Political Quotes

“I rise to speak in support of S.J. Res. 19, a constitutional amendment that would give both States and Congress the power to undo the damage caused by Citizens United and restore our Democratic traditions. Passing this amendment is vital if we are going to begin to roll back the coercive influence of money in our democracy. Because of the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United, political power has become increasingly concentrated in the hands of corporations and modern-day copper kings. In fact, less than 1 percent of Americans provide over two-thirds of the money spent on elections. The voices of everyday Americans are simply being silenced. In Montana we have seen firsthand the damage to the process. Turn-of- the-century mining companies made rich off the copper seams in Butte, MT, my hometown, bought up the State press and bought off the State legislature. In response to these abuses, Montana banned corporate political spending by citizen initiative over 100 years ago. However, the recent Supreme Court's Citizens United decision overturned this century-old protection in an instant, silencing Montanans' voices with dark, secretive money and corporate political spending. Montana's experience with the Butte copper kings shows that corporate political spending, even if it is supposedly independent, corrupts the political process. We cannot let anonymous, unaccountable corporate spending drown out the voices of everyday Americans.…”