Using Your Vote In Our "Destroyed Democracy"

Using Your Vote In Our "Destroyed Democracy"

by C. A. Matthews  

Readers might have noticed that TRC has spent very little blog space on the US midterms this time around. There are a couple of reasons for this. First off, since we’re open to guest bloggers expressing whatever is on their mind at the moment, we let our readers/bloggers set the pace in regards to posts about elections. We haven’t had anyone really interested in writing about the 2022 midterms, so there’s that.

Secondly—and perhaps most importantly—is this reason: Why bother?

Really, what difference will it make to ordinary working class Americans which of the establishment factions has the majority in the US House or Senate? What difference will our votes make one way or the other when study after study (starting with the infamous Princeton Study) demonstrate that our elected officials completely ignore the bottom 90% of American voters and only listen to those with the most money?

Just get a load of these figures:

According to a report released Thursday by Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF), just 465 American billionaires had donated an unprecedented $881 million by the end of September — even before last-minute campaign pushes in the last five weeks before Election Day. This is already more than the amount that billionaires spent in the entirety of the 2018 midterm election.

 

Further, the vast majority of this spending — $643 million, or 73 percent — comes from just 20 billionaire households, including prominent figures like the Koch family, Peter Thiel, George Soros, Michael and Susan Bloomberg and Jeffrey Yass.  --465 Billionaires Have Pumped An Eye-Popping $881 Million Into the Midterms

 

In past elections, reading an article like the one above showing how many millions—excuse me, billions—are being spent by the oligarchs/billionaires to influence US governmental policy, our planet’s health, and our general welfare would have made me extremely irate. I might have suggested that you make a plan to go to the polls and vote for an independent or third party candidate to send the duopolists a strong message that we’re on to them and their corporate puppet masters. I might have led everyone in a chant of, "We’re mad as hell, and we’re not going to take it anymore!"
 
Nowadays, I’m more resigned to our fate. Those with the money will get their agenda passed with no problems, and there’s nothing we the poor and struggling workers can do about it. It's not like we can come up with over one billion dollars every election to bribe the candidates and take the reins away from our true masters and rulers, the billionaires, can we?

Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges puts it very well:

The bipartisan project of dismantling our democracy, which took place over the last few decades on behalf of corporations and the rich, has left only the outward shell of democracy. The courts, legislative bodies, the executive branch and the media, including public broadcasting, are captive to corporate power. There is no institution left that can be considered authentically democratic. The corporate coup d’état is over. They won. We lost.

The wreckage of this neoliberal project is appalling: endless and futile wars to enrich a military-industrial-complex that bleeds the U.S. Treasury of half of all discretionary spending; deindustrialization that has turned U.S. cities into decayed ruins; the slashing and privatization of social programs, including education, utility services and health care – which saw over one million Americans account for one-fifth of global deaths from Covid, although we are 4 percent of the world’s population; draconian forms of social control embodied in militarized police, functioning as lethal armies of occupation in poor urban areas; the largest prison system in the world; a virtual tax boycott by the richest individuals and corporations; money-saturated elections that perpetuate our system of legalized bribery; and the most intrusive state surveillance of the citizenry in our history.

In “The United States of Amnesia,” to quote Gore Vidal, the corporate press and the ruling class create fictional feel-good personas for candidates, treat all political campaigns as if it is a day at the races and gloss over the fact that on every major issue, from trade deals to war, there is very little difference between Democrats and Republicans. The Democratic Party and Joe Biden are not the lesser evil, but rather, as Glen Ford pointed out, “the more effective evil.”  --The Politicians Who Destroyed Our Democracy Want Us to Vote for Them to Save it 

All this is not to say that I’m not voting this time out and that you shouldn’t vote, either. It's just that, with what I know now, I’m not wasting my time voting for either the Republican or Democratic Parties’ candidates. Both establishment factions accept plenty of money from the billionaires, so their loyalty will always be pledged to the top 1% and not to bottom 99% of Americans. 

I’m willing to vote for any and all independent and third party candidates who don't take corporate cash, and I will voice my opinion on all local and state issues. In my case, that’s about one page out of several of the printed ballot. I will make my opinion known on these ballot issues since they are important to my community and directly affect our lives together. 

