As a Montana newspaper editorial succinctly put it: “The greatest living issue confronting us today is whether the corporations shall control the people or the people shall control the corporations.”
That might sound like it was written in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling. But it was actually in 1906, back when Montanans were rising up against out-of-state mining corporations known as the “copper kings.” Those corporate powers were exploiting Montana’s workforce, extracting its public resources, and routinely extending bribes to control its government.
In 1912, however, the people passed the Corrupt Practices Act, a citizens’ initiative that outlawed direct corporate expenditures in elections for state office.
The law broke the copper kings’ legislative chokehold, and a century later, it was still working to put people power over money politics. Even today, the average cost of state senate races in Montana stands at only $17,000. This low cost enables candidates to spend more time talking to everyday folks, and it contributes to one of America’s highest voter-turnout rates.
Doesn’t that sound like a model of democracy in action? Well, it was, until an out-of-state corporate front group rode in like copper kings to sue the state. With a pack of high-dollar lawyers and a bundle of corporate funding, the group wailed that Montana’s anti-corruption law discriminates against poor corporations, denying them their First Amendment “right” to have the biggest voice in government that money can buy.
And now, the five corporate hacks controlling the Supreme Court have ratified the front group’s ridiculous argument, imperiously shoving Montana’s law into the ditch and re-imposing the rule of special interest money over the people’s will.
To stop this court’s coup against our democracy, we the People must pass a constitutional amendment overturning these decisions. To help, go to: www.United4ThePeople.org.
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.
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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.
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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.
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With love, rage, and solidarity,
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