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Wednesday, November 05, 2014

Thank God the election is over


image: cartoon by Nate Beeler
Nate Beeler, The Week
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Big deal, the Republicans won. It only cost both parties combined over $1 billion for both the national house and senate races (Federal Election Commission, 2014 House and Senate Campaign Finance).

It cost me peace of mind and maybe some privacy: flyers clogging my mailbox; endless emails not requesting, but demanding money two and three times a day; the same old ads repeated over and over on the internet, on YouTube...everywhere.  A friend of mine saved the flyers; she's going to send them back and ask why this money isn't being spent to feed hungry children here in America.

I think we should declare a national Thank God It's Over holiday and schedule it for the Wednesday after each national election.  We could make bonfires of the useless flyers and stage signing parties to amend the constitution, so that Super PACs can no longer influence the vote.

Move to Amend is working on a constitutional amendment to reverse the Supreme Court ruling that enabled Super PACs. The petition states:
We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling and other related cases, and move to amend our Constitution to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.

Moving to amend the constitution is a fairly complex, but worthy, project. If citizens initiate the process, they must petition their state legislatures to assemble a "constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the State legislatures." It has never been done before--maybe the time is now.

The 2016 election is approaching fast. It will be worse.

-- Marge

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