Change

[baronmind]

You're never going to be as cynical as the corporations and the harem of politicians they pay for. It's like trying to outchant a Buddhist monastery.

--Bill McKibben
Politics, goes the old joke, comes from two words: poly, meaning many, and ticks, meaning blood-sucking creatures. This observation causes people to smile wryly and shake their heads

Comments

[ellinoora]

So... How do we help?

[baronmind]

I wish I knew! I'm not even entirely certain what Americans can do. I can see the broad strokes, but I'm unsure how to enact them. From outside the country, I think all you can do is provide moral support.

[elmo_iscariot]

Looking at the linked article, the solution is supposedly a Constitutional amendment (points for actually advocating a legally legitimate remedy, rather than just demanding more unconstitutional campaign finance laws) restricting the First Amendment:

I don't want to be hopelessly naïve. I want to be hopefully naïve. It would be relatively easy to change this: You could provide public financing for campaigns instead of letting corporations pay. It's the equivalent of having the National Football League hire referees instead of asking the teams to provide them.
...
To make this happen, however, we may have to change the Constitution, as we've done 27 times before. This time, we'd need to specify that corporations aren't people, that money isn't speech, and that it doesn't abridge the First Amendment to tell people they can't spend whatever they want getting elected...I'm on board with the revocation of corporate personhood, but it's an extremely libertarian position that I doubt most of its advocates would like in reality. Corporate