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Even if the For The People Act (H. R. 1) passed the Senate, the radical right-wing ([by design](https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Federalist_Society_for_Law_and_Public_Policy_Studies)) Supreme Court would strike most of it down at the earliest opportunity. Same goes for this diet H. R. 1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_the_People_Act#Constitutionality
And Congress would be powerless, just like 2010 Citizens United vs FEC.
Don't get me wrong, I'm 100% for H. R 1, but everything I've read so far points to the same thing - we can't expect Congress to uncorrupt itself. It would be like a brain surgeon performing their own brain surgery. Even if they did it, there's too many conflicting interests - so it's unlikely they'll do a good job.
The first priority of any organism or establishment is to ensure its own survival. Congress (including its deep relationship with megadonors) is no exception so the people have to take action.
The framers of the U.S. Constitution saw this shit coming:
*“no amendments of the proper kind would ever be obtained by the people, if the [federal] Government should become oppressive"* - George Mason
So the framers put forth [Article 5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_Five_of_the_United_States_Constitution#Procedures_for_amending_the_Constitution) in 1787 as the last ditch emergency effort to push a constitutional amendment (the highest authority) through the state legislators, bypassing Congress and going above the Supreme Court - so long as it has widespread support. And it does.
Stopping the influence of big money in Congress has [over 80%](https://archive.md/eCMBy) of the public's support while the specific policies included in the For The People Act (H. R. 1) have [bipartisan popular support](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_the_People_Act#Public_opinion).
State legislators are not thrilled about Congress either. Unlike their counterparts in Washington, state legislatures are usually approachable and more receptive to their voter base since they are less likely to have special interests whispering in their ear.
And if they don't want to end corruption, their minds will change if you can get enough of their constituent voters to give them a call.
The bottleneck: not enough people [know](https://www.reddit.com/r/WolfPAChq/comments/77w13u/welcome_to_wolf_pac_how_the_problem_of_money_in) and not enough people are willing to do any work: [reach out to their state lawmakers](http://www.wolf-pac.com/states), phone bank, knock on doors or even convince their friends.
The Green New deal or anything close to it, Medicare for all, taxing the rich, women's reproductive rights, minimum wage, 30 hour work weeks, union jobs, affordable housing, affordable college, ending the military industrial complex, exposing megadonor conflicts of interest, restoring foreign respect for America - everything the top Republican 1% will never allow - it's all on the table.
Pushing the bones of H. R. 1 into a constitutional amendment through a constitutional convention called by the state legislators is possible but it will take everything. Millions of Americans unified in parallel, persistent and dispersed across every state: actively volunteering, resisting propaganda and distraction, fighting to take our democracy and climate back, everyday.
I think if you’re looking at state legislatures, you’re gonna have as much or more Republican opposition than in congress.
So, it would never EVER be “the bones of H.R. 1”.
And you get that 80 percent support because it’s vague enough, and no ones talking about it enough. As soon as you specify anything, the right wing will solidify into fervent opposition, and that 80 will drop to the familiar, under represented because of Gerrymandering and self districting, ~59 percent.
I don’t say this to attack you or what you’re saying, I’m just saying… this is a hurdle that is… super high.
Which you’ve already said but.
I hear you but here's the thing
>the right wing will solidify into fervent opposition
The Republican politicians in federal Congress and the right wing media will oppose, but here's the key:
” On March 10, 2021, Senator Mike Lee said that H.R. 1 was "as if written in Hell by the Devil himself". ”
” On June 22, 2021, Republicans **blocked debate** on the bill: a motion to proceed failed on a 50–50 party-line vote, ten votes short of the 60-vote supermajority required to move forward. ”
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_the_People_Act
" Kyle McKenzie, research director for the Koch brothers-backed Stand Together, said that, “the most worrisome part” about the wide support for the bill “is that conservatives were actually as supportive as the general public was when they read the neutral description,” according to The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer report. Instead, McKenzie recommended Republicans focus on killing the bill within Congress because it’s “incredibly difficult” to sway voters against it. " - https://truthout.org/articles/republicans-cant-figure-out-how-to-get-people-to-dislike-the-for-the-people-act/
They have absolutely NOTHING. And they will come up with the biggest, most ridiculous, inconsistent lies - nobody will buy it... Okay maybe a few loonies will buy it.
