Now Is The Time To Outlaw PACs and Lobbyists

Lobbyists have always had power, but super lobbyist Grover Norquist is an example of how dangerously crippling to our government that power has become. Backed by the multi-million dollar organization Americans For Tax Reform, Norquist is considered by many to be the most powerful man in Washington. The supercommittee tasked with finding a plan to reduce the national deficit by 1.2 trillion dollars over 10 years was crippled by the pledge that the Republican members had made to Norquist to not raise taxes under any circumstances. This should be an eye-opening example of the insidious influence the lobbyists and campaign contributions have on our political process.

This election year will be more influenced than ever by the Super PACS that have formed after the ridiculous Citizens United decision was made by the Supreme Court that allows corportations and unions to spend unlimited sums of money for political messages. They are allowed to donate unlimited sums of money to nonprofit organizations (such as Norquists Americans For Tax Reform) or trade associations (unions) which can then spend huge sums of money advertising.

If ever there was as time that we need to look into the issue of campaign reform it is now.  Robert Steele. a former spy, has urged Occupy Wall Street to make this their most important central issue that they take to the people. I agree with him that this should be their cause. He is pushing for an Electoral Reform Act of 2012  that would eliminate corporations from contributing in any form (including individual contributions from employees) to any political campaign. All air time and media print space would be free and equal to all candidates.

This would be a start. We need strong laws that get rid of the domineering influence that special interest groups have on our government, corporate and otherwise. I think we need to go to a system where all presidential elections are paid for only out of the Federal Presidential Election Campaign Fund, and contributions are limited to $10.00/person. Lobbyists should be done away with. The idea of lobbying was to make sure that the people could petition the government, but it has become twisted and no longer serves its original intent. If we take these steps, the true voice of the people will finally be restored instead of the influence of overly powerful groups.