United Citizens against Citizens United! Either way - down with dark money in politics! It must be made a crime to own members of congress, the president, or the Supreme Court.
True. SCOTUS legalized anonymous dark money bribery from ultra-rich untaxed oligarchs, (both foreign AND domestic), all over the world with their 2010 Citizens United decision. (yawn) Oh well, Human history is no mystery because fascism and greed *never sleep.* Authoritarian governments and religions both learned eons ago that *ignorant people are easier to govern* and I believe *that's* the reason why less than 50% of American adults can read above the 6th grade level today.
Should've been called..."Citizens Bane United", as absolute power corrupts absolutely "Citizen Kane". Makes you wonder why they chose "Citizens United" as a name for it ? As it has been a serious bane to US of A !
A solution to politicians being corrupted is to make donations solely to a party and having it split between members. Have a bank hold a fund for anti-corruption if someone "has to spend" the money from an envelop (make that fund known and transferable from home.. hide the money and have someone pick it up later) or other scheme to force someone into a bad spot. Call it the ishi fund (make an acronym) I just want to make sure that people remember that a nobody has been fueling these ideas for years and supporting people that know whom to listen and Why (plus it encourages me to become Much Much more whom I want to become for everyone.. unaffiliated is a word for it... incorruptible is also part of it :D. Once that fund is implemented and the new rule is set, start discussing Very openly that politicians will have to have their bank accounts shared publicly with a delay of 2 months to release them. If someone wants to go in politics, they will be slightly purer than the previous generations :) Thank you for considering starting this sh_t show. I will nail that coffin when I'm ready to make "noise" without really taking these whacky mantles you guys are forced to wear. Love ya though! (all of you guys that help keep this man an icon for the future generations).
Government gives each candidate a fixed dollar amount, for their campaign, plus audits the crap out of them all to ensure no additional funds are spent on campaigning and that no campaign funds are spent on anything else. zero donations from any other sources allowed. The government should pay for its own elections.
America is basically in a permanent election cycle. Having a presidential election that lasts for years means that only rich people or someone supported by billionaires can hope to run. Canada has an election that only lasts months or even weeks. Politicians don't have to be unemployed because they need to spend years on the campaign trail. The entire system of American "democracy" is a masquerade covering up the fact that America is actually an oligarchy.
A corporation is not a citizen. The employees are. Citizens vote and back their candidates with political donations. Corporations should not be allowed to donate to any political cause. Representative democracy in action.
Ya but corporations (private dictatorships) derived from the word corpus means body and they always have someone in charge who can be considered the head of the company so it's just apparent that they have all rights of a citizen. I thought it would be obvious that i was being sarcastic, but I was wrong...my bad. This idea of corporations being citizens disgust me personally. That's why I called them what they are private dictatorships. I was trying to point out how sick this concept is.
@@embarrasseddisgusted7096 but they already have those tights as an individual anyway, you are basically making the case that they should be allowed multiple votes
:D Agreed. The only problem for average American Citizens today, (and average citizens everywhere else throughout history), has been the fact that "Common Sense is a flower that doesn't grow in *everybody's* garden."
@@kenhoward3512 Agreed. Simon and Garfunkel got it correct in the lyrics of their song: The Boxer: "A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest."
Why don't politicians enact the things people want? Because of dark money, lobbying, corporate interests and now, also, the Leonard Leo Six on the Supreme Court, who will overturn any such legislation.
Without the voters putting the pressure through their vote, nothing can be done. That's why dark money and it's agents support the Steven Kingesque clown as their front man.
I’ve been a bookkeeper, including payroll, for most of my life. I’ve never understood why there is a cap on income. Everyone should pay the into the system, especially rich people. If anything, people below the poverty level shouldn’t have to pay into it but still able to draw SS and Medicare.
The earnings cap on income subject to Social Security taxation (the SS Wage Base) is a strange thing. Social Security benefits are calculated using earnings up to the Wage Base over a persons’ career. So the highly compensated individuals who earn over the wage base pay a lower SS tax as a percentage of total income and receive lower Social Security benefits as a percentage of career earnings than the average worker does. There is a theory that someone with that much in earnings has the sense to invest and doesn’t need SS as much as a less wealthy individual. That makes some sense. But why not tax all earnings anyway, and continue to limit benefits to earnings not exceeding the wage base ? These well -to- do individuals ought to be able to afford it and the system is projected to go “insolvent” without any changes in funding or benefits.
