Yeah, yeah, getting beyond that we are not a pure democracy, but, hey, at least they didn’t mention Coronavirus. Just kind of implied it. Here’s Democrat Sensators Jeff Merkley and Tom Udall
What our democracy needs now: Legislation that returns power to the American people
What do prescription drug pricing, gun safety and the climate crisis have in common? Strong majorities of Americans want Congress to act on these issues, but special interests and political corruption keep Washington, D.C., gridlocked.
That wouldn’t return power to the people, it would give it to the Central Government
Many Americans have resigned themselves to the current reality of our politics. But our government doesn’t need to — and shouldn’t — operate this way. We can and must reclaim government of, by and for the people.
Last year, the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR 1, the For the People Act —sweeping anti-corruption legislation that would represent the biggest reform of money and ethics in government since Watergate.
We are leading the For the People Act in the Senate because this legislation is the road map we need to take our democratic republic out of the hands of the powerful and privileged, and give it back to “We the People.â€
The For the People Act represents a powerful step to reclaim our government from insidious forces that have maintained power for the privileged few and broken our politics.
You know who those insidious forces are? “Cynical politicians” at lower levesl who do things constituents want, like voter ID
The For the People Act does precisely that by combating these insidious laws and instituting automatic voter registration instead.
What if people do not want to be registered? And then
Perhaps worst of all, special interests and billionaires have exploited loopholes in federal campaign spending — like the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United ruling — to dump unprecedented sums of special interest money into American elections.
See, it’s those pesky private citizens and companies, which are often made up of little people (take a look at Opensecrets.org and see who gives money to the two senators), who dare attempt to sway elected lawmakers. How dare they think that elected lawmakers should be responsive to citizens, not the other way around. The even go on to write that “special interests” have too much power. Aren’t citizens and citizen groups supposed to have the power?
The entire bill is about giving massive amounts of power to the government and taking it from the private sector, including citizens. It is a horrible, horrible authoritarian bill, which is why the Democrats like it.
If they really want to return power to the people, then they should institute term limits and repeal the 17th Amendment. Put the power back where it belongs in our federalist system.
