The time has come.
Today marks the launch of an interesting new bi-partisan campaign to get corporate money out of U.S. politics. Two new sites - Represent.Us and AntiCorruptionAct.org - contain lots of information about the effort, so I'll only scratch the surface in boiling down the elements of the American Anti-Corruption Act:
1) Stop the Bribery - ban lobbyists from donating to politicians or otherwise lavishing them with 'freebies' to influence decision-making.
2) End Secret Money - require full transparency and disclosure of donors who contribute to politicians via bundlers.
3) People Over PACs - impose strict limits on PACs, and give voters an annual $100 tax rebate to spend supporting the candidate or party of their choice.
Why? Well, here's a short video explaining why you should care about this and why you should tell everyone you know to support it as well.
If you're interested in getting involved, become a citizen co-sponsor of the Anti-Corruption Act now, and spread the word far and wide.
This initiative was organized by the fine folks at United Republic.
Here is a bit more about the concept:
Sweeping campaign reform legislation called the American Anti-Corruption Act was unveiled today by a bi-partisan group that includes legal scholars, political experts, consumer advocates, Tea Party supporters and Occupy Wall Street activists.
The campaign was introduced by a panel of key supporters: Trevor Potter, former chairman of the Federal Election Commission and a former senior advisor to President George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain; Theodore Roosevelt IV, an investor and the great-grandson of President Roosevelt; Lawrence Lessig of Harvard Law; Richard Painter, chief White House ethics officer for President George W. Bush, and consumer advocate Josh Silver, who is the campaign director.
The American Anti-Corruption Act will be introduced first to the American people – not Congress. This is a dramatic departure from past attempts at campaign reform, which for decades have focused largely on Washington. The grassroots campaign to pass the act is called Represent.Us.
...
The American Anti-Corruption Act, almost two years in the making, has attracted a broad coalition of supporters, representing a wide mix of political views.
They include:
*Tom Whitmore (DC Tea Party Patriots)
*Cecelia Frontero (Occupy Wall Street)
*Mark McKinnon (Republican Strategist)
*Susan McCue (Democratic Strategist)
*Dennis Kelleher (CEO, Better Markets)
*Jack Abramoff (former Super Lobbyist)
Learn more at Represent.Us