Summary
House Democrats, led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, introduced the We the People Amendment to overturn Citizens United, aiming to curb corporate influence in elections.
The constitutional amendment asserts that constitutional rights apply only to individuals, not corporations, and mandates full disclosure of political contributions.
Jayapal cited Elon Musk’s massive campaign spending and subsequent financial gains as proof of the ruling’s harm.
Advocacy groups praised the move, calling it necessary to combat corporate power and dark money in politics, but Republicans have not backed the proposal.
This is one of the single biggest changes we can make to our current electoral system.
Should’ve done this in 2021. This could’ve changed the 2024 election entirely.
It should have been done immediately, when the ruling came down in 2010, when the Democrats had a majority in the House and Senate, and Obama was the President.
I was one year away from graduating college at the time, getting simultaneous bachelor’s degrees in Econ and Poli Sci, trying to explain to people how bad the situation was, and how this may be our only shot at fixing it.
But uh, nope, Obama had already won, the Dems had already swept the House and Senate to near, but not quite super majorities, and most Dem voters were too busy gloating over these victories and pretending that they meant Republicans would never have power over the Federal government again, and actually? you’re an asshole for implying Obama and the Dems aren’t perfect, in fact you sound racist, get away from me.
Instead, that was indeed the highwater mark for Dem control in the Federal government (in the last 20 years), and they squandered it, then lost some House and Senate seats, then doomed us all by ratfucking Bernie to run the perfect encapsulation of their sanctimonious and haughty elitism, Hillary, who lost to a rapist, racist, fraudlent fascist.
cue curb your enthusiasm theme
What did they do in 2021 instead?
Probably nothing else going on really. They’re just lazy and fat off corporate cash piles, obviously.
I’m surprised how quickly people forgot the very first bill the Democrats introduced in 2021 addressed this very topic. The Republicans in the senate killed it.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1
Passed House (03/03/2021) For the People Act of 2021
"This bill addresses voter access, election integrity and security, campaign finance, and ethics for the three branches of government.
Specifically, the bill expands voter registration (e.g., automatic and same-day registration) and voting access (e.g., vote-by-mail and early voting). It also limits removing voters from voter rolls.
The bill requires states to establish independent redistricting commissions to carry out congressional redistricting.
Additionally, the bill sets forth provisions related to election security, including sharing intelligence information with state election officials, supporting states in securing their election systems, developing a national strategy to protect U.S. democratic institutions, establishing in the legislative branch the National Commission to Protect United States Democratic Institutions, and other provisions to improve the cybersecurity of election systems.
Further, the bill addresses campaign finance, including by expanding the prohibition on campaign spending by foreign nationals, requiring additional disclosure of campaign-related fundraising and spending, requiring additional disclaimers regarding certain political advertising, and establishing an alternative campaign funding system for certain federal offices.
The bill addresses ethics in all three branches of government, including by requiring a code of conduct for Supreme Court Justices, prohibiting Members of the House from serving on the board of a for-profit entity, and establishing additional conflict-of-interest and ethics provisions for federal employees and the White House.
The bill requires the President, the Vice President, and certain candidates for those offices to disclose 10 years of tax returns."
Nothing. That’s the problem. Democrats are so afraid to play an opposition party cause it will negatively affect party leadership and top donors. They want the status quo and are more than likely benefiting from the Trump regime in many ways.
Make no bones about it: top Democrats have been complacent with a hostile takeover of the US government because it is benefiting them.
Progressive Democrats and party newcomers are seeing this reality. They tried to play the game for a bit but got burned like Bernie did. Some democrats are finally growing a backbone to stand up against geriatric party leadership.
I mean, I’d make a few bones about it. The best time to be an excellent Progressive party is 50 years ago. The next best time is now, though.
Democrats make an opposition move
Biden could have arrested Trump on January 21st, and that would have been that
How do I upvote this harder?
There was less than a 0٪ chance that they could have passed a constitutional ammendment in 2021.
I guess we’ll never know because they didn’t even try.
But I’m sure they’ll have a chance now that they’re making a good faith effort! lol.
Love your downvotes. “Nuh uh!! They just didn’t want to!”
They didn’t try. So yes. They didn’t want to.
When you don’t do something, you don’t wanna do the task. When I delay doing the dishes, I’m not wanting to do them despite how much it’s useful for the home.
If they didn’t push for this in 2021, they didn’t want it.
I’d argue rank choice is more important.
If you give people actual elections, it shouldn’t matter how much money is spent on campaigns
All someone needs is $1,000 for a good website. Lower the barrier to let them on the ballot and let people rank them, and you’ll solve the problem.
The fact that both parties have been so active in opposing ranked choice voting is proof that it would break their monopolies on power.
I would love ranked choice. It completely flopped on the state ballot in Colorado this past election because both parties are completely against it
We have it in nyc, but it tyrna out a lot of people found it confusing and just rankes their first choice anyways.