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    • Reclaim Our Democracy With Emma’s Revolution
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    • Suppressed: The Fight to Vote
    • Born on Third Base – Chuck Collins
    • POTUS 1: The Next Fight for Democracy – Lawrence Lessig
    • Alexandra Chandler – Taking Big Money Out of Politics
    • How Democracies Die
    • Dark Money Film Screening and Mass. Ballot Question #2 Discussion
    • How Best to Rescue Our Representative Democracy – with Rick Hubbard
    • Candidates Forum – 3rd Congressional District, 14th Middlesex District
    • National Citizen Leadership Conference
    • The Role of Faith Communities in Times of Social Unrest
    • March for Our Lives Boston
    • The Women’s March 2018: The People Persist
    • Daring Democracy
      • ‘Daring Democracy’ Book Discussion
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What’s happening?

Economic Inequality is Increasing in the U.S.

The U.S. is the richest country on earth, with 41.6% of the world’s total global personal wealth (China is in second place with 10.5%), yet more than one fifth of the children in the U.S. live in households with incomes below the poverty line.

To truly understand the amount of wealth inequality in the U.S., please watch this short video, and review these 9 charts.

Economic inequality, the gap between the rich and everyone else, has been increasing over the last three decades in the U.S. And nearly all of the economic gains over the past few years have gone to those at the top.

Between 1979 and 2007, paycheck income of the top 1 percent of U.S. earners exploded by over 256 percent, while the bottom 90% of earners have seen little change in their average income. If you would like to learn more about escalating inequality, watch this 24 minute video What the 1% Don’t Want You to Know.

It is important to recognize that as economic inequality grows larger in a society, health and social problems such as drug and alcohol addiction, obesity, life expectancy and social mobility get worse. To better understand the negative impacts of economic inequality watch this 16 minute video How Economic Inequality Harms Societies.

The Influence of Big Money On Our Federal Government

With their enormous monetary contributions to national election campaigns, a fairly small number of very  wealthy individuals are able to exert significant influence on our federal government. Of the top ten largest contributors to the 2018 election, six gave huge amounts to Democratic and Liberal causes (between $12 and $94 million), and four gave similarly huge contributions (between $12 and $123 million) to Republican and Conservative causes.  Our country was founded to have government “of the people, by the people and for the people”, and that is not happening at this point in our history.  “We the people” have little voice in how we are governed. Large donations from corporations, PACS and billionaires now have a much stronger voice in our federal government and many of our state governments. Decisions are made and laws are passed that are driven by their needs, not the needs of the rest of us.

What was designed to be a government of checks and balances among its three branches has been corrupted by these moneyed interests, and as a result, our people are suffering the consequences.

Executive Branch

Our current president was elected with fewer popular votes than his main opponent in a contest sullied by huge amounts of money, negative advertising, Russian hacking and ill-timed FBI comments. His main opponent in the election spent over $1 billion in a losing effort, much of it on negative advertising. In some cases corporations and other donors gave millions of dollars to both campaigns, with the hope of buying influence.

In President Trump’s initial efforts to “drain the swamp” he put in place cabinet officials that were wealthy and appeared not to be focused on the needs of average Americans. He himself has faced conflicts of interest between his own businesses and the job of being president.

Legislative Branch

Our legislators work in a system that requires them to spend about half their time raising money. In order to raise the enormous sums of money needed to run for office and stay in office, legislators must turn to corporations, PACS, special interest groups, billionaires, and their own political party joint fundraising committees. The current system practically requires it. Legislators cannot help but be influenced by the needs of the groups that fund them. They are dependent on this money for their political survival.

In working to support the needs of their respective groups of big money contributors, congress has become increasingly divided and unable to govern effectively. In 2017 the former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan admitted that his party spent the prior ten years just saying no to whatever was suggested by the democratic President or other legislators. “Being against things was easy to do. You just had to be against it.”  When the Republicans took control of both Houses of government in 2017, the Democrats then did their best to just say no. Legislators on both sides appear unable to explore good ideas, work out compromises and pass good legislation. “We have to do some soul-searching internally to determine whether or not we are even capable of functioning as a governing body,” said Representative Kevin Cramer, Republican of North Dakota.

And the proof of this big money influence is in the 2017 tax bill that passed in congress and was signed by the President.

Judicial Branch

And finally, the branch of government that we turn to for absolute objectivity, the Judicial branch headed by the Supreme Court, has itself made decisions that appear to be driven by moneyed interests. In 1976, in Buckley vs. Valeo, the Supreme Court ruled that spending money to influence elections is constitutionally protected under the First Amendment. In effect saying that money is speech. In 2010 Citizens United vs. Federal Elections Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that there would be no limit on the amount that corporations could spend on political advertising.

If you would like to learn a bit more about the current situation, read this excellent article Liz Kennedy: Corporate Capture Threatens Democratic Government.

It is very clear that big moneyed interests have an enormous influence on our government. Please read the next section How Did this Happen? to better understand why we are in this situation.

Our Mission


Reclaim Our Democracy is an inclusive, collaborative, multi-partisan movement to limit and control the corrupting influence of money on elections and politicians.

Our goal is to reclaim our democratic rights as citizens of the United States of America to have a government that truly represents and supports the needs and desires of all people.

Editorial

Our Country’s Future

Election 2020 – Please Ask Your Friends and Family to Vote!

Find a wealth of state specific voter information at the Fair Elections Center.

Check your voter registration, register to vote, get your absentee ballot, locate your polling place, and get election reminders at Vote.org.

Additional voting information.

Events

Reclaim Our Democracy with Emma’s Revolution Some of the music from the Oct. 24 concert is available on their Facebook page

The Fall Elections: Voter Access, Safety and Security, with U.S. Representative Lori Trahan; video now available.

Democracy in Chains, with Duke Professor Nancy MacLean, Friday, March 6. Video now available!

Inside Beacon Hill: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, with State Representatives Tami Gouveia and Jon Hecht, held Tuesday, Jan. 14, at First Parish in Concord. Video now available!

How Democracies Die video of presentation now available

To view a calendar with Massachusetts area events related to Campaign Finance Reform and the passage of the 28th Amendment, visit our calendar/events page.

Facebook

To read more about current news and events regarding campaign finance reform and the corrupting influence of money in politics, and engage in online conversation, please click here to visit the Reclaim Our Democracy Facebook group page.

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