“Fair” is a word that gets thrown around a lot in American political discourse. If you really look closely, you quickly realize that the current state of politics can be called many things, but “fair” is likely not one of them. Last January, the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Citizens United case gave groups free reign to spend unlimited amounts of money on political ads, and simultaneously protected the anonymity of their (often) corporate donors.
However, a forthcoming piece of legislation, The Fair Elections Now Act seeks to change one aspect of this massive problem. The Fair Elections Now Act, “would allow federal candidates to choose to run for office without relying on large contributions, big money bundlers, or donations from lobbyists, and would be freed from the constant fundraising in order to focus on what people in their communities want.” The bill currently has the support of 134 members of the House and 9 of the Senate.
And the support doesn’t stop there. A recent poll found that voters support the Fair Elections Now Act by a two-to-one margin, 62 to 31 percent. Independents are the most exicted about the bill, with 67 percent approval rates. As illustrated by the following videos, those independents are joined by other voters, both progressive and conservative (and in an election year this intense, that’s a pairing you don’t see too often).
The red, blue, and purple voters have spoken, and they all want corporate money out of elections. Here’s hoping that our elected representatives on both sides of the aisle listen up.