How To Take Our Democracy Back from the Corporations

The only way we’ll succeed is to organize and combine forces with other organizations, groups and individuals. We really have much less time than we all think. It’ll takes time and energy to gain the momentum to overcome massive amounts of money from politicians, corporations, lobbyists and wall street working against us and against change. The working class, students, the poor, the elderly and disabled shall stand and be counted or be the victim.

Wonderful. Technically I wish there had been the briefest of mentions of the actual 1886 case “Santa Clara County v Southern Pacific Railroad” because even the allegedly legal underpinnings for “corporate personhood” were utterly bogus and fraudulent to begin with.nnIt’s been downhill ever since.

My comment is this country will fall back in to financial ruin. It will happen bases on the damage from the right wing nuts! This country is not the United States but the Divided States. People in other countries mock us with the way we treat each other. This does not happen in the other industrialized countries of the world. Why is the greatest country in the world rank lower than countries like Bosnia?? Ask yourselves that question. It is because we are not being led by people that believe in the citizens of this country just their short term monetary gains. We need only look north to Canada where every spectrum of the populous is represented not a moronic 2 party failing system. The rating for congress is now at 17% and that is a failing grade so if this were a test it is and F. If the American people put up with this bull@$*# they will get what they voted for. Remember the definition of insanity…doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results. We are not gaining anything with 2 parties. We need what Canada has. True representation across the entire spectrum of the people. We have the minority ruling the majority. That is exactly what is happening in WI OH and NJ. These governors are no different than Gadaffi, Mobarak or any other dictator. The founding fathers warned about this abuse of government back in the 1700′s and what is happening is the destruction of the very document all our founders thought about fought for and took great pride in giving us. They would feel the same way they did about the British if they were here today!nnRich

corporations don’t tell us who to vote for, they are now allowed to air ads you don’t have to watch them or follow them. Anyone can incorporate, so really that’s not the problem, it’s the money.

It’s going to be a long-term not short-term effort.

MoveOn has finally gotten to the root of so many problems-corporate personhood. Until that changes, we can bitch about all the myriad problems of America, but it ain’t gonna change until Corporate Personhood ends.

Great video. One problem. The United States government is not a democracy. It is a republic. Kind of takes away any weight to the arguments the narrator made.

Robin, I am sorry to tell you this, we are not a democracy: we are a representative republic. Democracies usually end in mob rule where the majority exploits the minority. Corporations are responsible for most of the goods and services we buy. They were organized to pool capital for projects that were beyond the reach of a single investor. Do you have a retirement fund? It is probably invested in some stock which means you are a shareholder. I believe you might be concerned if your retirement money was invested with companies that did not care about profit. If you are a shareholder you may vote to decide who runs the corporation. Corporations are like little democracies. By the way, I agree that corporations should not be able to contribute to political campaigns if unions are also excluded from contributing to campaigns. Rank and file union members have no say in where their compulsorily dues goes either. This would be possible if there were no limits on any campaign donations from any individual and strict reporting of contributors to campaigns were published on the web. Our current system which limits contributions means that only very rich people can run for office. Insisting all donations are made public means voters could know who supports a candidate – very important information when deciding whether to vote for someone. Your solution of public finance of campaigns means that politicians will be in control of who there opponents are. This is a job security protection plan for incumbents. The last and most important change that would free our nationu2019s government from “corporate greed” would be to eliminate all corporate taxes and subsidies so that corporations would not feel the need to contribute protection money to politicians . By the way, Robin, profit is not evil. Without profit we would still be hunter-gatherers spending all our time looking for food. Profit makes civilization possible. nn

Citizens United was not a Supreme Court decision; it was a coup d’u00e9tat staged by the ultra-right-wing members of that body. I fear a counter-revolution is necessary to take our country back.

I always thought the USA was a democratic republic, like Jefferson wanted. A republic is a state in which supreme POWER IS HELD BY THE PEOPLE and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch. A democracy is a system of government by the WHOLE population or all the eligible members of a state…not just corporations and their lobbyists. So, Stephanie’s point is moot. The governor of Wisconsin is an elected official and, it seems to me, based on the definitions of ‘republic’ and ‘democracy’ should be responsive to the people of his State.

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison supports this decision because ” The Supreme Court ruling protects the freedom of speech for all American citizens. ” Corporations are not people though, go figure.

Is there a transcript of this video available somewhere? Where should the hearing impaired go, in order to assist in taking democracy back from corporations?

