Your chance to limit corporate influence
Americans just don’t seem to agree on much these days. However, the one thing they can agree on is the need to get all this unregulated, unlimited and anonymous money out of politics.
In 2010, the Supreme Court interpreted the Constitution, then handed down what has become it’s most significant and disastrous decision in a generation ... Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission. The Supreme Court said corporations have First Amendment rights to spend unlimited (not reported) amounts of money to influence the outcome of elections. We know that some of this money is even coming from foreign governments and foreign corporations.
A poll by Hart Research Associates found that 82 percent of voters believe that Congress should limit the amount of money that corporations can spend on elections.
A MoveOn.org poll found that 77 percent of people believe corporate spending represents “an attempt to bribe our politicians.” Is it any wonder why there is a general feeling of mistrust for our elected officials? How can we trust they are speaking for the middle class?
The Hart survey also found broad, bipartisan support for the notion of amending the U.S. Constitution to affirm that corporations do not have the same rights as people, effectively overturning Citizens United.
What the polls tell us is that we have more in common than we care to admit. Americans are increasingly feeling marginalized by their own political system.
Every Kane County voter has a voice in the November election to vote yes on a ballot question that calls to limit the amount of money that SuperPACs and special interests groups can give to candidates and parties to buy our democracy and sell it to the highest bidders.
Joni Lindgren
Elgin