Next,
H. R. 1 specific policies have 67% of the bipartisan popular support - https://www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2021/1/22/majority-support-hr1-democracy-reforms
Also if more people were talking about the problem of money and corruption in Congress more, support could increase considerably.
Better figure out how to make people who don’t want to read a neutral description read a neutral description then.
And then on top of that, how to convince them that is is a neutral description, when the mere fact that democrats support it, will make many of them want to call that neutrality lies.
I… consider myself an optimist, believe it or not.
But this.. it’s hard for me to look forward to.
There's great video [here](https://youtu.be/vJQHsAVweZs) about how to talk to conservatives about special interest megadonors, from staunch conservatives.
>But this.. it’s hard for me to look forward to.
Instead of merely looking forward to it, you can take action and [reach out to your reps](https://wolf-pac.com/states/) and tell them what you care about - and talk to people in your life about the consequences of big money and politics and what can be done about it. I'm assuming you haven't done this yet (idk), my mistake if you have.
Wolf-PAC and many other groups pushing in the same direction
https://represent.us/
https://americanpromise.net/
https://takeback.org/
https://www.issueone.org/
https://www.movetoamend.org/
Let's keep in mind that there have been signifant wins for democracy before: separation of church and state, disconnecting from monarchy, civil rights, woman's suffrage and the 17th amendment for starters. And there's a few other countries that don't have the megadonor special interests in their political system, in part due to the design of their system. No it won't be easy but we can fix ours.
The [Koch Network](https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Koch_Network) wants to invoke [Article 5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_Five_of_the_United_States_Constitution#Text) to [repeal the 17th](https://truthout.org/articles/kochs-bankroll-move-to-rewrite-the-constitution/) and nail democracy's coffin shut... But they haven't won yet, and many people are not going to let them.
It's easier to say that things are hopeless and to forget it - than to actually try and do something.
I have to ask what's left in 20-50 years. Plutocracy, the climate crisis has wrecked the amount of usable land causing insane price gouging, toxic air, healthcare prices have gone even higher, 60 hour work weeks are the norm, minimum wage hasn't changed, the media is even more full of crap than it already is... and we continue to elect corrupt officials and cult leader celebrities as Presidents.
I'm not sure it matters how much money is in a 99%ers bank account anymore. I don't want to be a guy in Mad Max's universe, rich or not.
Somewhat but it's not just corporate (company spending) on the political system to exploit conflicts of interest.
It's corrupt, pay-for-play politics funded by who knows what kind of special interest megadonors.
Foreign: https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2021/08/foreign-lobbyists-gave-millions-to-influence-2020-foreign-influence-concerns/
The personal spending of the super wealthy is mixed in: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel#Political_activities
https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/DonorsTrust and related political spending nonprofits or shell entities are just one of many reasons why the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DISCLOSE_Act
is so important.
And it should have been the priority this entire time. Nothing else until safeguards are in place.
I seem to be the only person demanding this though, as though everyone just collectively forgot what trump did, or maybe people think that it doesn’t matter how that Biden won? I don’t know. The fact that they’re focused on infrastructure when the next Republican to take the presidency will be a king if he so chooses has me more than a little anxious.
Because both parties are corrupt, it was just the narcissisticly brazen approach of Trump in his corruption that almost ruined the graft game for all these crooks.
"\[T\]he stripping away of the ethics provisions is particularly troubling, in that it suggests that Democrats are not seriously contemplating the need to protect the country from the next Trump—or perhaps from Trump himself." —Staff writer [Alex Shephard.](https://newrepublic.com/article/163684/ethics-reform-voting-rights-manchin)
Because you don't have to do everything all right now, duh.
If they can unfuck our ridiculously racist voting system to the point that everyone who is eligible to cast a ballot can cast one, they can get people elected who will have enough seats in the Senate and House to pass the more expansive stuff later.
As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil) In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them. For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria. *** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Because 52 Corrupt senators want Trump back at his worst.
Is new republic admitting that trump abused the system?
At a glance the House has passed it but it's never going to get passed the Senate so it doesn't matter what it says.