This country is a Republic, not a Democracy.n

Everybody has to vote. Everybody. And, keep voting. Every time. We are where we are because we weren’t all paying the attention we should have been. But, now there are the tools we need to help everyone participate. It is not a revolutionary idea. Just one that got misplaced. It will take a while but we can take our country back from corporations. Our congress is our responsibility. Let’s make them responsible and responsive to us, we the people. Again, everybody must vote. That’s how this system was meant to work. It’s not perfect but we can make it work much better than it has been recently. Together. Just as Barack Obama said when he was running for office. “I’ll lead the charge but I need you guys with me.” He meant, all the way, not just to Election Day. I’m with him and I’m with MoveOn.

Everybody must vote. Everybody. Every time. That is how our system is meant to work. We are where we are because we weren’t all always paying as much attention as we should. But, now, we have powerful tools (internet-based) to help everyone to participate. Congress is our responsibility. It is up to us to make them responsible and responsive to us, we the people. This is not a revolutionary idea. Just one that got misplaced for a while. We can take our country back from corporations. It will take a while, but we can do it. Ours is an imperfect system but we can make it work much better than it has in the recent past. Together. Voting. Informing ourselves and each other. Barack Obama said it beautifully when he was running for President. He said, I’ll lead the charge, but I need you all right behind me every step of the way. All the way. All the time. Not just to Election Day. If each of us made sure that everyone we know votes and then added, say, a goal of 20 more. Think about that…Everybody votes. All the time.

I truly believe this country is becoming a horrible reenactment of George Orwell 1984.Maybe not with the horrible food and the one party system but we are exactly the same but in a different wrapper.With two parties we as amercians are to beleive its a democracy or republic(what ever you want to call it). but the two party systme is only a decoy to make you choose a side that is already losing.Two wings from one bird and we are all going to suffer.Turning a blind eye to our govt we have lost our civil liberites, our children to war to which we have aready expressed that we dont want, and economically depleted thanks to those who hold the top one percent of wealth.We as american became lazy and no longer watch what out representatives are doing in office.They know this now and has been capitalizing on it every since you put the news paper down to pick up the remote to watch the senseless reality shows.This counrty is long overdue for a overhaul to remove the corrupt and let the people govern what is right.Money has become the root of evil and we have been drinking the kool-aid.

Government for the Rich: nFor the last 30 years, the richest 2% of Americans has had great growth in income and wealth, while the lower 98% has experienced almost no growth. By definition, the ultra-rich have not paid a proportional share of the cost of government. nThatu2019s ironic, because government has been their most effective means of making money. In contracts with government (the agent of all taxpayers) they have made huge, often excessive profits. Worse, when in control of the federal government, they have required government to borrow extensively beyond the taxpayersu2019 current means so they could continue to make still more profits on government contracts. (This is mostly military spending, which is inflationary and therefore reduces the value of taxpayersu2019 after-tax income.) nThe amount of federal debt run up by the Reagan/Bush/Bush administrations, including compounded interest, is $12.1 trillion. That’s the lion’s share of today’s $14 trillion total. So all taxpayers are paying huge amounts of interest on the federal debt to the very wealthy people who disproportionately hold the debt and collect the interest, further contributing to wealth inequality and poverty. n Polls show (understandably) that American taxpayers want a balanced budget, at long last, but that they also (quite understandably) do not want their government to balance the budget on their backs. And they want their government to create jobs and reduce the unemployment caused by the rich getting richer and cutting their own taxes.n But after decades of paying an excessive share of taxes so the super rich could get even richer, we now witness the spectacle of House Speaker Boehner attempting to justify gutting most of the remaining federal programs benefiting taxpayers as something they want and voted for! n When it was pointed out to him that his budget would harm the economy and cause the loss of another 700,000-1,000,000 jobs, here was Mr. Boehner’s apparently heartfelt response: “So be it.”

If you own any stocks YOU ARE THE EVIL CORPORATION. But, you are correct, Corporations don’t vote SO WHY ARE THEY THEN TAXED?? Isn’t that TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION? Your cutsie video is a bunch of crap.

moveon needs to make a video showing the unions in much the same way…..taking dues from members and contributing to political campaigns of only one party….no matter the dues payers thoughts on the matter. as without addressing this side of the equation, the hypocrisy is overwhelming.

except that they own the news organizations too…

The U.S. is a democratic republic. We elect representatives to represent us, and act as our negotiators. This is not a direct democracy, however, we still elect our representatives, and is therefore democratic. A corporation that can buy our representatives is undemocratic, and completely at odds with the spirit of the Constitution.

You could not be more incorrect. Corporations are monarchies, unions are democratic institutions. We live in a democracy, it is not a direct democracy, however we elect our representatives directly. nAll political contributions are bribes and should be illegal. Union or corporate. However, corporations donate far more money than unions do, and they represent a very small number of people, with a tremendous amount of political power (because bribing representatives is still legal). This is anti-democracy, and clearly at odds with the spirit of the Constitution.

unions are democratic institutions, and they donate less than 1% of the amount of money that corporations donate to politicians. Think about it. If unions had that much power, why is it that only 9% of the workforce is unionized, and workers pay has decreased by 50% over the past 30 years? Why would this attack on teachers and other public workers unions be going on across the country (Wisconsin and Ohio in particular), if the unions were in control of our democracy?

