GREAT DM SUMMIT…KOCH BROTHERS & TRUMP VICTORY…CAMPUS HIGHLIGHT…PATRIOTIC MILLIONAIRES & ISSUE ONE…MONEY ON MY MIND…DM HIGH SCHOOL ADVOCATES…QUOTE & IDEA OF THE MONTH…FACTS YOU CAN USE…
THE GREAT!! DEMOCRACY MATTERS ANNUAL STUDENT SUMMIT
The 17th DM Summit will be February 3rd and 4th in Albany, NY. The Summit’s theme this year is “Saving Our Democracy: Where Do We Go From Here?” Register today to join Democracy Matters students, staff, alumns, and board members in shaping our strategy in response to the 2016 election.
Attend exciting activist workshops and discussions including running S.M.A.R.T campus events and meetings, social media organizing, lobbying, defending democracy, public campaign financing, and how to talk about the policy impacts of mega-donors on civil and women’s rights, the environment, immigration, mass incarceration, student debt and more. Network with other campus leaders, share best practices, and help design our annual April Day of Action. Everyone is welcome, so sign up now.
THE KOCH BROTHERS AND THE TRUMP VICTORY
Big political money had an enormous impact on the 2016 election. The Koch Brother’s donor network alone spent $750 million electing conservative state and Congressional candidates. These politicians will influence and support a Trump agenda focused on climate change, civil and women’s rights, voting rights, tax policy, education policy, corporate welfare and more.
Hundreds of paid political operatives, and over 300,000 volunteer grassroots activists organized by the Koch network’s vast centerpiece, “Americans for Prosperity,” canvassed and turned out GOP voters in key states like Florida, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. And now Trump is relying on advisers groomed and supported by the Koch network, including Vice-President elect Mike Pence, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and CIA chief Mike Pompeo.
The outcome of the 2016 election is the direct result of years of political funding by mega-donors like those in the Koch’s network. These corporate plutocrats are set on creating an enfeebled democracy, ever more dependent on the priorities of the richest Americans, ever more deaf to the needs of the American people.
Read more on the Koch influence.
CAMPUS HIGHLIGHT – GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
Democracy Matters at George Washington University traveled to Capitol Hill to the offices of U.S. Senators. They urged them to support the Senate’s Fair Elections Now bill for small donor publicly financed elections.
GW Democracy Matters this semester also registered hundreds of students to vote, and participated in a discussion of the challenges to young voters in 2016. Having also organized a well-attended panel discussion on the future of money in politics in 2017, they are ending the semester with improv theater performances – featuring a student dressed as a $100 bill chased by a group of corrupt politicians. Go GW!
Summary of the Fair Elections Now Act.
PATRIOTIC MILLIONAIRES & ISSUE ONE
Democracy Matters chapters are proud to be partnering with two exciting organizations bringing advocates of campaign finance reform to Democracy Matters campuses for forums, panels and discussions. Patriotic Millionaires and Issue One are national organizations that support campaign finance reform.
Representatives of both these organizations including former members of Congress, judges, and experts in campaign finance law participated in fall DM events at Suffolk University, the University of New Hampshire, Harvard University, and Keene State College.
Read more about Patriotic Millionaires and Issue One.
MONEY ON MY MIND
This month Jay Mandle argues that the wealthy mega-donors who fund both political parties have benefited from the growth in international trade. But at the same time, they have blocked the income support and re-training that could help blue-collar workers who have been the innocent victims of globalization. The private funding of our campaigns creates and reinforces deep inequities, stoking the anger of those on the losing end.
Read the full article and explore other issues of MOMM.
DM HIGH SCHOOL ADVOCATES
Democracy Matters High School Advocates Program welcomes New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn, NY. Led by Ksenia Novilkova, this intrepid band of activists last month organized a protest/demonstration at a crowded intersection near Columbus Circle in New York City.
They called for the overturn of Citizens United and the passage of small donor publicly funded elections. Chanting for hours and waving bright colored signs, they talked to passers-by and urged others to join them. They also collected petition signatures for the NY state-wide “Demand Democracy” campaign for voting rights, ethics rules, and campaign finance reform. That petition, aimed at getting big money out of politics and people back in, was sent to Governor Cuomo and state legislators. Ksenia summed up the day: “We’re excited because we really got people thinking about this – and it was fun too!”
Learn more about the DM High School Advocates Program.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“The United States is an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery.”
President Jimmy Carter, speaking of the dominance of political money from the ultra-rich in our elections.
Read Carter’s thoughts on U.S. campaign financing.
IDEA OF THE MONTH
The holiday season is a great time to reach out to high school students! With schools still in session during colleges’ winter break, Democracy Matters members visit their hometown high schools to talk with students there. Emphasizing the importance of political and civic engagement in a democracy, DMers describe their own involvement in voter registration, in exposing the role of big money in politics, and in their generation’s contributions to positive social change.
Call your high school’s government, sociology, and history teachers to schedule a classroom discussion with their students about democracy. Happy Holidays!
FACTS YOU CAN USE: ELECTION 2016 MONEY OVERVIEW
- Total cost of Federal election: $6.9 Billion
- 4% of U.S. population gave: 70.3% of total
- Most Expensive Senate Race: $52.3 Million (Florida – Marco Rubio)
- Most Expensive House Race: $20.5 Million (Wisconsin District 1 – Paul Ryan)
- Percent of Senate Races Won by biggest spender: 94%
- Percent of House Races Won by Biggest Spender: 96%
- Senate Incumbent Re-election Rate: 90%
- House Incumbent Re-election Rate: 97%
- Total Business Contributions: $1.5 Billion*
- Total Labor Contributions: $47 Million*
- Biggest Industry Contributor: $490.5 Million* (Securities & Investment)
*Contributions by individuals associated with business, labor, or specific industry.
Source: Open Secrets, “Cost of Election.”
To honor our 2016 activists, we list ten Democracy Matters chapters in each E-News:
Ursinus College…Vassar College…Westminster College…Alabama State University…Appalachian State University…Bard College…Colby College…Colgate University…Emerson College…George Washington University…