----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, January 28, 2010 3:47 PM
Subject: Supreme Court
|
Dear MoveOn member,
Last time, far-right Congressman Joe Wilson shouted "You Lie." Last night, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was only slightly more graceful.1
It's never been more clear that the current Supreme Court is dominated by right-wing partisans, and last week, they issued the most scandalous decision since Bush v. Gore by opening the floodgates to unlimited campaign spending by corporations.2
Today we're launching a massive new campaign to end corporate domination of American politics.
We'll demand a constitutional amendment to directly reverse the Supreme Court decision, and we'll fight for essential changes like the Fair Elections Now Act, to give small-donor-backed populist candidates a chance against the corporate big guns.
It'll be a huge fight and we need to know if we'll have the resources to proceed. It'll take $200,000 right away to start strong, and that'll take at least 3 donations from your area. Are you in? Please help with a contribution of $5 today. Click here:
This new tsunami of corporate money in elections is on top of the tremendous power corporate lobbyists already have on Capitol Hill—just look at health care reform to see what a few hundred million dollars from big corporations can do.3
With this Court decision, Big Insurance could spend as much as they want to support Joe Lieberman in his efforts to keep watering down health care reform. And ExxonMobil or BP can spend millions to elect candidates who oppose clean energy. It's a disastrous decision with a disastrous outcome.
That's why we're launching a major new campaign to break the stranglehold that corporate influence has over our politics, and over all of President Obama's agenda, and we're going really big.
We'll push Congress to pass a real "fair elections" bill that will make sure politicians rely on money from real people in their home districts instead of major multi-national corporations. We'll fight to kick lobbyists out of the back room negotiations on Capitol Hill. And together we'll tackle the single biggest and best solution to the corporate corruption problem: A constitutional amendment to undo the damage of the horrible Supreme Court decision.4
Over the course of the next year we'll:
- Expose the ties between big oil, insurance and Wall Street CEOs and politicians who stand in the way of the change Americans want
- Invest in a major organizing effort to rally voters in every district to hold their representatives accountable for taking corporate money and then watering down critical reform
- Launch tough ads that shine a light on the corrupting influence of corporate interests on crucial public priorities.
This is obviously an enormous challenge and, honestly, it'll take a lot of resources to run a truly strong effort. It's going to take at least 3 people from your area today to make sure we can kick off the campaign. Can you chip in $5 today?
Nothing less than our democracy is at stake. But together, we can begin to turn the tide.
Thanks for all you do.
–Nita, Kat, Adam, Ilya, and the rest of the team
P.S. Last week, MoveOn.org President Eli Pariser wrote an opinion column for The Wall Street Journal showing how corporate control of politics has dramatically limited progress in President Obama's first year—and explaining how we can fight back. Click here to read it:
1.
"Justice Samuel Alito Mouths 'Not True' During State of the Union," Politics Daily, January 28, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=86336&id=18760-15853379-QXDoa5x&t=7
"Justice
Samuel Alito channels Joe Wilson during State of the Union," Daily Kos,
January 27, 2010
http://www.dailykos.com/tv/w/002512/
2.
"Justices Overturn Key Campaign Limits," The New York Times,
January 21, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=86098&id=&t=5&id=18760-15853379-QXDoa5x&t=8
"Lobbyists
Get Potent Weapon in Campaign Finance Ruling," The New York Times,
January 21, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=86104&id=&t=6&id=18760-15853379-QXDoa5x&t=9
3.
"New Lobbying Reports Show Big Business Keeps Spending to Influence
Politics," Center for Responsive Politics, January 21, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=86337&id=18760-15853379-QXDoa5x&t=10
4.
"The Solutions: Three Ways to Curb Excessive Corporate Money in
Politics," Public Citizen, accessed January 28, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=86338&id=18760-15853379-QXDoa5x&t=11
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