Money and Speech

I haven't blogged about it in a while, but I have been supporting the MayDay PAC in its effort to end the corrupting influence of money in politics.

Republicans, like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, say that to limit political spending is to limit our free speech. I do actually see, and agree with, some of that reasoning - why shouldn't I (or any other person) be able to spend my money freely in the political realm, as a way to support my opinions, values, and beliefs? I get the idealism there.

However, from where I stand, I truly feel that MY free speech, and the free speech of the majority of people in this country, is completely drowned out by all the dollar bills that speak on behalf of a small wealthy minority.

So, Republican leaders out there, I have a question for you. How am I supposed to look at the current situation and FEEL: my vote no longer matters, and yet TELL MYSELF: I'm OK with that?

If I Could Give the World a Gift

I want to share a layout I made back in the fall of 2011. It was part of the Project: Love, Me album I made that year. I believe the theme for that month was "giving," and the specific prompt was "If I could give the world a gift ..."

Simple and Sweet Album Templates by Scrapping with Liz
Bohemian Spirit, My Project V3, My Project Year in Review, I Should Have Told You and Well Documented
by Captivated Visions; Art and Soul Freebie by Sahlin Studio; HoHoHo by Miss Tiina

"If I could give the world a gift, I would give the world a functioning United States legislature."

I don't remember what was going on at that time, but I felt like our legislature wasn't working the way it should work. I still feel that way.

I've been reading a book called Republic Lost by Lawrence Lessig about this very topic. The hypothesis of the book is that the people no longer have faith in the workings of our Congress because of all the special interest money that congressmen need to constantly raise.  Huge sums of money are donated to the political parties and to congressmen from a very small percentage of the population. That being the case, can we truly believe that our leaders are responding to the will of the people? Or are they influenced by the money they receive?

This isn't to say that our leaders or corrupt or that they are engaged in criminal behavior. It just means that money has a corrupting influence on politics, and we need to end that corruption now.

I know that politics is kinda taboo in the scrapbooking world, but I feel like I need to do something about this because I love this country. There is an appendix in the book (Republic Lost) called What You Can Do Now.  I haven't finished the book, and I haven't read the whole appendix either.  But Lessig lists the first important thing that I can do right now: spread awareness of this issue.

• TED Talk by Lawrence Lessig: We The People, and the republic we must reclaim
• Rootstrikers is a site founded by Lawrence Lessig to help end the corrupting influence of money on politics.
• I've added a button in my sidebar to The Anti-Corruption Pledge (you can also get to that from Rootstrikers)

That's all for now, but I'll keep you posted on what I do in the future to help end the corrupting influence of money on politics.