Money in Politics Resources
Money in Politics Resources
Videos
Terry Streichen’s 2012 Presentation on Republic, Lost by Laurence Lessig (Youtube of UUSJ presentation from 99 percenters of UU Congregation of Fairfax)
Larry Lessig’s Appeal to Save Democracy, 2012, (Youtube video)
Our Rigged Political System, 2014, – David Simon on Moyers and Company Feb. 4, 2014
Documentary: “Heist: Who Stole the American Dream” 2011 Excellent historical explanation of how we got where we are today going back to the secret memo “Attack on American Free Enterprise System” by future Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell for the US Chamber of Commerce – end game business control of law and politics. www.heist-themovie.com/
Documentary PBS Frontline: “Big Sky, Big Money” 2012 Shows how the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision changed campaigns in America. “Reveals the anatomy of campaign finances on steroids…” http://video.pbs.org/video/2298009584/
Books
Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress–and a Plan to Stop It 2011 by Lawrence Lessig
Winner-Take-All Politics 2010 by Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson
Democracy, Inc. 2010 by Sheldon Wolin portrays a country where citizens are politically uninterested and submissive–and where elites are eager to keep them that way. At best the nation has become a “managed democracy” where the public is shepherded, not sovereign. At worst it is a place where corporate power no longer answers to state controls. Wolin makes clear that today’s America is in no way morally or politically comparable to totalitarian states like Nazi Germany, yet he warns that unchecked economic power risks verging on total power and has its own unnerving pathologies. Wolin examines the myths and mythmaking that justify today’s politics, the quest for an ever-expanding economy, and the perverse attractions of an endless war on terror. He argues passionately that democracy’s best hope lies in citizens themselves learning anew to exercise power at the local level.
Unequal Protection 2002 by Thom Hartmann – An excellent book on Citizens United
Corporations are not People 2012 by Jeff Clements
OpEd Pieces
Why the First Issue Is Money in Politics 2014 (blog article from Moyers and Company) Because it impacts virtually every other issue. From achieving tax reform to fighting climate change to strengthening the social safety net, we will see no progress until the wealthy entities that benefit can no longer buy up politicians to prevent the status quo from changing.
How to make the ‘Citizens United’ decision worse 2012 Kent Greenfield in the Washington Post
The Problem With Citizens United Is Not Corporate Personhood 2012 James Marc Leas and Rob Hager for Truth-Out.org
Reversing Citizens United: stripping the Roberts 5 of power over elections 2012 Larry Kachimba in OpEd News
Organizations
United for the People . . . a portal to access current campaigns, upcoming events, and relevant information for activists and institutions who wish to support the efforts to amend the Constitution to rectify our broken democracy.
Public Citizen . . . Corporations have their lobbyists in Washington, D.C. The people need advocates too. Public Citizen serves as the people’s voice in the nation’s capital. Since our founding in 1971, we have delved into an array of areas, but our work on each issue shares an overarching goal: To ensure that all citizens are represented in the halls of power.
Common Cause (organization/website) . . . a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 1970 by John Gardner as a vehicle for citizens to make their voices heard in the political process and to hold their elected leaders accountable to the public interest. Today, Common Cause is one of the most active, effective, and respected nonprofit organizations working for political change in America. Common Cause strives to strengthen our democracy by empowering our members, supporters and the general public to take action on critical policy issues.
Move to Amend (organization/website) . . . a coalition of hundreds of organizations and hundreds of thousands of individuals committed to social and economic justice, ending corporate rule, and building a vibrant democracy that is genuinely accountable to the people, not corporate interests.
Unitarian Universalist Economic Justice Resources