Tag: politics

Corporations are not the people: Democracy in action

If you are as much of a cynic as I currently am about the state of our government and its leaders, you need to read this.

I received a letter March 2 from Representative Eric Massa of my 29th district here in New York. I was so surprised. He even superimposed the more formal salutation with “Dear Jo-Ann” in blue felt tip pen, underlined the words “thank you” with the same and signed it. It was real; the back of the paper had the bleedthrough.

To backtrack: I had received an email from my dear friend M on the millionfaxmarch after the Supreme Court voted to allow corporations free access to campaign financing. Their email mirrored my disgust with the Court’s decision and they provided a venue to send my own personal message to my Representative, Senators and President. It was so easy. I never expected an answer back.

In my message I mentioned what the founding fathers would think and that if public campaign finance could not be passed in the face of this decision, then it never would. I can’t remember if I mentioned Congressional job security or not.

In his reply, he shared my concern on the Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission decision and explained that he was cosponsoring H.R. 1826, the Fair Elections Now Act, to establish public financing of Congressional elections.

It was a really good letter.