John Kerry: “this vote is a true test of political character because it goes to the very heart of American democracy. It will…”

“this vote is a true test of political character because it goes to the very heart of American democracy. It will determine who will choose our Nation's leaders--faceless corporations or we the people. The Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case earlier this year dealt a crushing blow to fairness in our Federal elections. This decision is why we are here today, taking a closer look at the hard realities of how the political system works here in the United States. For far too long, our Federal election system has been broken and the remedies ignored. In 1997, I wrote the Clean Money, Clean Elections Act to help tackle some of our most important campaign finance problems. That bill sought to limit the power of special interests in elections by offering incentives for 'clean candidates' who swore off private campaign contributions and ran using only a clean money fund. Unfortunately, during the 13 years since that bill's introduction, we have seen an increase in the influence of special interests and now corporations on our Federal elections. Make no mistake about it--the ruling by the Supreme Court has only exacerbated the problems of the system. And that makes it all the more important that we no longer keep our heads buried in the sand. I have always believed that the single biggest flaw in our Federal election system is the disproportionate power and influence of money that drowns out the voice of average Americans.”