If there’s no electronic diddling with the vote count, then at least some form of democracy will occur in regards to those ballot issues. I see that as a “win” for the ordinary people. We might still have to put up a while longer with a corrupt system that blithely calls itself a “representative democracy” (watch this video for more about how easily corrupted that is), but at least we’re not running away scared with our tails between our legs. We are buying ourselves time to figure out how to rebuild our destroyed democracy.

We ordinary American voters should stand proud. We’re interested in our local communities' well-being. We don’t have to explain ourselves to anyone about why we didn’t waste time rubber-stamping a vote for a bunch of corporate candidates to make their billionaire bosses happy. There's no need for us to feel shame about not supporting the status quo with our votes. We proudly can leave these corporate sell-outs twisting in the wind, desperate to come up with a good excuse to explain why no decent hardworking American wanted to vote for them. 

I think the biggest joke this midterm election is on the billionaires. They think they’ve successfully bought off American “democracy.” Ha! We all know it doesn’t exist, and we're not keeping silent. We've got the perseverance to keep working toward building a government that doesn't include the likes of them.

Of course, the billionaires will be laughing all the way to the bank in the short term as their politician-puppets gift them billions of our tax dollars to produce weapons, weapons to pass on to another corrupt government under the guise of a proxy war. These Daddy Warbucks will then sell their leftover weapon stockpiles directly to the US war machine. The US war machine will bomb even more countries in our collective good name until these decimated countries are overflowing with “freedom and democracy” and a whole lot less of their natural resources and citizens. 

It's why the billionaires bought out the US government in the first place. How else are they supposed to make so much money? Work for it with their own hands like we peons do?

I hope you can see now that voting alone isn’t going to get us out of this mess. Voting isn’t going to stop the endless wars for oil and liquefied natural gas at the expense of innocent human beings’ lives. Voting red and blue and red and blue will do nothing because of you-know-who! Billionaires and their bought off cronies have a lock on our corrupt system of government. The only way We the People can take back power is by refusing to play along with their abusive games.

It’s like that well-worn adage that the Dems seem to enjoy shouting every couple of years: “This is the most important election of our lives!” These midterms are the most important elections of our lives but only because now we understand that we no longer need waste our time putting check marks in front of the red or blue candidates on the ballot. We know now how much a real democracy is worth and that it can’t be bought by anyone. It's priceless, and it's worth fighting for until we get it. 

So, whatever you decide to do this midterm election or in elections to come, feel proud. You're mad as hell, and you're smart enough not to fall for the duopolists' propaganda. That makes you a "winner" in my book. Don't let a bunch of soulless billionaires' puppets tell you otherwise.

 

Related Articles:   

UPDATE: Total Cost of 2022 State and Federal Elections Projected to Exceed $16.7 Billion https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2022/11/total-cost-of-2022-state-and-federal-elections-projected-to-exceed-16-7-billion

Congress Literally Doesn't Care What You Think https://act.represent.us/sign/problempoll-fba/

465 Billionaires Have Pumped An Eye-Popping $881 Million Into the Midterms https://truthout.org/articles/465-billionaires-have-pumped-an-eye-popping-881-million-into-the-midterms/

Chris Hedges: The Politicians Who Destroyed Our Democracy Want Us to Vote for Them to Save it  https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-politicians-who-destroyed-our

AIPAC Had a Banner Year in Election Meddling and We Should All Be Concerned  https://truthout.org/articles/aipac-had-a-banner-year-in-election-meddling-and-we-should-all-be-concerned/

US Again Isolated on UN Vote Against Its Cuba Blockade https://popularresistance.org/us-again-isolated-on-un-vote-against-its-cuba-blockade/

Why the US is Not a Democracy (video) https://youtu.be/srfeHpQNEAI 

Chris Hedges: Betrayed by Liberals (video) https://youtu.be/a-aVr6H0c3U 

The Racism of the Supreme Court Supermajority Was on Full Display This Week  https://scheerpost.com/2022/11/05/the-racism-of-the-supreme-courts-supermajority-was-on-full-display-this-week/

Seen on Twitter:

Democrats were never on our side for decades. We're all on our own. So not voting for either party won't do us any more damage than voting for them.