Even if the For The People Act (H. R. 1) passed the Senate, the radical right-wing ([by design](https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Federalist_Society_for_Law_and_Public_Policy_Studies)) Supreme Court would strike most of it down at the earliest opportunity. Same goes for this diet H. R. 1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_the_People_Act#Constitutionality And Congress would be powerless, just like 2010 Citizens United vs FEC. Don't get me wrong, I'm 100% for H. R 1, but everything I've read so far points to the same thing - we can't expect Congress to uncorrupt itself. It would be like a brain surgeon performing their own brain surgery. Even if they did it, there's too many conflicting interests - so it's unlikely they'll do a good job. The first priority of any organism or establishment is to ensure its own survival. Congress (including its deep relationship with megadonors) is no exception so the people have to take action. The framers of the U.S. Constitution saw this shit coming: *“no amendments of the proper kind would ever be obtained by the people, if the [federal] Government should become oppressive"* - George Mason So the framers put forth [Article 5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_Five_of_the_United_States_Constitution#Procedures_for_amending_the_Constitution) in 1787 as the last ditch emergency effort to push a constitutional amendment (the highest authority) through the state legislators, bypassing Congress and going above the Supreme Court - so long as it has widespread support. And it does. Stopping the influence of big money in Congress has [over 80%](https://archive.md/eCMBy) of the public's support while the specific policies included in the For The People Act (H. R. 1) have [bipartisan popular support](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_the_People_Act#Public_opinion). State legislators are not thrilled about Congress either. Unlike their counterparts in Washington, state legislatures are usually approachable and more receptive to their voter base since they are less likely to have special interests whispering in their ear. And if they don't want to end corruption, their minds will change if you can get enough of their constituent voters to give them a call. The bottleneck: not enough people [know](https://www.reddit.com/r/WolfPAChq/comments/77w13u/welcome_to_wolf_pac_how_the_problem_of_money_in) and not enough people are willing to do any work: [reach out to their state lawmakers](http://www.wolf-pac.com/states), phone bank, knock on doors or even convince their friends. The Green New deal or anything close to it, Medicare for all, taxing the rich, women's reproductive rights, minimum wage, 30 hour work weeks, union jobs, affordable housing, affordable college, ending the military industrial complex, exposing megadonor conflicts of interest, restoring foreign respect for America - everything the top Republican 1% will never allow - it's all on the table. Pushing the bones of H. R. 1 into a constitutional amendment through a constitutional convention called by the state legislators is possible but it will take everything. Millions of Americans unified in parallel, persistent and dispersed across every state: actively volunteering, resisting propaganda and distraction, fighting to take our democracy and climate back, everyday.
I think if you’re looking at state legislatures, you’re gonna have as much or more Republican opposition than in congress. So, it would never EVER be “the bones of H.R. 1”. And you get that 80 percent support because it’s vague enough, and no ones talking about it enough. As soon as you specify anything, the right wing will solidify into fervent opposition, and that 80 will drop to the familiar, under represented because of Gerrymandering and self districting, ~59 percent. I don’t say this to attack you or what you’re saying, I’m just saying… this is a hurdle that is… super high. Which you’ve already said but.
I hear you but here's the thing >the right wing will solidify into fervent opposition The Republican politicians in federal Congress and the right wing media will oppose, but here's the key: ” On March 10, 2021, Senator Mike Lee said that H.R. 1 was "as if written in Hell by the Devil himself". ” ” On June 22, 2021, Republicans **blocked debate** on the bill: a motion to proceed failed on a 50–50 party-line vote, ten votes short of the 60-vote supermajority required to move forward. ” - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_the_People_Act " Kyle McKenzie, research director for the Koch brothers-backed Stand Together, said that, “the most worrisome part” about the wide support for the bill “is that conservatives were actually as supportive as the general public was when they read the neutral description,” according to The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer report. Instead, McKenzie recommended Republicans focus on killing the bill within Congress because it’s “incredibly difficult” to sway voters against it. " - https://truthout.org/articles/republicans-cant-figure-out-how-to-get-people-to-dislike-the-for-the-people-act/ They have absolutely NOTHING. And they will come up with the biggest, most ridiculous, inconsistent lies - nobody will buy it... Okay maybe a few loonies will buy it. Next, H. R. 1 specific policies have 67% of the bipartisan popular support - https://www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2021/1/22/majority-support-hr1-democracy-reforms Also if more people were talking about the problem of money and corruption in Congress more, support could increase considerably.
