United Republic and the Plan to Fix America

[Saturn500]

http://act.unitedrepublic.org/event/cosponsor/3289

So, these people have a plan to stop corporations from making campaign contributions.

The plan involves a new law and... You know what? Just click the link, please.

[erictheblue]

1) Is there somewhere we can see the text of the proposed legislation?

2) I suspect this law (if passed) would be struck down under Citizens United.

[DiscoBerry]

Someone just got their degree in Politics and Government, and thinks that they are going to change the world.  Sweet isn't it.   

[Saturn500]

1) Is there somewhere we can see the text of the proposed legislation?

Hm... strange. All there is is a list of things in the law.

(click to show/hide)

This law is written by constitutional attorneys to overhaul the system
 without requiring a constitutional amendment reversing Citizens United.

★

Shine a light on dark money groups and their secret donors.

★

Outlaw members of Congress from taking donations from the entities they regulate.

★

Close the revolving door between Congress and K Street so politicians (and their staff) aren’t trading their power in
 exchange for cushy jobs when they leave office.

★

Foster small donor contributions through citizen-funded elections.
 (If we shut out corrupting money, we need to enable clean money.
 Because like it or not, it costs money to run for office.)

★

Stop Super PACs and dark money groups from coordinating with campaigns.

★

Disempower Super PACs while protecting the free speech rights of Americans.

★

Expand the definition of lobbying to include all types of influence peddlers.

★

Limit political activities of secretly funded “501c” tax exempt organizations.

Someone just got their degree in Politics and Government, and thinks that they are going to change the world.  Sweet isn't it.   

Well, excuuuuse me, princess!

[ironbite]

LOOK AT ALL THOSE HOPES AND DREAMS THAT WILL NEVER COME TRUE!

[m52nickerson]

1) Is there somewhere we can see the text of the proposed legislation?

Hm... strange. All there is is a list of things in the law.

No text, no sign.  At least for me.  It's easy to say that the law is written in a way that will bypass the Supreme Court Decision but it is another thing to do it, and have the Supreme Court rule in favor of the law when it gets to them. 

[Distind]

Yeah, I wouldn't expect significant change until a few of the justices have died, and even then reversing a previous court's decision is difficult.

I might sign if there was text, but without it for all I know they're lying out their ass and this is a corporate welfare bill in a fuzzy wrapper.

[Saturn500]

I've e-mailed them asking for the text of the law.

[DiscoBerry]

1) Is there somewhere we can see the text of the proposed legislation?

Hm... strange. All there is is a list of things in the law.

(click to show/hide)

This law is written by constitutional attorneys to overhaul the system
 without requiring a constitutional amendment reversing Citizens United.

★

Shine a light on dark money groups and their secret donors.

★

Outlaw members of Congress from taking donations from the entities they regulate.

★

Close the revolving door between Congress and K Street so politicians (and their staff) aren’t trading their power in
 exchange for cushy jobs when they leave office.

★

Foster small donor contributions through citizen-funded elections.
 (If we shut out corrupting money, we need to enable clean money.
 Because like it or not, it costs money to run for office.)

★

Stop Super PACs and dark money groups from coordinating with campaigns.

★

Disempower Super PACs while protecting the free speech rights of Americans.

★

Expand the definition of lobbying to include all types of influence peddlers.

★

Limit political activities of secretly funded “501c” tax exempt organizations.

Someone just got their degree in Politics and Government, and thinks that they are going to change the world.  Sweet isn't it.   

Well, excuuuuse me, princess!

I meant the people who created the website not you. 

[Veras]

Someone just got their degree in Politics and Government, and thinks that they are going to change the world.  Sweet isn't it. 

Trust me, the creator of that site does not have a degree in Political Science.

Citizens cannot introduce legislation to Congress, so before they find congressional co-sponsors, they'll need an actual sponsor.  Legislation does not pass without being modified, that's just not how Congress works.  And some provisions listed were unconstitutional even before the Citizens United ruling.  There is also the important fact that the only people who would be hurt by these laws are politicians, and getting a group of them to make their own lives more difficult is pretty unlikely.

It's a lovely list of ideas, but the only way that it could possibly stand is if it were a constitutional amendment, and that's definitely not going to happen.

[Rabbit of Caerbannog]

Just to echo (steal?) what everyone else is saying, what's needed is either a shift on the Supreme Court to the left or a Constitutional amendment. The SCOTUS struck down a similar campaign finance law in Montana, thus applying Citizens United to the states.

Also, props on the web design, I do like it. Reminds me of the Anti-Flag web site.