— Jaybefaunt🏳️‍🌈 (@Jaybefaunt) November 5, 2022

Didn't we vote Blue in 2020 to "save America" or is my brain misremembering that?

— 🛠T.M.Poe MSc 🆘️ (@Tyler_M_Poe) November 5, 2022

Where do I go to vote out the USA military industrial complex?

— REVOLUTION IS THE ONLY SOLUTION (@jorymicah) November 6, 2022

You are lucky if you live in a nation that has little natural resources. Your people didn’t get bombed, sanctioned or displaced because the US Govt just didn’t see any value in destroying your country. Congratulations.

— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) November 5, 2022

If Democrats gave a sh*t about Democracy they wouldn’t be trying their damned best to stop Greens and independents from running.

— nuno marqs ☭ (@marqsism) November 5, 2022

Weapons manufacturers run US foreign policy for both parties and they cannot be voted out.

— Blue Check Beth! (@torstrick) November 5, 2022

You don’t have to comply and vote for more corruption. In fact, the best way to vote in a duopoly that’s controlled by two corrupt parties who serve Wall Street and the War Machine is to open your ballot and vote for any candidate who does not have a D or an R next to their name.

— Ryan Knight ☭🕊 (@ProudSocialist) November 6, 2022

We Have To Fundamentally Change

 We Have To Fundamentally Change 

(What Are You Celebrating?)

Why should any American "celebrate" the results of this presidential election?

Many Americans are facing looming evictions and downsizing due to the pandemic, while the number of Covid cases increases daily, the death toll mounts, and many more are without affordable health care than ever before. And our president-elect has openly said he will veto any Medicare For All bill that crosses his desk--if one even gets that far.

If "nothing would fundamentally change," according to Mr. Biden, then it will be up to us--we have to fundamentally change. We have to become braver and more willing to take on the fixed, corrupt system and break it wide open. We can't let things remain static, unchanged, when our very lives and the fate of our planet stand in the balance.

Some have already started planning how they will bring about fundamental, progressive change and ask you to join them in their efforts: https://howiehawkins.us/keepfighting/

The general mood in the "Twitterverse" among true progressives about the results of this election cycle has been somber. The following examples illustrate their concerns and frustrations:

Ryan Knight (@ProudSocialist) tweets: Joe Biden is a neoliberal corporatist who has spent 47 years propping up our corrupt system. He is not a savior.

Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) tweets: Nice to hear speeches without the racist abuse of the past 4 years. But not a word of commitment to real solutions for the crises killing us - like M4A, Covid relief, a long-term eviction moratorium at the least. Platitudes don't make me want to celebrate.

A paraphrase of several good tweets: 

Sorry if I'm not quite as enthusiastic as you are that the proud author of the 1994 Crime Bill that has incarcerated thousands of Americans (especially those of color) and the backer of the US Iraq War that has caused huge loss of life in that country, as well as PTSD in American service personnel, is now in charge. Those sorts of things, and the people who are proud of their involvement in them, just don't appeal to me very much.

Jimmy Dore says, "Trump loses! Now what?"  It's a serious question. And he stresses, "We need an independent media that pushes politicians, not protects them." Listen to his valid complaints in the following video.

 https://youtu.be/gSYQYGAhcEQ

 Pulitzer Prize-Winner Chris Hedges puts it eloquently in his essay, American Requiem:

Well, it’s over. Not the election. The capitalist democracy. However biased it was towards the interests of the rich and however hostile it was to the poor and minorities, the capitalist democracy at least offered the possibility of incremental and piecemeal reform. Now it is a corpse. The iconography and rhetoric remain the same. But it is an elaborate and empty reality show funded by the ruling oligarchs — $1.51 billion for the Biden campaign and $1.57 billion for the Trump campaign — to make us think there are choices. There are not. The empty jousting between a bloviating Trump and a verbally impaired Joe Biden is designed to mask the truth. The oligarchs always win. The people always lose. It does not matter who sits in the White House. America is a failed state.

https://scheerpost.com/2020/11/05/chris-hedges-american-requiem/

On Facebook, a local activist voiced well what many are feeling this week:

Why I Will Not Be Celebrating the Election Results

by Sean Nestor

I will celebrate when single payer healthcare is enacted and people can receive medical treatment without it ruining their lives. I will celebrate when qualified immunity is ended, the police are demilitarized, and law enforcement offices aren't let off the hook for executing black people in the streets. I will celebrate when the concentration camps at our borders are closed down and migrant families are no long split apart and children no longer disappear into human trafficking rings. I will celebrate when we see a full troop withdrawal from the Middle East and we start using our tax dollars to fund much-needed domestic programs  instead of killing innocent people abroad.