Corporations have entered into a unique legal relationship with the government. A corporation does not need representation because a corporation is not a person. Taxation without representation only makes sense with individuals. No one is saying that the CEO of a corporation, or stockholders cannot try to exercise their own political rights, just that this imaginary corporation cannot.nMany corporations don’t pay taxes anyway. I have more change hidden in my couch, than G.E., Exxon Mobil, and Bank of America paid in taxes last year.

This country is a representative republic. We elect our representatives “democratically”. Therefore we live in a democracy. Turn off Glenn Beck. Did you know that Fox news is banned in Canada? Do you know why? Because they have a law that says that it is illegal to lie in news reports.

The folks at Story of Stuff have transcripts from their *other* films here: http://storyofstuff.org/DLpdfs.phpnnI bet if you asked them they could post the transcript from this one!

I agree it’s time to balance the budget in a way that everyone, not just big corps, can live with. Interest on the 14 T debt basically chews up all income taxes paid by citizens. The sad thing is that it could be avoided all together through monetary reform. The banking systems works so different from what most people think. I ecourage everyone to walook up “Money as Debt 2″ in google videos. It does a good job of explaining banking. Very eye opening, I had no idea how big a scam it is. It literally steals billions from taxpayers every year and puts it int he hands of banks and wealthy investors.nnThe debt isn’t really the problem it’s the interest that has to be paid. If government debt was borrowed from a bank owned by the people rather than private banks, profit earned by the people’s bank could be returned to government as revenue. The result is debt at virtually no interest. North Dakota which, I believe, is the only state with a surplus budget already does this and other states are considering it. That along with some military cuts and we’re well on our way.

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The meritocracy they are selling is not the slave economy they are buildingnnCorp-or-a-tions?nTools not peop-le!!!nnWho governs Government?nPeople Not tools!nnWe need to sell our arguments and spark the needed changes.nnFirst, point out the problem:nnUsing corporations, a plutocratic minority’s ability to supervise, reward and promote elected officials far exceeds the largely unorganized and distractable citizenry. Corporations allow them an army of lawyers, media personalities, news outlets, strategist, etc all working to change reality to better reflect their interests.nnCorporate welfare is paying tribute. Point out numbers. If we invest in a company we should own it. That’s how stocks work.nnThey don’t want to pay for the excess of very expensive services we provide them. How well would their businesses fare without police, fire protection, road construction? How would their overseas ventures fare without military protection or even more extensive involvement?nnPoint out the plan:nDemonstrate that the Republican Party has been hijacked. The meritocracy they are selling is not the slave economy they are building.nnTheir current plan seemingly is to increasingly dismantle any power the populace might have in checking the misuse of corporate power, by:n*Propaganda, leaving a very distorted view of reality and choices.n*Making organizing difficult or impossible.n*Siphoning our income through corporate welfare.n*Making us work longer hours to survive leaving less time for being proper citizens or neighbors or parents or friends.n*Dismantling projects that could free us from their grip (renewable energy, high speed rail, public works projects).nnCorporations which are so tightly integrated with banking, industry, trade, jobs, defense, and all other aspects of the economy make excellent tools for shaping the reality around us. Financial shakeups can be advantageous as you can purchase other corporations for cheap and labor is far more responsive in a financial crisis.nnMany sizable companies in the Chamber of Commerce are known to be withholding money from the economy which of course is probably not helping the recovery. President Obama even addressed them on this issue.nnFixes:nnStop feeding their divide and conquer strategy. They want the people at each other’s throats. Focus on convincing people the most important thing is to get People back in charge of politics rather than a tiny minority who don’t want anyone getting in their way to extreme power and wealth.nnPublic Financing of Elections is probably the best Campaign Finance Reform.nnBreaking up media companies from their parent corporations.nnOrganize!nStart talking to your neighbors and help them turn off the TV see what is real. Corporations own the media and the bulk of advertising. Controlling perception of the what is happening beyond line of vision has become their specialty.nnWe stop “Public” and other forms of community ownership from being maligned. It’s Ours and not Theirs so they don’t like it. Tools that we have give us checks on them and also are lost revenue stream and lost tools of control which they can use to manipulate the world around us.nnMany corporations are utilized by good people and do good things. Reward them. Stop feeding bad companies.nnIn regards to the current situation in congress, it is better that government shut down then for government to become a tool enforcing the will of corporation owners.nnRemember, any strategy we might be gathering momentum to utilize will be preempted or stolen using Karl Rove styled tactics. Get used to it. Do what needs doing.nnBy the way, I’m a contractor having a reported 2/3 of what is being paid for me going to a company that probably only spends 20 hours a year or less involved with me. They pulled me off a career website and sold me at auction. This is what privatization looks like.nnThanks!

