Poison Pill Politics
https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/2021/03/poison-pill-politics.html
(The story starts at 5:50 and goes to about 14:30)
Every member of the squad voted for this. Unfettered rich people spending on elections. pic.twitter.com/k7X0qjA6FW
— Abolitionist (@womenbaseball1) March 4, 2021
Poison Pill Politics
by C.A. Matthews
HR1, also known as the For the People Act, creates a national system of automatic voter registration, which is expected to bring millions of new voters to the ballot box, and cracks down on voter suppression tactics. --Ryan Grim, The Intercept
The so-called "For The People Act" has been passed in the House and has been sent on to the Senate. It all sounds great on the surface, but as one peers deeper into its 790 pages some rather troubling features are revealed. While 62% of Americans have stated they want more choices in candidates/parties on the ballot, this bill actually introduces legislation that would make it virtually impossible for third or independent parties to run candidates for office. Added bonus--it enables "Dark Money" to flood campaign coffers of the two so-called "major parties."
A bill that has a coating of good on top to hide its inner rotten core is called a poison pill. And it's not something anyone should swallow.
According to Harvey Wasserman of Reader Supported News:
Though much in HR1 is absolutely essential to the survival of American democracy, one section is a cynical assault on third parties, making barriers to their signature-gathering and fundraising virtually insurmountable. Those clauses come from Democratic operatives who hate the Green Party and other third parties.
HR1 would inflate the amount of money national party committees can give to their candidates from $5000 to $100 million, an astonishing increase of 1999900% that would give party bosses virtually unlimited power to flood elections with Big Money.
This bill is "for the people"? It takes "Big Money" out of politics? Really?
The bill that should have been passed is The Fair Representation Act. Introduced in 2018 and 2019, if enacted ranked-choice voting (RCV) and multi-member districts for Congressional elections would become the law of the land, giving voters more power and more choice.
The Fair Representation Act sounds like a good thing, doesn't it?
But you've probably never heard of The Fair Representation Act if you get your news from mainstream media outlets. All you've heard is how great the "For The People Act" is from numerous neoliberal talking heads without mention of how it will take away your choice of candidates and add even more unrestricted SuperPACs and Dark Money into US politics. That's because the major networks are owned by a tiny handful of multi-millionaires. They want this poison pill legislation to pass so there will be less chance of independent candidates winning and less chance of third party candidates who can think for themselves representing us, the people, and not them, the oligarchy.
Less democracy means there's far less mess for the oligarchs to keep under control. Far fewer chances for voters to elect representatives who will pass laws to tax these millionaires and billionaires the way they should have been taxed all along. Far less chance of these media monopolies being broken up to increase fairness and competition and give more choices to us, the people.
Fairness and choice? Fewer chances for the mega-wealthy to purchase politicians with unlimited private donations? Hmm, those sound like healthy things, don't they?
I hope you won't swallow the poison pill called the "For The People Act." Please share this information with others, watch the videos and pass the links along to your friends and family. Because the only true antidote to poison in politics is education and vigilance.
In this video, 2020 Green Party presidential and vice-presidential nominees Howie Hawkins and Angela Walker discuss HR1 and the dangers hiding within it.
More from Howie Hawkins' #GreenSocialist Organizing Project:
Like you, we believe in the protection of voting rights, including same-day and automatic voter registration, restoring the franchise to people with criminal records, and an expansion of early voting, voting by mail, and absentee drop boxes...as a first step.
HR 1, also known as the "For the People Act," is a bill that has passed the House and is in the Senate and which contains these types of necessary reforms. In these days, when Republicans and right-leaning Democrats are happy to make access to the voting booth all the more difficult, these are good reforms that are useful now.
However, there is a specific section of this omnibus bill that deals with matching funds and overall campaign finance that serves to entrench dark and corporate money in campaigns even further.
The major problems with the Campaign Finance of H.R. 1 include:
Excludes Third Parties: The qualifying threshold to receive presidential primary matching funds is increased five times, from $100,000 ($5,000 raised in 20 states in contributions of $250 or less) to $500,000 ($25,000 raised in 20 states in contributions of $200 or less). This higher threshold puts public funding beyond the reach of third-party candidates.
Increases Funding Disparities: The 6:1 ratio in matching funds increases the public funding disparities between candidates by seven times. A 6:1 match for a candidate with $1 million in qualified contributions would yield $7 million. A 6:1 match for $5 million would yield $35 million. The funding disparity grows seven times, from $4 million to $28 million.
Eliminates Private Spending Caps for Publicly Funded Candidates: H.R. 1 eliminates the private spending caps under the existing program of presidential public funding, which limits how much private money candidates who accept public funding can spend.
Increases Big Donations through Party Committees: H.R. 1 increases the amount national party committees can contribute to presidential candidates from $5,000 to $100 million. Each party has three national committees that can make this contribution: the national committee and the party’s house and senate campaign committees. So the total amount increases from $15,000 to $300 million. This change increases the influence of big donors. The current individual contribution limits to a federal candidate’s campaign committee are $5,600 ($2,800 for the primary and $2,800 for the general). The current individual campaign contribution limit to party’s national committees is $109,500. So the super-rich can give up to $328,500 to a party’s national committees.
Increases Big Donations through Victory Funds: H.R. 1 does nothing to curb big donor funding through joint campaign committees of presidential candidates and national and state party committees. This loophole enables the super-rich to give six-figure donations to the presidential candidates’ so-called Victory Funds. In 2020, donors could give up to $620,600 to the Biden Victory Fund and $580,600 to the Trump Victory Fund.
Preserves Unlimited Private Donations for Independent Expenditures: HR 1 does nothing to curb the unlimited donations the super-rich give for independent expenditures by SuperPACs, including as undisclosed “dark money” laundered through 501c4 nonprofits.
In short, the Campaign Finance section in H.R. 1 does not curb the swelling ocean of private campaign funding by corporate special interests and super-rich oligarchs. It simply enables the major party recipients of unlimited private donations to also get some public money as well. It is a reform that doesn’t reform.
Click here to read Howie's entire policy paper on HR1.
Click here to read Howie's article about HR1 on Counterpunch. And please share!
So what can you do? Please sign our petition to immediately send an email to your U.S. Senator to request that they work to eliminate the campaign finance section of HR 1, as well as work to enact real campaign finance reforms that matter. Click here to go to the petition.
Related Articles:
https://howiehawkins.us/hr-1s-campaign-finance-program-a-reform-that-doesnt-reform/
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/mar/1/green-party-accuses-nancy-pelosi-house-democrats-t/
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