If you think the Biden/Harris administration is going to do any of that, you're either uninformed or dishonest. Nothing in their campaign rhetoric nor their time in public office suggests that those will happen without borderline revolutionary activity from the public. And in the spirit of honesty, the vast majority of Democrats, in spite of the memes they share, are ready to go to brunch for the next four or eight years because Trump is gone.

I know this because I remember 2008 very clearly. At the time, we had two terms of a monster President who drug us into two costly and unnecessary wars, grew the police state in the name of counter-terrorism, and bailed out Wall Street on the back of working people everywhere. People bragged about voting for inanimate objects over Bush, as though lowering the bar like that was something to be proud of.

What we got starting in 2008 was eight years of "At least he's not Bush!" and a climate of shushing anyone who dared criticize the Democrat for not doing enough to address the real problems that were growing around him. Everything that was an outrage when Bush did it became defensible or just swept under the rug when Obama did it. I was practically spit on when I criticized Obama's continuation and expansion of military action in the Middle East, or his ramping up of deportations, or his refusal to promote single payer while supposedly tackling healthcare reform.

Well, that climate brought us Trump. In another four or eight years, mark my words, it will bring us someone even worse.

Cue the hand-wringing and frustrated pleas about the powerlessness of Democrats under a Republican Senate. Look--if Democrats can raise billions of dollars and organize tens of millions of people all over the country to vote someone into office, they can do the same to enact single payer healthcare or eliminate the electoral college or a major nationwide gerrymandering reform or something meaningful to change this country, regardless of the Senate's disposition. That's what politics are for.

Politics are all about figuring out how to enact policy in spite of obstacles, not pointing out obstacles and adjusting your standards accordingly. There is an extremely disgusting culture in the Democratic Party of competing over whose standards are lowest, giving up on ideals immediately and invoking some trite rhetoric about the importance of compromise in politics. But their compromise is always with Karl Rove or Steve Bannon and never Michelle Alexander or Aviva Chomsky. It's a lie comfortable people tell themselves to justify their own laziness and lack of compassion.

My standards are human rights standards, and I'm not lowering them come hell or high water. Call me privileged or elitist, but I'm not celebrating until I know for sure that we've genuinely protected the vulnerable minorities that are constantly preyed upon by this nation's governments.

I know victories are few and far between, and the temptation is high to celebrate them even when they are hollow, so I don't judge or begrudge anyone who wants to express their pleasure at the end of the Trump nightmare. I sincerely hope it provides you with relief and healing. But please don't repeat history and pretend like any of this marks a sea change in our country's politics. We seriously cannot afford a repeat of the smugness and complacency that brought us Trump, because at this trajectory, we're going to get a Trump again before we know it.

"The struggle of people against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting." --Milan Kundera

"Let them call me rebel and welcome, I feel no concern from it; but I should suffer the misery of devils, were I to make a whore of my soul." --Thomas Paine

 ***

 From Friends of the Earth:

Joe Biden will be our next President -- and he’s starting to fill powerful positions within our government. Take action to reject corporate lobbyists for key nominations.

Every President in recent memory has filled their government with appointees with close ties to large corporations. When corporate cronies are in government agencies and in the Cabinet, it provides them with the means to undermine protections Americans count on. Instead of considerations for the people, they favor rollbacks and giveaways for big business.

Pressure from people like you can stop the Senate from confirming corporate cronies for these positions. That’s why we’re asking you to demand our elected officials oppose the confirmation of any more corporate lobbyists.

Take Action: Demand the Senate reject corporate lobbyist appointees.

