2/02/16
I donated to an election campaign for the first time today. I donated to the campaign of Bernie Sanders.
I don't only like Bernie Sanders because i agree with him, and think he is the most qualified, respectable, electable, honest, and smartest candidate. No, also like him because the political science nerd in me gets to geek out over him. He was 50 points behind Clinton when he started his campaign. He has no Super PAC. He has a complete grassroots political campaign the likes of which we have not seen in many many years. He is giving speeches to record breaking numbers of people, and in the month of January alone his campaign raised $20 million from contributions that averaged $27 apiece. His campaign exemplifies American Democracy. His campaign is the reward for the struggles of the Progressive era of Teddy Roosevelt. His campaign is proof that Citizens United and other organizations are unnecessary and the the American democratic process can work perfectly fine when the people pick the candidates and the nominees, not the parties and the billionaires. You may disagree with the views of Bernie Sanders. You may think it deplorable that a Democratic Socialist has made it this far. But what you cannot discredit, and what you cannot disrespect is the way he did it. Bernie Sanders has been preaching the same message since 1990. He has not wavered. He has not had a scandal. He has been himself. He also gives away four stickers with any donation of $15 or more. So those will be cool. Its always nice to get mail.
When Bernie Sanders says he doesn't have a Super PAC, some of you might not know what that means. It means that all of his money comes from individual people, or families. Adjusted for inflation, individuals are only allowed to give up to $2500 to any candidate. Any donation over $50 has to be reported to the IRS. This allows for transparency, and with the total donation amount low,, it is impossible for the candidate to be in the pockets of their donors, and to owe them favors once in office. In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the interest group Citizens United, and reestablished the legal president that "corporations are people too" and that limiting the amount of money that they could contribute to PAC's and in turn, contribute to candidates, is limiting the corporations right to "free speech" and is illegal. This was a huge ruling because not only did the court rule on the issue of the case, they went further and issued their own judicial review and overturned campaign finance rules that had been put in place in other trials. This opened up avenues for people like the Koch brothers to funnel billions of dollars to the candidate of their choice, helping them get elected, and in turn, getting policy that helps their cause once the candidate is in office. Now I could talk for hours about how horrific that actually is, but I hope that you can figure that out on your own.
But what Bernie has done is show that the people of America still care about politics. They still want their voice heard and when they scream all at once, they can be heard loud and clear. Bernie has not Super PAC's. Bernie gets his money from teachers, iron workers, administrators, fast food employees, college students, and the unemployed. Bernie gets his money from the people of America, and all he owes us in return is the platform he stands on and to honor the promises he has been making. But those promises have been made to all Americans, not to just a few very wealthy people.
I donated to the Sanders campaign 30 minutes ago, and already my $20 has done more good than the Koch brothers tens of millions have. Just ask Jeb Bush.
No comments:
Post a Comment