Sunday, September, 7th, 2014, 12:59 pm
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is warning the American
people that country is facing a pivotal moment in history tomorrow as
the Senate will vote on an amendment to repeal Citizens United.
Sanders is sounding the alarm bells that the country is facing a pivotal moment,
One day before the
U.S. Senate votes on a constitutional amendment to restore limits on big
money in politics, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called the drive to undo
Supreme Court decisions that gutted campaign finance laws “the major
issue of our time” and said Monday’s showdown vote is “a pivotal moment
in American history.”
“Billionaires buying
elections is not what our Constitution stands for,” said Sanders. He is a
cosponsor of the amendment to reverse Citizens United v. Federal
Election Commission and later court rulings that let millionaires and
billionaires spend virtually unlimited and unregulated sums to sway
elections.
“The major issue of our time is whether the United
States of America retains its democratic foundation or whether we
devolve into an oligarchic form of society where a handful of
billionaires are able to control our political process by spending
hundreds of millions of dollars to elect candidates who represent their
interests,” Sanders said.
The constitutional amendment will be obstructed by Koch funded Republicans who will do anything, including
drumming up a fake IRS scandal, to keep the billionaire dollars flowing into their campaign coffers.
Tomorrow’s debate is significant because the issue of Citizens United
and the right-wing billionaires who are trying to buy our government are
going to take center stage.
You will see Republicans like Mitch McConnell stand
up and defend the Koch brothers’ attempts to buy the government as “free
speech.” The rationale behind McConnell’s argument is that the people
who have the most money have the right to the most “speech.” The problem
is that free speech isn’t a commodity to be bought and sold. Money has
nothing to do with the basic right to speech.
There will be a parade of Republicans on the Senate
floor who will march to the microphone and in tones of dire panic tell
the American people that your liberty is at stake if the Koch brothers
aren’t allowed to spend millions of dollars trying to buy the
government. Republicans will be able to stop the constitutional
amendment, but they are going to be forced to go on the record with a
position on subject that they don’t want to talk about.
Monday’s vote is important because it is the next
step in the movement to overturn Citizens United. The important thing to
remember is that this is a movement. The easiest way to rid the country
of Citizens United is to wait for a conservative vacancy on the Supreme
Court, and tip the court more moderate direction with a liberal
appointment.
Until that time comes, the foundation of our freedom
will continue to be under assault from billionaires’ interests, and it
will be up to leaders like Sen. Bernie Sanders to mobilize the regular
Americans to defend the rights of all.
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