Saving American Democracy–A Good Idea If You Care About Clean Energy–Or Anything Else

It’s been a while since I’m mentioned the corruption in the U.S. government brought about by the Citizens United decision that, coincidentally, was handed down exactly five years ago.  Long after it is overturned by what’s left of our democratic process, it will be remembered as a huge impediment to the will of the people of the 21st Century regarding everything we really care about:  a sane energy policy, Wall Street reform, a return to quality public education, and so forth.

Below is an excerpt from a piece on the subject I just saw from Bernie Sanders (I-VT) who’s fought hard to have this law removed, via his movement called “Saving American Democracy.”   Here, he writes:

Five years ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down one of the worst decisions in our nation’s history, Citizens United. My friend Russ Feingold said it best: “Speech doesn’t corrupt, money corrupts. And money isn’t speech.”

Want proof? Read any of the boilerplate “Road to 2016” stories about potential candidates and read what conservative insiders say when they compare Jeb Bush vs. Chris Christie, or Mitt Romney vs. Scott Walker — the most important factor for them is which potential candidate has the most millionaire and billionaire supporters. And it’s not just presidential candidates — a whole class of senators was just elected and reelected in 2014 by riding a wave of corporate money — and one of them is now Senate majority leader.

For anyone interested:  here’s the petition I just signed on the subject, and here’s a link to another powerful force in this arena: MoveToAmend.Org.