@@kirkparson8962one reason not to " cap" benefits , since you posed the hypothetical question, is when an employed or dependent suffers a catastrophic injury if any kind and that work history doesn't meet the expense. Recall the entire premise of social security is to end poverty for those who can not work so we are not perpetually surrounded by a population that is outside dying among us Or, hostage in the attic a "shameful" untreated unseen person. The more important question is why not "cap" income of free polluters after , say , million #1? Invite the life of leisure group that doesn't "work" to leave all the interesting living things be for the duration of their life span instead of of lying to them, manipulating them, polluting to the detriment of ALL living things on and on...killing things directly and indirectly obsessed with chasing zeros? The notion that " philotropic" spend off of the spectacular wealth of a free polluter killibusiness is a form of tax evasion is a boil on the but if greedy Rico corporation crime organizations.
If working poor didn't pay in, then SS benefits would be condemned as welfare by the Resentful Rich. I think that would have generated less support for SS.
@@christal2641 Vote BLUE, then keep yourself informed and aware. Then keep ALL electees to the straight and narrow. They work for US, not their Party or Industry, or for themselves.
They will. Bernie's the best and it should have been him elected President in 2016 & 2020.....that unfortunately didn't happen because of big corrupt money in the USA political system.
So grateful that you are so wise, clear, and sensible, bernie. Oh how i wish most politicians had your sense and compassion. That's a world i'd love to live in.
You just defined the problem as unsolvable. You said that WE HAVE NO VOICE UNTIL WE REMOVE CITIZENS UNITED. Do you see the hopelessness inherent in your statement?
❤️❤️❤️❣️ Thank You forever, Senator Sanders, for your steadfast championship of the American people through the vehicle of the American Constitution and government. It keeps me in the political fight to know there are still champions for us despite the on-all-sides silence of our major media, even online.
I hope so. Big money should not be allowed to donate during elections. Make a law to make it illegal. There should also be a law to make it illegal to run false ads on tv or radio, or apps. The ads should be proven for truth. Otherwise, they should not be able to run them. Yes, all rich people should pay more taxes. Also you take social security and Medicare away. There will be many seniors homeless and living in the street.
Senator Sanders tells it like it is. I haven’t heard him say anything I disagree with in years. For example, Medicare is a great program, but the fact that it doesn’t cover dental or vision is costing me a lot of money and causing me to defer getting services I would get sooner otherwise.
@@alanmorris1828 Sad but true. My father was friends with the infamous Senator Mcarthy while living in DC during the ‘Red Scare’ in the early ‘50s and was a lifelong Republican. Very good guy but had some beliefs I just couldn’t get my head around. C’est La Vie.
Reason " self evident truths" are the abiding principle of defending the US Constitution. Tyranny of yesteryears odd "beliefs" never was. Learn and fore think. Be humble when mistakes are made and learn.
I agree with what Senator Sanders says here. However, Congress can pass any legislation it wants, and the Supreme Court, as it is currently comprised, will come up with some convoluted logic and specious arguments to declare the law unconstitutional.
Yes, at this point, we need to correct this court. Senator Wyden has an excellent proposal to remedy the current court. I am hopeful that the issues with the Supreme Court will be addressed, we’ll get a Democratic Congress and our first woman president.
You have to remember Eichmann called everyone he didn’t like socialist Marxist communists. And sent people he didn’t like to institutional care. And he ran to win the election in the 1930s promising a change in the world. Had democracy of the Weimar Republic resisted the fascist take over, it would have been a very different world.
Australia has publicly funded , so the parties and independents get a percentage of funding. But of course it doesn’t stop the fundraising, soliciting donations. Currently the rules regarding donations is that amounts over $10k must be duly disclosed( although in some states there is a move to reduce that to amounts over $1k being disclosed). Also some other changes are being discussed,
When multi-billionaires become bored after the novelty of their space craft wears off, what do they do for amusement? They buy a politician and in turn, a country.
