https://www.dailykos.com/news/MartinGilens News Community Action Copyright 2005 - Steal what you want Tue, 28 Jan 2020 02:00:35 +0000 Tue, 28 Jan 2020 02:00:35 +0000 Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) https://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/6/17/1307608/-Americans-Can-Do-Anything <p>Ketchup king H.J. Heinz Co. announced last week that it’s working with Ford <a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2014/06/10/Heinz-s-tomato/stories/201406100142">to convert tomato waste into auto parts.</a>Now that’s an innovative Fusion!</p> <p>In addition, it is further proof that Americans can do anything. They sent a man to the moon and a rover to Mars. They discovered a way to inoculate against the scourge of polio. They invented the slinky and the Internet, jazz and baseball. They overcame a civil war and the Great Depression.</p> <p>Americans have proved over two and a half centuries that they can do anything when imbued with the exhilaration of self-determination. Americans fought a revolution to secure this self-empowerment. They would control their own destinies, not some arbitrary king. That, however, is all threatened because right wingers on the Supreme Court gave a minority – the wealthy – legal sanction to buy the government. Now, democracy-loving Americans are demanding a constitutional amendment to return governing to the majority. &nbsp;</p> rss@dailykos.com (Leo W Gerard) Bernie Sanders BernieSanders BuckleyValeo ChuckSchumer Citizens United CitizensUnited CommonCause Congress Ford H.JHeinz Koch Brothers KochBrothers MartinGilens Mayday PAC MaydayPAC McCutcheon Move To Amend MoveToAmend PeoplefortheAmericanWay Public Citizen PublicCitizen SuperPACtoendallSuperPACs Tom Udall TomPerkins TomUdall _1307608 Tue, 17 Jun 2014 15:13:39 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/4/20/1293431/-Redressing-the-oligarchs-because-the-money-matters <blockquote>"Congress shall make no law respecting...the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." - First Amendment to the United States Constitution, and the Bill of Rights</blockquote> We are Constitutionally empowered to redress the actions of our government, or its inaction, in matters both social and criminal. American activism is the quintessential expression of that guaranteed right. <p>Some put their talk to their feet, and march in protest. Some put their grievances to paper, press or keyboard, and some express with their wallets, either by withholding money through boycotts or by making it rain on a politician or a cause. The latter, it should be noted, has become a grievance in itself, for fear the Supreme Court decisions in Citizens United and McCutcheon will give some voices an unfair advantage when it comes to petitioning for change.</p> <p>Such is the case with the recent attacks by Democratic leaders on the obscenely wealthy, conservative buttresses, Charles and David Koch. "These two brothers are trying to buy America," Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid (D-Nevada) declared on the floor of the upper chamber, in late February.</p> <p>Because they throw so much money at their robber baron agenda, laced with an unhealthy obsession against government and taxes, the Kochs have become an anathema to progressives and the liberal base of the Democrats. They also have the social sensitivity of Marie Antoinette.</p> rss@dailykos.com (ProseAndThorn) Affordable Care Act AffordableCareAct BenjaminPage Campaign Finance CampaignFinance Elections2014 Koch Brothers KochBrothers MartinGilens Oligarchy Politics Supreme Court SupremeCourt _1293431 Mon, 21 Apr 2014 00:46:04 +0000