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The Issues
elections
On January 21, 2010, the US Supreme Court ruled against limiting corporate campaign contributions (Citizens United vs. FEC) paving the way for total domination of our electoral process by corporate interests. This decision was based on the concept of corporate personhood and related rights opf free speech. But the Constitution protects free speech for people, not corporations. Corporate status is a privilege granted by the American people, not a right that can be exploited at our expense. Corporations currently enjoy excessive rights and limited liabilities to the detriment of the American people and our natural environment. This must be reversed.
government
The US government does not represent the interests of the American people but rather, those of corporations, big industry and the extremely rich. Evidence is everywhere: the income gap; the wealth gap; the lack of investment in basic human needs like food, shelter, education, healthcare, jobs and a living (minimum) wage; the continuation of undeclared and unsupported wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; the handling of the BP oil spill (why aren't some of those responsible for this ongoing cover-up in jail?);a tax system with enough loopholes to allow Exxon to pay $0 in 2009; and a judicial system that can't find enough judges to handle oil-spill-related cases in the South because so many of them have financial ties to the oil industry. Simply put, our government is corrupt and will continue to be so until we establish laws with teeth to hold it accountable to the American people.
media
Despite the abundance of media "options" available in our tech-saturated world, most of our mainstream media is actually owned by large corporations who are more beholden to the interests of their shareholders than they are to the American people. Our ability to stay informed and be heard (both essential in a democracy) is seriously hampered by media monopolies which all too easily control access to information and resources. Our government should be protecting us from abuses of monopolies rather than fostering their continued growth and dominance.
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