There’s one thing in this hypothetical that makes me a little uncomfortable, namely the implication that there is no room in the political system for anonymous speech. Anonymous speech – and even at least semi-anonymous money is a vital part of our system, for all the people who could lose their jobs, kneecaps or lives by speaking out publicly on political matters.
Obviously above a certain level that anonymity becomes corrupt, and for huge corporations the very idea is ridiculous.
You would think that voting is something you have to do as often as washing your car. It’s a simple thing to do. To moan and groan about having to go to the polls to elect public officials is ludicrous
I have been a teacher for 40 years. People rise to expectations.
When the sensible (but lazy) people decide to not vote, then the Franchise reverts to people who are not lazy, but CRAZY.
Agree.
Yes, I knew this had come up before. Thanks.
Singling out the President when the worst offenders are in Congress is like singling out the Prez for not doing enough about gun violence. If he could not prevail upon Congress to do the right thing when 21 small children were slaughtered, how does Moyers expect him to motivate lawmakers bent on incumbency to cut off their money sources?
Well said.
Being President is quite a lightning rod. But for sheer ungratefulness, nothing tops the Iowa TeaBaggers who, on exit polling, almost unanimously complained about Washington gridlock…
When the BaggerPols they send do exactly what they were elected to do: Nothing
We never sleep!
Politics has ALWAYS been for sale.
Up until 1962 almost ALL nominations were handled in “backroom deals” by the Oligarchs of the day.
The only people who became President prior to 1962 who were NOT “favorites of the Oligarchs” were Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Truman and Eisenhower. (Turn of the Century, then back-to-back-to-back, so it SEEMED normal for an entire generation from 1901-1908, then 1934 to 1962.)
I would have liked it better if he’d left out the ‘born again------again’ palaver.
I’d be interested in seeing if SupremeCorporationJustices get ‘influenced’ .
Most definitely, the main differences in rural America from other areas is usually social issues. Most people in general hate bad bankers.
If there were such a thing as divine intervention, the divinity project would’ve already transpired.
God doesn’t jump in in the ensuing planning stage of these deleterious decisions, she sure isn’t going to waste time parting any oceans to fix them.
The lord works in strange ways but I’m thinking that some days she’d rather go shopping or play scrabble than deal with the false responsibilities placed on her by the sanctimonious and confused.
The Moyers website has more on this, and it should have been in this article. He is trying to get people to sign the petition by Public Citizen. That really should have been in here.
“A note to our readers: Some observers in Washington think President Obama may be about to sign such an order. We are not so sure. He reportedly came close in 2011 when the draft of such an order was leaked. The US Chamber of Commerce and other lobbyists roared and the president backed down. The only spunk he has shown on the issue since has been rhetorical. So he could once again capitulate. You can help to stiffen his spine by signing the petition sponsored by the non-partisan group Public Citizen.
As the president himself concluded in his most recent State of the Union address: “Changes in our political process… will only happen when the American people demand it. It depends on you. That’s what’s meant by a government of, by, and for the people.” OK, agreed. But in the meantime, let’s tell the president to stand tall like a leader and do the right thing. Mr. President, sign the executive order compelling federal contractors to disclose all their political spending, including dark money.”
It was Moyer’s who turned me on to TPM in his endorsement of Josh as worth checking in on…but in this, it seems he borders on hubris.
Well, public funding of campaigns elected us Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush, so it’s no guarantee for Democrats that taking the money out will mean we win. Jimmy Carter was elected with public funding, only to go down in disgrace to Reagan’s dirty politics, and I don’t think things were that much different in publicly funded elections. It sounds good, but the SCOTUS has more than one opinion out there that will make a changeover difficult since there is a Constitutional right for people to express political speech with money, according to them.
But I have been told I’m not a ‘real’ progressive since I don’t believe America is an oligarchy. It’s not oligarchical for a system to favor insiders - that is just the way it is in any system.
His defection chilled hopes that public funding might enable everyday citizens to check the power of the super rich and their super PACs, countering the influence of “dark money” — contributions that cannot be traced to their donors.
Doesn’t help in the era of Citizens United and SuperPACs (who by law are required to be “independent” organizations and thus not subject to the public campaign finance rules).
During his 2008 race for the White House, Obama opted out of the public funding system for presidential campaigns — the first candidate of a major party to do so since the system was created in 1976, after the Watergate scandals.
Say what?
WASHINGTON, July 15— Gov. George W. Bush declared today that he would not accept Federal matching funds because of his enormous $37 million campaign war chest, giving him the capacity to far outspend his Republican Presidential rivals in the 2000 election, especially in early and pivotal primaries and caucuses.
Thanks for the info.
Moyer should give a shout out to the dysfunctional SCOTUS re Citizens United decision. Republican appointed justices
I’m sorry, but as someone who remembers Bill Moyers when he was telling some of the biggest lies about Viet Nam on behalf of the Johnson administration, his unwillingness to talk about his role in the policies— good and bad—of those years disqualifies him to pontificate about anything else. i do not think you should speak truth to power till you, like ,say, Robert McNamara, are willing to tell the truth about yourself.