DM Articles

Government Of, By, and For the People. Today, as we honor American democracy and celebrate these inspiring words, we need to re-dedicate ourselves to making them real.

On January 21, the Supreme Court made a final decision on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC), a judgment which allowed unlimited corporate contributions in state and federal elections and has sprouted controversy throughout the country, including the New Paltz community.

You may have caught some of the recent circus on TV where executives from Goldman Sachs, the huge Wall Street corporation, were grilled by members of Congress. Goldman Sachs was a major player in the corporate greed that has brought us the economic recession. But while Americans face continuing unemployment, Goldman Sachs has been doing fine — $13 billion (yes Billion) in profits in 2009, and a CEO with a bonus of $9 million last year!

When is a corporation not a corporation? Opponents of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission might say, “When it’s treated like a human being.” On January 21, the Supreme Court of the United State of America ruled 5-4 and rejected corporate spending limits on political campaigns. This interpretation extends the First Amendment’s freedom of speech provision to corporations and unions, allowing them to spend unlimited sums to publicly support or oppose political candidates at any time during the elections process.

On April 14, the Democracy Matters student organization hosted “So you think you can be a politician?” a discussion on the experiences of elected office. The panel featured Texas Representatives Dan Branch and Rafael Anchia as well as Desoto ISD Trustee and SMU student Warren Seay.

The Most Important Player on the Orlando Magic roster hasn't played a minute this season.

Three out of every four residents in the 23rd Congressional District disagree with the Supreme Court's position that corporations should be able to spend limitlessly on elections, according to a poll commissioned by three progressive organizations.

For one group of students, what sets their springtime concert on the HUB lawn apart from the rest is simple: Theirs has a message.

Last year, the insurance companies gutted health care, the banks walked off with a trillion dollars in bailouts, and the oil, coal, and nuclear lobbyists hijacked the clean energy jobs bill. And that was before the Supreme Court last month repealed all limits on corporate political spending.

Last year the insurance companies gutted health care, the banks walked off with a trillion dollars in bailouts, and the oil, coal, and nuclear lobbyists hijacked the Clean Energy Jobs Bill. And that was before the Supreme Court repealed all limits on corporate political spending last month.

Last year, the insurance companies gutted health care, the banks walked off with a trillion dollars in bailouts and oil coal, and nuclear lobbyists hijacked the clean energy jobs bill. That was before the Supreme Court recognized corporations as equal to individual citizens and effectively repealed all limits on corporate political spending.

Members of Bryn Mawr’s Democracy Matters chapter delivered a petition expressing support for the Fair Elections Act to Congressman Jim Gerlach on Friday, contributing to the national organization’s "Fair Elections Action Week". The bill, which is currently under consideration in the House of Representatives, limits large campaign donations.

When businesses buy government, the people must take action.

Six people walked through city hall to congressman Baron Hill’s office wielding a petition with 510 signatures – part of the 180,000 signatures nationwide.

This weekend, the Colgate chapter of Democracy Matters traveled to Albany to participate in the group’s National Summit. Seniors Mollie Reilly and Sarah Finn, the group’s campus coordinators, attended this year’s summit, accompanied by W. Bradford Wiley Professor of Economics Jay Mandle, who led one of the workshops.

INDIANAPOLIS — Twenty-year-old Indiana University junior Brianna Dines made the case Wednesday for chilling the cozy relationship between legislators and lobbyists.

Ethics reforms in the Statehouse took a step forward Wednesday as one bill unanimously cleared a House committee and a second was introduced in the Senate.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Indiana House Speaker Pat Bauer, blamed for killing a lobbying reform bill earlier this year, made a rare personal appearance before the House Rules Committee to champion a new one. 

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indiana House committee endorsed a bill Wednesday to tighten lobbying and ethics rules and sent the legislation to the full, Democrat-controlled House.

My name is Rachel Williams, and I am the campus coordinator for Democracy Matters on the SUNY New Paltz campus, among other titles in this community. Recently I traveled to Washington, DC with the Hudson Valley Progressive Coalitions’ Caravan to DC to meet with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. I had the opportunity to thank her for co-sponsoring legislation that Democracy Matters has been working hard to get passed. Although she had supportive words for the grassroots activism we represent, she expressed the uphill climb we still have for change.