A Bold New Law To End Corruption

My last post was about some real grimy stuff going on in Washington. Luckily there is a group of activist that have had enough of the corruption and bribery. They came up with an ingenious new law that will greatly impact how American elections are campaigned. The group is Represent.Us and they are actively fighting to end corruption. They wrote the American Anti-Corruption Act (AACA). In short, the law greatly impacts how much can be donated to a campaign and is 100% constitutional. Written by some of the top constitutional lawyers in America. Here is a rough outline of the law taken from Represent.Us

AMERICAN ANTI-CORRUPTION ACT OUTLINE

1. Stop Politicians From Taking Bribes- "Prohibit members of Congress from soliciting and receiving contributions from industry or entity they regulate, including those industries' lobbyist. Prohibit all fundraising during Congressional working hours."

2. Limit SuperPAC Contributions and "Coordination"- "Require SuperPACS to abide by the same contribution limits as other political committees. Toughen rules regarding SuperPACs' and other groups' coordination with political campaigns and political parties."

3. Prevent Job Offers As Bribes- "Close the "revolving door" where elected representatives and senior staff sell off their legislative power for high-paying jobs. Stop them from negotiating jobs while in office and, once they leave, bar them from all lobbying activity for five years."

4. Call All People Who Lobby, Lobbyist- "Significantly expand the definition of and register all lobbyist to prevent influencers from skirting the rules." (In my opinion we should have a national database of lobbyist and they should register as a Lobbyist, just like sex offenders so we know who is a lobbyist and monitor how much our politicians associate with them. The database is just my opinion though not part of the AACA.)

5. Limit Lobbyist Donations- "Limit the amount that lobbyists and their clients can contribute to federal candidates, political parties, and political committees to $500 per year and limit lobbyist fundraising for political campaigns. Federal contractors are already banned from contributing to campaigns: extend the ban to lobbyist, high-level executives, government relations employees, and PACs of federal government contractors."

6. End Secret Money- "Mandate full transparency of all political money. Require any organization that spends $10,000 or more on advertisements to elect or defeat federal candidates to file a disclosure report online with the Federal Election Commission within 24 hours. List each of the donors who give $10,000 or more to the organization to run such ads. This includes all PACs, 501c non profits, or other groups that engage in electioneering."

7. Empower All Voters With A Tax Rebate- "Build up on the influence of voters by creating a biennial $100 Tax Rebate that they can use to make qualified contributions to federal candidates, political parties, and political committees. Flood elections with small-donor contributions that will offset the huge spenders. Candidates and political groups will only be eligible for these funds if they agree to a set of contribution limits: they will only accept money from small donors (giving $500 or less a year), other groups abiding by the limits, and the Tax Rebates themselves."

8. Disclose "Bundling"- "Require federal candidates to disclose the names of individuals who "bundle"contributions for the member of Congress or candidate, regardless of whether such individuals are registered lobbyists."

9. Enforce The Rules- "Strengthen the Federal Election Commission's independence and strengthen the House and Senate ethics enforcement processes. Provide federal prosecutors the additional tools necessary to combat corruption, and prohibit lobbyists who fail to properly register and disclose their activities from engaging in federal lobbying activities for a period of two years."

REPRESENT.US NEEDS YOUR HELP!

If you are intrigued by the new law there is a lot more you can find out about it on the Represent.Us website. Please take into account this whole project is in its infancy and as of December 7th 2013 there are only 20 districts across the country with an established team of activists fighting the fight. They need all the help they can get and if you are interested in doing what you can PLEASE visit the website and do what you can! Below I will post links where you can find the tools you need to combat corruption in your area. Please check out the website and sign your name to co-sponsor the act! America needs your help and frankly, we've all had enough, from liberals to conservatives and everyone in between.With our elected officials in the pockets of lobbyist they are turning America into a Corporate Dictatorship, but TOGETHER WE CAN PREVAIL!

Represent.Us Website - Represent.us

Activist Materials & Tools- https://represent.us/tools/

AACA Entire Overview- http://anticorruptionact.org/ 

   

Is The Constitution Outdated?

The Constitution is a powerful document that has been the law of the land since the dawn of America. Designed to bring order to a strong and vibrant society giving much deserved rights to us common folk. But is it old? Outdated? Well this has been a tending topic and I've decided to do a little research. I found A website where people can voice their opinion and I'm going to post five of the most compelling arguments from each side so you can make your decision.

Outdated

• The power of judicial review was never formally granted to the Supreme Court, yet has become a cornerstone of political life, and a dominant branch in US government as a result.Leaving an unelected body of 9 to make decisions such as Texas v. Johnson 1989, where public opinion was never in their favour.

• While the general principles of the Constitution are fine, the fact is, language changes over the years, and various words have gained and lost connotations over the long lifespan of the Constitution. To try to read it too strictly is, as such, a losing proposition, unless one also approaches it with a knowledge of late 18th century English. In modern times, the Constitution must be seen as something adaptable. Completely rewriting it is probably not necessary, but to try to adhere to its words too strictly is also not good.

•  The US constitution needs a complete reboot; from updating the bill of rights, to adding more regarding states rights. Also, it needs to be redacted in a way that it could be updated every 40 or 50 years; it's unthinkable to pretend to govern a country with such an outdated document that does not represent our values anymore.

Not Outdated

• The Constitution has the ability to change to fit current times. As policies the founding fathers couldn't have predicted, like abortion, arise, the Constitution can be amended to fit contemporary views. Certain fundamental rights, such as the right to bear arms, do need of course to be policed, but no, a set of laws that can evolve is by definition not outdated.
•  The U.S. Constitution evolves, just like any other document that founds a government. The fundamental rights of Americans shouldn't change. The document can be amended through a specific process that has worked for more than 200 years. The constitution isn't too old because America, as a country, is still here. The words may have been written on paper, but the U.S. Constitution is a living, breathing document that we live by every single day.
•   If anything does need to be updated, there is something called Amendments. Our constitution has worked for many years. It is a just and it supports our civil liberties. If the constitution is out of date, wouldn't we write another one? If we do write another one, who would write it? Mit Romney? Barack Obama? George Bush? Or some random billionaire? We don't have the great leaders like we used to.

 

In my opinion the constitution is outdated and should be revised to meet the needs of the generation in which it serves. By doing this new laws can be put into place, or laws that are no longer working for the country could be "erased".  So, is the constitution outdated?

 

Is The Constitution Outdated?
	Yes
	No
pollcode.com free polls