DM NATIONAL STUDENT SUMMIT…CAMPUS HIGHLIGHTS…QUOTE OF THE MONTH…IDEA OF THE MONTH…MONEY ON MY MIND…FIGHTING BACK AGAINST BIG MONEY IN POLITICS…FACTS YOU CAN USE
THE DEMOCRACY MATTERS NATIONAL STUDENT SUMMIT
The fantastic Democracy Matters Summit drew activists from California, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and more. We spent two exciting days strategizing, sharing ideas, networking, and learning from experts and each other.
A few highlights included a talk by DM founder Adonal Foyle, a luncheon keynote address by Fordham University Law Professor Zephyr Teachout who ran for NY Governor in 2014, as well as interactive workshops on lobbying, using social media, organizing S.M.A.R.T events, and building great DM chapters. Everyone left inspired to bring all the creative ideas that they had learned back to their campuses and continue to build the movement to get big money out of politics.
CAMPUS HIGHLIGHTS: SKIDMORE COLLEGE
Skidmore DM ended last semester with a screening of “Pay to Play,” after registering student voters, creating a “Get Out The Vote” video starring Skidmore students, putting up over 100 copies of their “Potty Politics” flyers, and participating in their school’s “Consent Festival,” asking students whether they consent to the rule of money in politics.
This spring, they are planning more “kick- butt” events including a lecture/discussion linking money in politics to issues including climate change, Ferguson and mass incarceration, funding for higher education, and more.
We all join in a warm welcome to new Spring DM interns at Duke University, Guilford College, St. Lawrence University, Appalachian State University, and Syracuse University.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH: PRESIDENT OBAMA’S STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
“A better politics is one where we spend less time drowning in dark money for ads that pull us into the gutter, and more time lifting young people up with a sense of purpose and responsibility to join in the great mission of building America.”
Read the President’s remarks here.
IDEA OF THE MONTH: CELEBRATE BLACK HISTORY MONTH
The demonstrations in Ferguson, MO have started an important conversation on the intersection of mass incarceration, failing schools, growing income inequality, lax gun laws, race, immigration policy and the militarization of police departments.
Democracy Matters chapters are organizing panel discussions, educational poster campaigns, Speak-Outs and more that connect the control of our politics by a small white wealthy elite with all of these problems.
MONEY ON MY MIND
In this month’s column, Jay Mandle compares the campaign spending and voter turnout in 2014 with the elections of 2006. He explores the relationship between the increasing importance of very wealthy political funders and the decline in voter turnout that in 2014 reached its lowest level since 1942.
Read the full article and explore other issues of MOMM.
FIGHTING BACK AGAINST BIG MONEY
On the 5th anniversary of Citizen’s United, a package of 12 Congressional bills entitled “Defending Democracy Legislation” was introduced into both the House and the Senate. These included a “Democracy for All Amendment” aimed at overturning Citizens United, and the public financing “Government By the People and Fair Elections Now Acts” that would provide Congressional candidates with matching public funds for small donor contributions.
On the same day, hundreds of demonstrations and marches were held throughout the country, sponsored by a coalition of over 130 organizations. Thousands of demonstrators called for taking democracy back for American citizens and creating a government that is truly of, by, and for the people.
FACTS YOU CAN USE: KOCH NETWORK ATTEMPTS TO BUY (AND DESTROY) DEMOCRACY IN 2016
Multi-billionaires David and Charles Koch want to own our democracy! They and their network of conservative allies around the country announced that they plan to spend almost a billion dollars to elect conservative candidates in 2016.
Instead of a democracy where politicians are accountable to the voters, the Kochs want our elected officials to take their orders from the hundred or so mega-donors to whom they will owe their election. As in the past, they will use largely “dark money” secret expenditures – those that don’t reveal donor’s names – to replace American democracy with an oligarchy, a system where a small elite determines laws, policies, and national priorities.
In the 2014 elections, the Kochs $400 million dollars in political spending impacted conservative victories in both the Congress and many states. Next time they will more than double that amount, putting their spending on a par with both national political parties.
“The Supreme Court’s left us with a democracy where a few billionaires and millionaires are active kingmakers and the size of a citizen’s wallet determines the strength of her voice,” stated Adam Lioz, counsel and senior advisor at Demos.
To honor our 2015 activists, we list ten Democracy Matters chapters in each E-News:
Bennington College…Boston University…Champlain College…Cornell University…Dartmouth College…Duke University…Elon University…Granite State College…Guilford College…Hamilton College…