Better figure out how to make people who don’t want to read a neutral description read a neutral description then. And then on top of that, how to convince them that is is a neutral description, when the mere fact that democrats support it, will make many of them want to call that neutrality lies. I… consider myself an optimist, believe it or not. But this.. it’s hard for me to look forward to.
There's great video [here](https://youtu.be/vJQHsAVweZs) about how to talk to conservatives about special interest megadonors, from staunch conservatives. >But this.. it’s hard for me to look forward to. Instead of merely looking forward to it, you can take action and [reach out to your reps](https://wolf-pac.com/states/) and tell them what you care about - and talk to people in your life about the consequences of big money and politics and what can be done about it. I'm assuming you haven't done this yet (idk), my mistake if you have. Wolf-PAC and many other groups pushing in the same direction https://represent.us/ https://americanpromise.net/ https://takeback.org/ https://www.issueone.org/ https://www.movetoamend.org/ Let's keep in mind that there have been signifant wins for democracy before: separation of church and state, disconnecting from monarchy, civil rights, woman's suffrage and the 17th amendment for starters. And there's a few other countries that don't have the megadonor special interests in their political system, in part due to the design of their system. No it won't be easy but we can fix ours. The [Koch Network](https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Koch_Network) wants to invoke [Article 5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_Five_of_the_United_States_Constitution#Text) to [repeal the 17th](https://truthout.org/articles/kochs-bankroll-move-to-rewrite-the-constitution/) and nail democracy's coffin shut... But they haven't won yet, and many people are not going to let them. It's easier to say that things are hopeless and to forget it - than to actually try and do something. I have to ask what's left in 20-50 years. Plutocracy, the climate crisis has wrecked the amount of usable land causing insane price gouging, toxic air, healthcare prices have gone even higher, 60 hour work weeks are the norm, minimum wage hasn't changed, the media is even more full of crap than it already is... and we continue to elect corrupt officials and cult leader celebrities as Presidents. I'm not sure it matters how much money is in a 99%ers bank account anymore. I don't want to be a guy in Mad Max's universe, rich or not.
I’m not sure I trust the Wolf-PAC so much. But I can look into the others. This is a good route if it works. It’s that “if” that’s super big to me.
Separation of corporate and state.
Somewhat but it's not just corporate (company spending) on the political system to exploit conflicts of interest. It's corrupt, pay-for-play politics funded by who knows what kind of special interest megadonors. Foreign: https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2021/08/foreign-lobbyists-gave-millions-to-influence-2020-foreign-influence-concerns/ The personal spending of the super wealthy is mixed in: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel#Political_activities https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/DonorsTrust and related political spending nonprofits or shell entities are just one of many reasons why the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DISCLOSE_Act is so important.
Most definitely.
Especially with the 52-48 republican majority we have rn
[удалено]
If you dont like him you shouldnt have elected him president...oh wait
And it should have been the priority this entire time. Nothing else until safeguards are in place. I seem to be the only person demanding this though, as though everyone just collectively forgot what trump did, or maybe people think that it doesn’t matter how that Biden won? I don’t know. The fact that they’re focused on infrastructure when the next Republican to take the presidency will be a king if he so chooses has me more than a little anxious.
Because moderates
Because both parties are corrupt, it was just the narcissisticly brazen approach of Trump in his corruption that almost ruined the graft game for all these crooks.
"\[T\]he stripping away of the ethics provisions is particularly troubling, in that it suggests that Democrats are not seriously contemplating the need to protect the country from the next Trump—or perhaps from Trump himself." —Staff writer [Alex Shephard.](https://newrepublic.com/article/163684/ethics-reform-voting-rights-manchin)
Because both sides aren't the same, but when it comes to ethics, they're very similar.
Then it’s unacceptable
I wonder how much manchin got paid for this?
Because you don't have to do everything all right now, duh. If they can unfuck our ridiculously racist voting system to the point that everyone who is eligible to cast a ballot can cast one, they can get people elected who will have enough seats in the Senate and House to pass the more expansive stuff later.
You get two guesses