Fair Elections Now Act

Not much has changed since Will Rogers said “We have the best Congress money can buy.”

Wealthy special interests still trade big campaign contributions for special treatment from Congress on a regular basis.

One example is BP, the corporation responsible for the Gulf oil spill, which has given over 6 million dollars to candidates in the last 20 years.

It’s time to change the system so that Congress will work for the people – not the big-money special interests.

Tell your members of Congress to support the Fair Elections Now Act today.

The Fair Elections Now Act would set up a public financing system for qualified congressional candidates.

Public campaign financing would break big money’s stranglehold on our government, by helping candidates to run competitive campaigns without taking money from corporate lobbyists and PACs.

Many of America’s problems can be traced to our poorly regulated campaign finance system – where candidates for Congress take money from wealthy special interests in return for political favors.

The BP oil spill disaster is just one example of the harm caused by big money in politics. The oil industry’s political contributions helped BP avoid having to install crucial safety features on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that could have stopped the spill.

Outrageously, BP may avoid paying for the damage it caused thanks to a liability cap passed by Congress after the devastating 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

It’s not hard to understand why Congress lets the oil companies have their way – the oil and gas industry gave a whopping $22.9 million to congressional candidates in 2008, and has already given $9.7 million in the 2010 election cycle.

Elected officials should be accountable only to the voters and the public good – not big corporations scheming behind the scenes to purchase political outcomes.

Tell your members of Congress to support the Fair Elections Now Act today.

I have been interested in politics for two years at most. I have only become a political geek as of the last few months. Over that time I have become convinced that we need real progressive change to lift up this country and make it great again. I have also become convinced that to do that we need real, systematic change. That can mean a lot of things but in this case I am talking about changing the way the political process works. To make a progressive America we need full public financing of elections for all elections. We need media reform that will restore balance and reason to the political debate in our country. We need a transparent government so the people can hold the politicians accountable. We need election reform to insure all political voices have a say and that everyone who wants to vote can vote. We need to reign in the power of corporate lobbyists.

In short we need to close all the loopholes that allow the rich and powerful in this country to have a larger say in democracy then average people. I believe that out of all the candidates running Barack Obama is the one who will do the most to implement these systematic reforms.

Tag: Fair Elections Now Act

Stop BP and big money from buying Congress – take action for public campaign financing

Barack Obama will change the system