More than that. Candidates should not be able to receive contributions from any individual or organization that is not their constituent. RNC and DNC practice of sharing funds is a recipe for polarization.
I totally agree. He's totally right . We need to fix this . Bernie is only speaking the truth . We need to put a lot of pressure on our politicians to get this done . AND IT NEEDS TO BE DONE !!
Get rid of all donations and issues ads then switch to publicly funded elections. If every candidate has the same money they would need better plans. Also term limits would be a good move. If politics was not a lucrative career perhaps we'd get better candidates. America is broken. All of our institutions are corrupt and ineffectual. Its never going to get better with the current political system.
President Harris needs to find a good home in her new admin for Bernie. FULL STOP. 👏👏👏👏👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 I adore Bernie Sanders. Now he is one man who belies the adage that getting into ones eighties means brain loss! He is sharp as a tack.
I just watched Maddow talk about Rick Scott putting in $10M of his own to win his $174K job. Something is just not right with that logic. You're in my Prayers Mr Sanders.
We need to get money out of most things, as greed is destroying our country: politics, healthcare, housing, food, oil, education, prisons. Right now, everything in America is for sale to the highest bidder, and it’s often private equity. The average American is priced out.
A congressman get $180,000 a year plus amazing health care. They get around $3 million a year for staff to be used at their digression. Thye are also allowed to insider trade with no consequences. Yet for many this is not enough money for them. Supreme court justices are no different. Be reminded when you vote for someone how much they are getting for the job and weather or not they really care about changing things for the better or are just in it for themselves.
As was discussed in the video: ending Citizens United and enacting policies to make the rich pay their fair share (this wasn't mentioned in the video but this was historical policy of the US government: even Republicans in the 1950's and 60's supported a tax system which enacted massive tax rates on high-income earners. This did not, contrary to the modern GOP's arguments, result in a descent into dictatorship or economic collapse. Quite the contrary, it exploded the growth of the white middle class and was crucial for funding social programmes that helped millions move out of poverty. In addition to the policies proposed in the video, I think it is also necessary include a comprehensive code of ethics and term limits for Supreme Court Justices, neither of which exist in the Supreme Court today and both have served to make Supreme Court Justices extremely susceptible to bribery and corruption (we tend to refer to what happens with those such as Clarence Thomas as "ethics scandals" but we should call it what it really is: bribery). Not to mention term limits for Senators and Representatives as well as a prohibition against incumbent elected officials using public funds for legal expenses relating to ethics violations and other forms of misconduct. A politician's malfeasance should never be funded with public money or resources.
Why isn’t there a cap on what candidates can spend on an election? Make it fair for everyone? If that is even possible. All the money spent on campaigns that could go to people, programs, national parks and infrastructure. Our priorities are all screwed up spending so much for ads, rally’s & trash can flyers.
@@alanmorris1828 He may have indicated he changed his mind. He may have wanted to back track. He may have wanted to reveal that he had been coerced or corrupted. For example. I met the guy. Shortly before he died. He was as healthy as an ox.
It's such a shame that we didn't get Bernie as president in 2016, or in 2020. Imagine how much different and better the country would be if he had been running things.
The irony of this for me as a non-American is that Bernie would actually be just another mainstream politician talking sense in pretty much any other democratic nation in the world. THAT is the measure of how much control the oligarchs have in America. And believe me, it harms all the rest of us too, and that is why we care about your business.
Surprisingly Indiana's healthcare for low income people has been able to add a dental & vision option for a sliding scale low cost. Could a similar option be rolled out on medicare when/if it's expanded?
1. Do you think that the wealthy and large corporations should pay more in taxes? Over 70% 👍 2. Should we raise social security benefits by lifting the cap on taxable income and extend the life by 75 years? Over 70%👍 3. Should we raise the minimum wage to a living wage? Over 70% 👍 4. Should we expand Medicare? Over 70% 👍 Now go poll as many people as you can to prove it for yourself. Yes you too Trump supporters.
