Close to a thousand people rallied at the
U.S. Capitol Building in
Washington, D.C., on Sunday to protest against the influence of money in
American politics.
Since its launch last month, the “
Democracy Spring” campaign has gathered some 1,
000 protesters from several states in the northeastern
U. S. through the internet.
Crowds of protesters were seen demonstrating near the U.S. Capitol Building, chanting slogans to denounce the influence of big corporations in politics by such means as lobbying, political contributions in order to manipulate elections and policy in the country.
"We have a coalition of groups to help overturn
Citizens United to get big money out of politics. I think unless we stop the end of lobbying and control of our elected officials by big money, we have no country left," said a protester.
Citizens United is a conservative non-profit organization that was involved in a historic
U.S. Supreme Court case in
2010 in which the justices said political spending is protected under the
First Amendment. This has allowed corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts of funds on political activities, as long as it is done independently of a party or candidate.
The protesters say the case has resulted in the fact that a financial magnate or a conglomerate can have overwhelming influence on politics, which has become a “one-sided game for the rich.”
Another protester at the rally said money has infiltrated the system and left people on the outside of the political process.
"
It's no longer one person one vote, but the amount of money that's actually voted. Corporations are not people.
I have never seen a corporation eat, sleep, and in fact it's a conglomerate made only to make money.
We are the people," said another protester.
The trend of individuals, corporations and unions manipulating politics is on the rise, as a proportion of campaign funds raised by super political action committees (
PAC), a type of organization engaged in unlimited, independent political spending, has grown in recent years, according to protesters.
"A lot of the power companies they work with the politicians, they persuade them that oil and gas is like the better future, it's cleaner energy, and it's not true, because there's been proven concepts of other countries that are using renewable energies such as solar, hydro and wind," said a protester.
According to statistics released by the
Federal Election Commission (
FEC), around 400 Supers
PACs have been actively operating across the
United States. More on:
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- published: 18 Apr 2016
- views: 10