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Aaron dear,rnThe Chairman of the Board of a corporation is elected by the shareholdersrn(owners) of the corporation. Therefore, you are wrong. A corporation is notrna monarchy. After that mistake, you are right. Only individuals shouldrncontribute to candidates. This will happen when the federal government isrnrun like the constitution proscribed. Join the TeaParty and let’s get backrnto a federal government that does the job it was designed to do an no more.rnWelcome to freedom and citizenship.rnYours,rnNavymum

First the US is not a demoracy its a republic there is a big diffrence and if you look it up you wont want a democracy. The banking “system” is the biggest problem check out “the secret of oz” on youtube. The first thing we need to do is solve that by ending the federal reserve that will take our money away from the bankers we all hate. After that it gets way easier. Next we defund a majority of the defense budget this will take our money away from the largest most powerful corporations on the planet like loockheed martin and others. Once that is done the people will then have control of their own destiny and not before.

You’ve GOT to be kidding me!

You’ve got to be kidding me!

Amen to that!

Wouldn’t Unions be the same thing. FORCED dues support political candidates. So if you are a conservative and were FORCED to join a union as terms of employment, your FORCED dues would go to a candidate you DON’T support. Throw me a bone here!

No body is lying! Is it all you have is to blame FNC? Wouldn’t you just LOVE for the government to be so powerful to shut down the #1 news channel in the country. Get rid of the competition. Go to France!

Why are people SO concerned for other people’s finances. I mean honestly, how does it affect you that people make millions? Instead of whining, go make some money!

YOUR country? Conservative, white men founded this country.

Well said! Thank you.

Unions do the same thing.

this film in a nutshell: “You people are too stupid to make informed decisions on candidates yourselves, so you need to protest ads that go against democratic candidates, so that we can brainwash you into voting for our candidates. Star power is how you vote, not public verifiable records!” You sheep should be insulted!!nnI didn’t see that video protesting the mafia ran union donations to the democrats! nnSeriously, if I saw a republican cartoon ad of this nature directed to me, I’d be throughly insulted that they’d think I was too stupid to make informed decisions on my own, regardless of the advertisements. Seriously, you people need to move up a notch on the intellectual ladder.

you do realize that a democrat president forced banks to make bad loans with the promise that the government would bail them out if it didn’t work out. Literally forced…as in ..if they wants to keep their deposit bank status they had to make bad loans to lower income people. Did they want to? No. The government forced them to, and for that they are called greedy thugs.nnFunny how you demos always blame the republicans for a democratic imposed financial disaster. nnAlso, the top 2% pay WAY more than their share of the government expenses. MOST of the federal government is ran on the rich’s money. The rich pay a higher percentage of their income, than anyone else. 36% is the tax cap, which you demos like to call a “cut”. A “cut” because people have the sense to know better than to take up to 70% of a persons income? They are still paying way more than their share. If the top 2% of the income earners left the US, the government would literally collapse. Then who would you whine to? Do you think this money is just going to magically fall into your pocket? Do you ridiculously think that some how this money was “stolen” from you? Good Grief.

“right wing nuts” founded this country. If you want the US to go back to its roots, then you’re going to have to go back to class and learn that this country was founded on conservative ideas. The corporations give this country its wealth and power. The corporations give you jobs and money.Do you drive a car? own a house? have a job? wear shoes? have a computer? what would your lifestyle be like if the big bad corps didnt exist? Not to great I’d imagine.

why only 9? because states dont want a WI fiasco in their back yard.

well, you help make the point that the video is baloney. Corporations are indeed not people, but they are ran by people. People people people, unlike the video, who portrays them as “machines”.nnand just like most democrat media sheep…they are lost on the concept of “corporations”. Tell the whole story. The “profits” go to stockholders who pay taxes on those profits. If corporations try to skirt getting taxed, its so the money doesnt get taxed twice. Would you like to get taxed twice? 36% off your pay, and than another 36% when you cash your check….nnThe feds got PLENTY of money off the profits of that corporation.

‘we are dependent upon corporations for our good lives’nthis is the same argument once made by anti-abolitionists,n’without their benevolent masters, what would the poor slaves do?’

who is paying you to shill for the robber barons?

I feel sorry for anyone who buys into this shit. Republicans and Democrats are so dumb and naive its almost laughable. Join a real party that wants to actually do good for the people, not push an agenda: LIBERTARIANS