Conservatives in this country have been on a mission to change the makeup of the Supreme Court since the Warren court overturned segregation laws, approved civil rights and voting rights, and upheld the rights of the accused to due process. They’re ready to put a stop to the spread of progressive values. One more justice will do it. Two more will cement the conservative majority on the court for years and years.
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A first-of-its-kind gathering in our nation’s capital is putting We the People back in charge of OUR democracy.
Democracy Awakening — organized by Public Citizen, the NAACP, the Communications Workers of America, Greenpeace USA, People For the American Way, the Democracy Initiative and nearly 200 other allies — will bring thousands of Americans to Washington, D.C., from April 16-18 for a long weekend of workshops, trainings, rallies, music, advocacy and direct action in support of voting rights and money in politics reform.
Why?
The very essence of our democracy is in peril. We simply cannot wait any longer to:
Buses, vans and trains are being organized in cities up and down the East Coast to help you get to Democracy Awakening.
Check out the Democracy Awakening website and RSVP to receive more information.
Be there in our nation’s capital when democracy awakens!
Onward,
Courtney Fuller
Public Citizen’s Democracy Is For People Campaign
Billionaire industrialist Charles Koch on Sunday compared the efforts of his political network to the fight for civil rights and other “freedom movements,” part of a growing effort by the organization to emphasize its commitment to the plight of the disenfranchised.
During remarks to 450 wealthy conservatives assembled in the ballroom of a lavish oceanfront resort, Koch urged his fellow donors to follow the lead of figures such as Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
“Look at the American revolution, the anti-slavery movement, the women’s suffrage movement, the civil rights movement,” Koch said. “All of these struck a moral chord with the American people. They all sought to overcome an injustice. And we, too, are seeking to right injustices that are holding our country back.”
Virginia legislative members of ALEC include
Professors Martin Gilens (Princeton University) and Benjamin I. Page (Northwestern University) looked at more than 20 years worth of data to answer a pretty simple question: Does the government represent the people?
Their study took data from nearly 2000 public opinion surveys and compared it to the policies that ended up becoming law. In other words, they compared what the public wanted to what the government actually did. What they found was extremely unsettling: The opinions of the bottom 90% of income earners in America has essentially no impact at all.
This video gives a quick rundown of their findings — it all boils down to one simple graph:
Gilens & Page found that the number of americans for or against any idea has no impact on the likelihood that congress will make it law.
“The preferences of the average American appear to have only a miniscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.”
One thing that does have an influence? Money. While the opinions of the bottom 90% of income earners in America have a “statistically non-significant impact,” Economic elites, business interests, and people who can afford lobbyists still carry major influence.
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