Sign Now

Biden will need to fill thousands of government positions -- from the head of the EPA to deputy secretaries at over a dozen agencies. These appointees have power to implement our environmental protections.

Look at what happened under Trump -- he appointed, and the Senate confirmed, fossil fuel lobbyist David Bernhardt to the Department of the Interior. Bernhardt has overseen huge giveaways of our public lands to benefit the fossil fuel industry.

The vast majority of Americans agree that large corporations have too much power. We need your help to change that!

Sign the Petition: No more conflicts of interest that benefit big business. No more corporate appointees.

Sign Now

Our elected officials must reject appointees with direct ties to big business. But without hearing from concerned American’s like you, C.A., they might not act.

Don’t let nominees with ties to mega-corporations make key decisions for the people. Demand corporate executives and lobbyists not be confirmed to any appointee positions.

25,000 Signatures still needed: Fight to reduce corporate power. 

Sign Now

Standing with you,
Ariel Moger,
Legislative & political coordinator,
Friends of the Earth Action

 ***

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If You Have The Oil...

If You Have The Oil... We Have The Democracy?

(Observations on the Advanced Symptoms of Late-Stage Capitalism)

by C. A. Matthews

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. (I Corinthians 13:11, NRSV)

Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away I believed that all wars served a noble purpose. You know what I mean. I believed that no country or group of people would ever start a war if it wasn't for a sound reason. My idea of sound reasons include a country could start a war because another country had invaded their territory, or a rogue group had threatened genocide against another group of human beings, and we couldn't in all good conscience stand by and let them do such an immoral thing.

I've grown up in the past few years in my "woke adulthood." I don't believe in childish things like you have to have a noble purpose behind every act of aggression in the world. In fact, the more I've studied and observed recent military interventions around the globe the more I've come to the conclusion that noble and moral intentions in warfare just get in the way.

It really all boils down to this rather Pythonesque statement: It's nothing personal--we just want your resources. Its corollary: We'll do anything we have to in order to get them.

Take America's recent interest in Venezuela. I'm far from being an expert on South American/USA affairs, but it doesn't take a Harvard PhD in political science to see what's going on. Venezuela sits on top of the world's largest reserves of petroleum. We want their oil. It's that simple.

"Oh, no, it can't be that obvious," many mainstream pundits protest. "We want to promote freedom and democracy in Venezuela. They have a socialist for a president and the people don't want him."

The reality? Nicolas Maduro won the presidency in May of 2018 with 67.8% of the vote--an election that the opposition boycotted. Juan Guaido received 0 votes in the last election, yet he is now considered the legitimate president of Venezuela?

It's hard to argue with the fact that Mr. Maduro is a very popular president, socialist or not, and by "promoting democracy" the US is helping stage a coup d'état to install a right-winger who never even ran for the office. Our chosen puppet Guaido would have never won the support of the majority of Venezuelans if he did. 

What do you call a government that attempts to install a person into a high office he wasn't even elected to according to his country's own laws?  I don’t know about you, but I wouldn't call a government that practices such crimes a democracy. Would you?

The echoes of our recent forays in Syria, where an oil pipeline was to be built--don't forget a good location is a resource to grab, too--only adds credence to the fact that the United States of America is simply an oil company with an army. When our Big Oil CEOs want more oil to sell, they tell our government to go a warring to get it if necessary. The war against Native Americans and their allies at Standing Rock demonstrates that hiring private mercenaries and drafting state troopers to shoot rubber bullets and tear gas into peaceful crowds isn't above (or is it below?) our puppet government's reach.

The US has ceased to be a nation of laws. It's transformed itself into a privately owned corporation ruled by oil-loving tyrants. The parasites called capitalists have almost taken over their host in its entirety now, and if they continue to feed on the greed, fear and ignorance of the populace the host will soon be no more. It may only take one more "war for oil" to do it.

You don't have to take my word for it. There are many experts to back me up, the incomparable Chris Hedges being one of them. In his article, The World to Come (https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-world-to-come/) he states: 

The nation’s isolation by its traditional allies and its inability, especially in the face of environmental catastrophe, to articulate rational and visionary policies have shattered the mystique that is vital to power. “A society becomes totalitarian when its structure becomes flagrantly artificial,” George Orwell wrote. “That is when its ruling class has lost its function but succeeds in clinging to power by force or fraud.” Our elites have exhausted fraud. Force is all they have left.

