{"id":370,"date":"2016-02-06T18:36:33","date_gmt":"2016-02-06T18:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trustworthygovernment.us\/?p=370"},"modified":"2016-02-11T14:35:34","modified_gmt":"2016-02-11T14:35:34","slug":"actions-will-separate-the-reform-candidates-from-the-posers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trustworthygovernment.us\/?p=370","title":{"rendered":"Actions will separate the “Reform Candidates” from the “Posers”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The recent anniversary of the Citizens United<\/em> decision brought to my mailbox messages from candidates and reform organizations alike.\u00a0 This is roughly what they all said:\u00a0 \u201cI agree with you.\u00a0 Money-in-politics corruption is awful!\u00a0 Now, give me your money and\/or give me your vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fixing money-in-politics corruption is very popular among citizens so, naturally, candidates see the issue as an opportunity.\u00a0 Even insincere candidates (and especially their fundraisers) must be very tempted to pose as sincere reformers in order to attract money and votes.<\/p>\n

Will these candidates, if elected, vote in Congress for publicly funded elections and for fixing Citizens United<\/em> by constitutional amendment or (in the case of Senate candidates) by confirming Supreme Court nominees who have an understanding of the Constitution that would lead them to reverse the Citizens United<\/em> decision?<\/p>\n

How can citizens tell if candidates are \u201cfor real\u201d or just posers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Promises won\u2019t do.\u00a0 Once a candidate is elected to Congress, lobbyists and others will gladly make payments to the new representative\u2019s re-election campaign because he or she has something the monied self-interests want: \u00a0their vote in Congress.\u00a0 This corrupt campaign funding system practically guarantees that most incumbents will be able to raise so much campaign cash for their re-election committee that nobody back home, in their party or the other party, will mount a serious challenge to them in the next election.<\/p>\n

If the former candidate (now the incumbent) votes to pass publicly funded elections, he or she will be creating for themselves a situation where they will likely face a competitively funded challenger in the next election, the kind of opponent that most incumbents rarely face now.\u00a0 And fixing Citizens United<\/em> will mean that an incumbent will not be able to count on their party\u2019s gang of self-interested sugar-daddies to spend huge amounts of money to save the incumbent, if they ever do have a close election.<\/p>\n

Incumbents like being in Congress and want to stay there.\u00a0 The current corrupt system allows them to do that.\u00a0 So, from a self-interested point of view, it is smart<\/b> for a candidate to say they want to end money-in-politics corruption but stupid<\/b> for an incumbent to actually do it.<\/p>\n

I believe there are<\/em> candidates and incumbents who put the interests of our country ahead of their own interests and would vote to fix the corruption problem, even if it meant that they would lose their jobs. \u00a0But, how can we citizens, who want to fix the money-in-politics corruption problem, identify and support candidates who are true Reform Candidates and not just \u201cposers\u201d?<\/p>\n

We need to judge the candidates on what they do, not on what they say.<\/p>\n

The Behaviors of a Reform Candidate:<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0Has become a co-sponsor of publicly funded elections or pledges (when elected) to become a co-sponsor.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0Has become a co-sponsor of amendments to reverse Citizens United<\/em> or pledges, (when elected) to become a co-sponsor.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0If a U.S. Senate candidate:\u00a0 has agreed to confirm the Supreme Court nomination of only those nominees whose understanding of the Constitution would lead them to reverse the Citizens United<\/em> decision.\u00a0 (See: Senate Candidates:\u00a0 Are You Ready to Fix Citizens United<\/em>?<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0Contributes money from his or her political accounts only to candidates who are themselves Reform Candidates.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0Contributes money from his or her political accounts only to organizations that support only Reform Candidates.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0Posts and maintains on the \u201cIssues\u201d page of his or her campaign website (and, if an incumbent, also on his or her official website) statements that he or she is\u00a0engaging in the above\u00a0actions.<\/p>\n

Engaging in these actions\u00a0isn\u2019t simply evidence of the candidate\u2019s sincerity, it also serves to advance the reform effort.\u00a0 These actions educate citizens that there are, in fact, solutions to the money-in-politics problem and that both elected officials and citizens need to be active in making reform happen. \u00a0Right now, the great majority<\/a> of the Congressional co-sponsors of public funding of elections bills and of resolutions to overturn Citizens United<\/em> say nothing\u00a0at all on their websites about the\u00a0money-in-politics problem\u00a0or solutions.<\/p>\n

Campaign contributions from incumbents in safe districts are a major source of campaign money for candidates in competitive districts.\u00a0 (See:\u00a0Incumbents are Big Campaign Funders<\/a>.)\u00a0 Incumbents in safe districts need to behave like Reform Candidates and contribute only to fellow Reform Candidates.<\/p>\n

Similarly, incumbents should not give money to their party if their party is funding anti-reform candidates.\u00a0 Citizens and incumbents alike need to insist that their party become \u201cThe Party of Reform\u201d and not serve as a slush fund for self-interested mega-donors.<\/p>\n

After all, what is the use of electing a \u201creform\u201d candidate to a safe seat in Congress only to see that candidate use their position to raise money and pass that money on to other candidates and organizations who are OPPONENTS OF REFORM?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Actions, not words, are the measure of the reformer.\u00a0 A candidate who sends us fundraising emails that play on our genuine, deep desire to restore a healthy democracy but who doesn\u2019t have the courage to take the baby step of mentioning\u00a0money-in-politics reform on his or her website is cynical, insincere, and untrustworthy.<\/p>\n

A person like this, once elected, will be part of the money-in-politics problem, not part of the solution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The recent anniversary of the Citizens United decision brought to my mailbox messages from candidates and reform organizations alike.  This is roughly what they all said:  “I agree with you.  Money-in-politics corruption is awful!  Now, give me your money and\/or give me your vote.” Fixing money-in-politics corruption is very popular among citizens so, naturally, candidates […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trustworthygovernment.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trustworthygovernment.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trustworthygovernment.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trustworthygovernment.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trustworthygovernment.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=370"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/trustworthygovernment.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":375,"href":"https:\/\/trustworthygovernment.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370\/revisions\/375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trustworthygovernment.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trustworthygovernment.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trustworthygovernment.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}