Blow To Fair Elections

Until we get money out of politics and make lobbying, as it is known today, obsolete, we do not have a Democracy and won't If the last 25 years have done anything, they should have made that crystal clear.

Now we're to the point where we don't even have to vote; the GOP owned voting machines do that as well. The most convenient Democracy on earth is no Democracy at all.

TomPaine.com - Blow To Fair Elections:

"At a time when elected officials are being marched off to jail for corrupt activities, Monday's Supreme Court decision on Vermont's campaign finance law gives money an even larger role in elections.

While the immediate effect of the decision is modest,, except in Vermont, the signs are not good. The decision tells us that we must put to bed any pretensions we might have that the currently constituted Supreme Court is a friend to fairness in political opportunity. It also tells us the work to limit big money is back in our hands.

A quick summary of the decision shows that Vermont's comprehensive reform law is largely gutted. Nationwide, spending limits are out, while contribution limits are still OK, though some laws may now be challenged. And this decision should strengthen our resolve to pass public campaign financing at the local, state and federal level.

When Vermont residents looked at their political culture in 1997, they were concerned that the kind of 'big-money politics' that dominates so many places in America might be corrupting Vermont, too. So they held many days of hearings and took testimony from scores of legislators and citizens about bills that weren't passed because of contributors' interests, positions that weren't taken and self-censorship by elected officials. After all that was done, they passed a law to keep big money from corrupting their state's politics."