One of the many privileges of living in a democracy is the ability of each of us to have an equal say about how we are governed. Through elections, our lawmakers can be held accountable for how well they fight for the interests of the people they represent.
In theory, our legislature should be a reflection of the values and priorities that truly resonate with voters. However, thanks to decisions made by the Supreme Court in recent years and the resulting avalanche of money into our democracy, the ability for everyday Americans to have our concerns heard and addressed by our elected officials is dwindling.
In 2010, this nation’s highest court struck a massive blow to the promise of a government that is of the people, by the people, and for the people in its ruling on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The court’s decision gave unprecedented political power to big businesses by allowing them to spend unlimited sums of money influencing elections.
This drastic move, coupled with other damaging decisions, has helped to create a representative body that is far more responsive to the whims of big corporations and a small collection of billionaires than to the needs of the American people. Americans are angry that their voices are increasingly hard to hear in the face of tremendous spending by wealthy special interests.
It might be easy to lose hope about a system that appears to be irrevocably broken. Moreover, sometimes the politics on Capitol Hill seem so endlessly complicated that it’s impossible to sort out the elected officials who are trying to fix the problem from those who are just trying to get reelected.
But this month, the Senate voted on a viable — and just as important, clear — solution: the Democracy for All Amendment, a proposal with enormous grassroots support that would amend the Constitution to overturn cases like Citizens United and help get big money out of politics. It’s an amendment supported by the American people — of all political stripes. Polling consistently shows that nearly three in four voters support an amendment.
With midterm elections on the horizon, voters should take a look at how their senators voted on the Democracy for All Amendment. While the amendment didn’t garner sufficient votes to pass, a majority of senators (54) voted in support of it. When you include one senator, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), who wasn’t able to be there for the vote but backs this proposal, a historic 55 senators are on record in support of the amendment. But all 100 had an opportunity to cast their vote in support of an idea to restore our “one person, one vote” ideal, and many chose not to do so.
Did your senator vote the right way? In many of the hotly contested Senate and congressional races around the country, the role of big money in politics will be a lynchpin issue by which voters judge the candidates.
At a time when public approval ratings for Congress are at record lows, dysfunction and gridlock seem like permanent features of the federal government. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Passing an amendment to overturn decisions like Citizens United would mark a crucial first step in getting rid of the undue influence of corporate and special interest wealth that is preventing solutions to meet the needs of everyday Americans.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
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