How to Stop the Flow of Money Between Corporations & Politicians

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday February 13, 2011 · 8:13 AM PST

2011/02/13 · 08:13

While millions of ordinary Americans are struggling with unemployment and declining standards of living, the levers of real power have been all but completely commandeered by the financial and corporate elite. It doesn’t really matter what ordinary people want. The wealthy call the tune, and the politicians dance. [...]
The poor, who are suffering from an all-out depression, are never heard from. In terms of their clout, they might as well not exist. The Obama forces reportedly want to raise a billion dollars or more for the president’s re-election bid. Politicians in search of that kind of cash won’t be talking much about the wants and needs of the poor. They’ll be genuflecting before the very rich.

...and that means corporations.

The only way to stop this is to stop the flow of money between corporations and the politicians they want to buy.

As any average person will tell you, the heart of the problem is that elected officials take money from interested parties. Whether it’s technically legal or not, accepting money as a public servant is a form of bribery, and it serves to fundamentally corrupt democracy.
We don’t let cops, customs agents, or federal judges take money from the people they’re serving. We should hold elected officials to the same standards. They should be out of the fundraising business altogether.

To pull this off you would first need an underlying constitutional amendment to provide a solid foundation. So here it is, in less than twenty words:

No elected member of the legislative or executive branch shall accept money, in-kind donations, offers of employment or anything of value from non-citizens of the United States.

What this does is recognize the (unfortunate) reality that, while corporations have been deemed "people," there is nothing that recognizes them as citizens. That said, this amendment would be a solid first step in excluding the ability of corporations, sovereign wealth funds, PACs and others from providing money to the campaigns of any incumbent politician.

More work needs to be done, of course. But this is the first step.

I know what you're thinking: no congressman will vote this amendment through to the states; no state politician will approve it. No matter. Under Article V of the Constitution, two-thirds of the states may apply for the creation of a convention to propose amendments and the Congress must then create one. I think we are at a moment in time that this could easily happen -- and it would have very broad support across the the political spectrum from the "tea party" Republicans to progressive Democrats and everyone in between.

If Egypt can do it, we can too.

Poll
0 votes Show Results

0 votes Vote Now!

This content was created by a Daily Kos Community member.

Make YOUR voice heard!

Comments are closed on this story.