But all is not lost--we can cure the illness of late-stage capitalism, according to Hedges:

We must carry out organized civil disobedience and forms of non-cooperation to weaken corporate power. We must use, as in France, widespread and sustained social unrest to push back against the designs of our corporate masters. We must sever ourselves from reliance on corporations in order to build independent, sustainable communities and alternative forms of power. The less we need corporations the freer we will become. This will be true in every aspect of our lives, including food production, education, journalism, artistic expression and work. Life will have to be communal. No one, unless he or she is part of the ruling elite, will have the resources to survive alone.

The longer we pretend this dystopian world is not imminent, the more unprepared and disempowered we will be. The ruling elite’s goal is to keep us entertained, frightened and passive while they build draconian structures of oppression grounded in this dark reality. It is up to us to pit power against power. Ours against theirs. Even if we cannot alter the larger culture, we can at least create self-sustaining enclaves where we can approximate freedom. We can keep alive the burning embers of a world based on mutual aid rather than mutual exploitation. And this, given what lies in front of us, will be a victory.

Even in the face of defeat in the latest resource grab conflict we can declare victory--but only if we're not afraid to create the "self-sustaining enclaves where we can approximate freedom…based on mutual aid rather than mutual exploitation" that Chris Hedges describes.

To be cured of this hideous disease of capitalism that drives countries into committing despicable acts, we'll have to be creative and courageous in our efforts. Always, we have to be moral and noble in promoting our cause. And, in the end, we can't let the bastards grind us down.

Related articles/video:

Trump's Efforts to Out Maduro Are Illegal and Will Kill More Venezuelans.
https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/54778-trumps-efforts-to-oust-maduro-are-illegal-and-will-kill-more-venezuelans

Lee Camp exposes the three factors all countries that have suffered recent coup d'états sponsored by the US have in common.   
https://youtu.be/h-8nT_OD0MU
 

Beanstock's World blog's Political Awakening Video Weekend has lots of good video links about Venezuela and other progressive topics.  https://beanstocksworld.wordpress.com/2019/02/03/political-awakening-video-weekend-02-03-2019-13-videos/#like-7161

*** 

Freedom isn't free--and neither is running a blog!

The Revolution Continues has been targeted by anti-progressive trolls and hackers. It's difficult to fight against their blocks to prevent readers from sharing our web site link since these trolls/hackers have access to corporate cash. But you can help us out by donating to keep the blog ad-free and functioning. The editor pays for internet, electricity, etc., out of her own pocket, and she would like to be able to pay her contributors, so your generous monetary gifts are appreciated. 

Please consider donating a buck, $5, $10 or $20--any amount you can give to keep this progressive site going. Help us become a strong alternative voice protesting against the corrupt establishment and its paid-off corporate mouthpieces. Give to TRC today. Thank you.

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Power to the people--not the corporations!

 ***

 From Credo:

Two years is too long. It's time for Congress to repeal the Muslim ban.

Donald Trump began separating and terrorizing Black and Brown families as soon as he took office. His Muslim ban was one of the first racist policies he enacted to attack our communities.

Over the summer, five justices on the Supreme Court failed to put checks on Trump and refused to strike down the ban.¹ Now, it's up to Congress to take the lead. Democrats just reintroduced legislation to block the Muslim ban.² Congress needs to pass it now.

Tell Congress: Two years is too long. Pass legislation to repeal Trump's hateful Muslim ban. Click here to sign the petition.

No family should ever be torn apart because of their religion or place of birth – but that's exactly what Trump will continue to do if Congress doesn't stop him.

Trump is nothing if not persistent in his crusade to institutionalize his white nationalist agenda. Two of his signature policies – the Muslim ban and asylum ban - stem from a bigoted desire to divide and keep out communities who threaten the white supremacy at the core of his administration. 

