advertising by corporations that receive government money, hire lobbyists, or collect most of their revenue abroad.
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York) and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland)
  • Impose a 500 percent excise tax on corporate contributions to political committees and on corporate expenditures on political advocacy campaigns.
Representative Alan Grayson (D-Florida)
  • Prohibit companies from trading their stock on national exchanges if they make political contributions and expenditures.
Another one from Grayson
  • Require publicly traded companies to disclose in SEC filings money used for the purpose of influencing public opinion, rather than for promoting their products.
Grayson
  • Require the corporate CEO to appear as sponsor of commercials that his or her company pays for,
another possibility from the Schumer-Van Hollen team
  • Publicize the reform options, inform the public of who is making contributions to whom, and activate the citizenry.
media must inform

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Jesus,

There appears to be new ways to buy politicians, so it appears to me they are willing to ultimately let Citizens United get axed. I could be wrong but that's how it looks to me.
see http://cryptogon.com/?p=29979
A critical document from President Barack Obama’s free trade negotiations with eight Pacific nations was leaked online early Wednesday morning, revealing that the administration intends to bestow radical new political powers upon multinational corporations, contradicting prior promises.

The leaked document has been posted on the website of Public Citizen, a long-time critic of the administration’s trade objectives. The new leak follows substantial controversy surrounding the secrecy of the talks, in which some members of Congress have complained they are not being given the same access to trade documents that corporate officials receive.

"The outrageous stuff in this leaked text may well be why U.S. trade officials have been so extremely secretive about these past two years of [trade] negotiations," said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch in a written statement.

...

The newly leaked document is one of the most controversial of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact. It addresses a broad sweep of regulations governing international investment and reveals the Obama administration’s advocacy for policies that environmental activists, financial reform advocates and labor unions have long rejected for eroding key protections currently in domestic laws.

Under the agreement currently being advocated by the Obama administration, American corporations would continue to be subject to domestic laws and regulations on the environment, banking and other issues. But foreign corporations operating within the U.S. would be permitted to appeal key American legal or regulatory rulings to an international tribunal. That international tribunal would be granted the power to overrule American law and impose trade sanctions on the United States for failing to abide by its rulings.