Political Quotes

Donna Edwards: Justice Brandeis got it right: democracy or wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but not both. And that's truer…

On the recordJanuary 27, 2010
Justice Brandeis got it right: democracy or wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but not both. And that's truer today as the United States Supreme Court just wiped away decades of legal precedent, allowing corporations to spend unlimited money from their treasuries in our elections. The American people already believe that corporate special interests and their lobbyists run the show around here. I mean, the halls are crawling with them. But that's not enough. Now the Court says to the big banks, the credit card companies, the drug companies and to the insurance companies, Hey, all bets are off, and it's open season. Our elections are for sale. So that's right. If the corporations don't like what this Congresswoman is doing, they'll just forget the voters, buy TV ads, send robocalls, send a lot of mail, and beat her in November. A law won't fix this. We have to fix it in the Constitution. So today I will introduce a constitutional amendment so that we, the people, can take back our elections and our democracy. This is not the People's House, Incorporated. We are the people. It's our House, it's our Constitution, and it's our elections. And we intend to take it back from the United States Supreme Court.
Said by
Donna Edwards
Democratic · Maryland
Source
govinfo.gov
Jan 27, 2010

Editor's note · Context

The speaker addresses the impact of a Supreme Court decision on campaign finance and proposes a constitutional amendment.

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