His Muslim ban is dividing many American Muslim families, but it's a more hidden crisis than family separation at the border. Some people locked out by the ban qualify for waivers that would allow them to re-enter the country and reunite with their families, but reports of the government denying people's waiver application even though they meet every criterion are growing.³ The Trump administration is tearing apart Muslim families at U.S embassies scattered around the world – and out of sight of most Americans. We must put a stop to this now.

Two years ago, thousands of us were in the streets and at airports welcoming Muslims and refugees and demanding that Congress intervene to block Trump's Muslim ban. We must keep up the fight and use that same grassroots power to force Congress to act now.

Rep. Judy Chu and Sen. Chris Murphy just reintroduced legislation that would declare Trump's Muslim ban unconstitutional and bar him from using federal funds to enforce it.⁴ This bill moves the fight to repeal the ban one huge step forward. Congress should approve it and work to pass legislation that would completely strike it down.

Tell Congress: Two years is too long. Pass legislation to repeal Trump's hateful Muslim ban. Click the link below to sign the petition.

https://act.credoaction.com/sign/no-muslim-ban-2019?t=7&akid=31438%2E9999572%2E55MxR4

Thank you for all you do,
Nicole Regalado, Campaign Manager CREDO Action from Working Assets

Add your name:

References:

1. Rachel Brown and Georgia Travers, "The Muslim ban expands the cruel policy of family separation," The Washington Post, July 3, 2018.
2. Niels Lesniewski, "Democrats want to defund President Trump's 'Muslim ban,'" Roll Call, Jan. 29, 2019.
3. Brown and Travers, "The Muslim ban expands the cruel policy of family separation."
4. Lesniewski, "Democrats want to defund President Trump's 'Muslim ban.'"

***

From California Clean Money Action Fund:

"For the People Act" has 230,000 Signatures
— Help us reach 250,000! There's an exciting new federal bill that stands with the People and against Big Money dominating our politics and government.

HR-1, the For The People Act, is a much needed and potentially massive overhaul of money in politics, voting, and ethics laws — all to make our democracy work for us, not special interests.

Sign the Coalition Petition now! 230,000 people have already signed — help us reach 250,000!

Sign the Coalition Petition!

This is a great opportunity stand for a powerful package of national campaign finance and voting reforms to prevent Big Money from continuing to dominate politics and shut people out of the process..

HR-1 has strong new disclosure rules to force Dark Money non-profits to report their secret funders, like we do in California. It would set up small-donor citizen-funded elections for Congress so candidates don't have to rely on Big Money donors. And it has numerous ethics reform measures, such as slowing the revolving door between government and lobbyists and strengthening the Federal Elections Commission.to enforce violations.

HR-1 will also protect and expand voting rights and election security, through measures like same day voting registration, making election day a federal holiday, ending gerrymandering, and requiring the use of paper ballots and risk-limiting audits. We're also pushing for it to include funding for publicly-owned Open-Source Paper-Ballot Voting Systems, as we have been in California.

Now is the time to stand together and force Congress to pass a package of strong and specific reforms for a real democracy that serves We the People and not Big Money or special interests.

Please sign the Coalition Petition now! Tell Congress we demand the For The People Act!

The petition is direct and specific. It says:

To Congress — " We want a government that works for all of us — that gives us all a say and puts our needs ahead of special interests.

We want our elected officials to support the For The People Act (H.R. 1) and make sure it's a bold, comprehensive package of democracy reforms including: independent redistricting commissions, citizen-funded elections, closing the revolving door between government and corporate interests, and protecting voters against discrimination."

Sign the Coalition Petition!

Thank you for standing with us in the fight for fair elections. We're based in California so we can make sure it sets a good example, but we take action with our national coalition partners everywhere. Sometimes California needs the help of other states and sometimes other states' need ours!

Please stay tuned for more ways you can fight and win against Big Money in politics everywhere.

Trent Lange
President and Executive Director, California Clean Money Action Fund


Want to fight Big Money by becoming a Clean Money member?  Clean Money supporters like you help us achieve historic victories like passing the California DISCLOSE Act, the strongest disclosure law in the nation. Now we must expand it throughout the country! Will you stand with us against Big Money?

Yes, I'll become a Clean Money member by giving $5 a month or more! (Thanks if you already are!)

Not now, but I'll make a one-time donation of $3 or more!