Democracy Theme Park

Campaign Finance Reform

  • About that $3.5 Million Recount Money…

    If $3.5 million can be raised in a matter of days to do a statewide (Wisconsin) recount, why couldn’t we have used it to launch a nationwide campaign for something like any of the three issues I suggested in a post-election blog? They were:

  • Corporate Campaign Cash at the Caterpillar Stage (Not fuzzy at all)

    Do you think you can understand butterflies perfectly well without knowing caterpillars? Corporate political contributions had a caterpillar stage; I’m guessing you won’t even recognize it.

  • Is Citizens United Focus a Good Use of Our Time? (2014)

    Such a comforting thought—that overturning a single court case can resolve some of society’s biggest problems. With Citizens United, the idea seems to be that huge strides could be made by reversing it, thereby “getting the money out of” elections. It’s our current version of the “silver bullet” myth of old. Kind of like thinking…

  • Corporate “Personhood” Must Be Challenged (2009)

    When the “Hillary Clinton film” case is decided, headlines should declare, “Supreme Court affirms corporate personhood.” Instead, most media will call it a free speech decision. “First Amendment rights” will play the Trojan horse hauling corporate freight.

  • America Needs A Law Prohibiting Corporate Donations (1996)

    Bribery makes the discerning man blind and the just man give a crooked answer. (Exodus 23:8) Corporate civic, charitable, and educational “donations” of all kinds should be banned because they strangle open public debate, and contribute to the corporate colonization of our culture.

  • (Citizens United) Court’s Campaign Money Ruling Is a Red Herring (2010)

    Before running off trying to counter the recent Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC), we ought to sort out what this decision does and does not do. The Citizens United decision does make our democracy theme park a little worse, the way having an atomic bomb dropped on your own…

  • Speaking Truth To Power About Campaign Reform (1998)

    This article was written around the time Maine and a few other states were considering “campaign finance reform” laws. The historical perspective, even in the aftermath of the Citizens United case, shows us how little has changed. Many of these issues have been discussed by Maine labor activist Peter Kellman, author of Building Unions: Past,…

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Jane Anne Morris