DM SUMMIT…CAMPUS HIGHLIGHTS…HONEST ELECTIONS…MONEY ON MY MIND…IDEAS & QUOTE OF THE MONTH…DM ALUMNAE…FACTS YOU CAN USE…
DM SUMMIT
Last call to register for the Great!! Democracy Matters National Student Summit. Join us for exciting workshops on running S.M.A.R.T campus events and meetings, money in politics as a civil rights issue, holding candidates’ feet to the fire, lobbying and becoming an expert on money in politics. Meet our founder Adonal Foyle as well as DM board members and staff. And hear from inspiring Keynote speakers, Connecticut Senator Gary Holder-Winfield and Professor Jay Mandle. All that plus networking, strategizing, sharing best practices, and more.
Register now!
CAMPUS HIGHLIGHTS: MONEY IN POLITICS & CIVIL RIGHTS
Democracy Matters students at Duke University and Guilford College in North Carolina, and at Simmons College in Massachusetts recently focused on the important issue of money in politics as a civil rights issue. Simmons DM organized a “Prisons For Profit” panel discussion of big private money’s link to mass incarceration, the prison industrial complex, and its impact especially on African-Americans.
Duke and Guilford students attended a “Money in Politics as a Civil Rights Issue” forum examining how the private funding of election campaigns marginalizes the political influence of people of color. Politicians beholden to ultra-rich donors have passed restrictive voting laws, promoted the war on drugs, gutted the Civil Rights Act, and systematically ignored the needs of communities of color.
Read more about Private Prisons.
HONEST & ACCOUNTABLE ELECTIONS ON THE BALLOT
Exciting public campaign financing initiatives are on the ballot this month in Maine and in Seattle, WA.
Seattle: “Honest Elections Seattle” asks voters to approve a new voucher system that restricts big money’s influence and gives power to the people in city elections.
Maine: The “Accountable Elections” initiative strengthens the state’s public financing “Clean Elections Act.” The Act has been in place since 1996, electing hundreds of Maine legislators who are accountable to the voters. (see Facts You Can Use below.)
Read more about Honest Elections Seattle.
Read more about Accountable Elections Maine.
More about Seattle Honest Elections.
MONEY ON MY MIND
Is democracy under attack? This month Jay Mandle critiques a defense of elite domination in China. He argues that what China needs, as does the US, is a political system responsive to the people, allowing them to freely choose their leaders.
Read the full article and explore other issues of MOMM.
IDEAS OF THE MONTH
November 3rd – Get out and Vote in your state and local elections.
November 5th – “Un-Koch My Campus” National Day protesting the Koch Brothers big money influence in colleges and universities.
November 14th – Organize a debate-watching party with an emphasis on solutions to big money in politics.
November 20th – The Democracy Matters National Student Summit – REGISTER NOW!
Read more about Un-Koch My Campus.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“I believe the huge sums of unlimited and secret money pouring into our politics is a fundamental threat to our democracy. The middle class will never have a fighting chance as long as the wealthiest families control the process.”
Vice-President Joe Biden announcing he will not run for President.
DM ALUMNAE UPDATE
When Kurt Walters graduated, he wanted to continue the organizing work he had done as part of Brown University’s chapter of Democracy Matters. Getting big money out of politics was his passion and has now become his career.
Working for Rootstrikers, Kurt recently helped design an exciting new website, “Fighting Big Money: Empowering People Agenda.” The website showcases the demands that leading “money in politics” reform organizations, including Democracy Matters, are making of the Presidential candidates. Congratulations to Kurt on his great work!
Add your name to the Fight Big Money petition!
FACTS YOU CAN USE: Money in Politics Solutions
Public campaign financing as the best way to democratize political fundraising may sound like a new idea coming from Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, and Martin O’Malley. But the fact is that it is alive and well in many US states and cities. For decades it has enabled ordinary citizens – especially under-represented groups like women, young people, the middle class and people of color – to run for office and get elected. It’s the nightmare of mega-donors!
The fight for public campaign financing comes from “bottom-up” social movements created by ordinary Americans who want their democracy back!
Read this terrific article about public campaign financing and its future in America.
To honor our 2015 activists, we list ten Democracy Matters chapters in each E-News:
SUNY GENESEO…SUNY NEW PALTZ…SUNY ONEONTA…SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY…UNION COLLEGE…UNIVERSITY OF IOWA…UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS LOWELL…UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA…UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE…UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH…
More Campus Chapters.