This weekend the California Democratic Party may feel the Bern. The Party's convention is in Sacramento and late this afternoon, the resolution committee will be working on getting the undo influence of money out of the political system. The video above explains what they're trying to accomplish. Below is the resolution as it now stands:
Resolution: Denounce the influence of money in politics, and act in accordance with the California Democratic Party (CDP) platformWHEREAS the 2016 CDP platform states “…a healthy democracy is based on public financing of political campaigns at all levels of government, campaign spending limits and full disclosure of political spending… We will fight the culture of corruption [and] cronyism…;” andWHEREAS money’s influence in politics corrupts a healthy democracy as stated in the Princeton Study (2014) “Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens,” in the 2011 model legislation “American Anti-Corruption Act,” and in the Sunlight Foundation Study (2014) “Fixed Fortunes: Biggest Corporate Political Interests Spend Billions, Get Trillions,” which reports that the 200 most politically active companies in the U.S. spent $5.8 billion on lobbying and campaign contributions from 2007-2012, and those same companies got $4.4 trillion directly back from the government they lobbied; andWHEREAS so far, voters in over a third of the states in the Union, including California, have voted to overturn Citizens United v. FEC (2010), demonstrating that the voters want to end the funding of political expenditures by corporations;THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the CDP will publicly condemn corporations and lobbyists that finance political campaigns, as they perpetuate a culture of corruption and cronyism and thus violate the CDP platform; andBE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the CDP will send a copy of this resolution to the California Congressional Delegation, including all its elected officials, calling on the delegation and elected officials to unwaveringly uphold the CDP platform, and reminding them that failure to do so is a dereliction of their elected and fiduciary duties as members of the CDP, as well as a copy sent to the Democratic National Committee.
The California congressman working hardest to pass this is Ro Khanna and you can hear him talking about it in the video up top. You'll also hear Bernie discussing why this is so crucial in our lives.Today Ro told me that "Those of us in Congress need to wake up. The American people have no confidence in the institution. They want money out of politics. They want an end to the foreign wars. They want an economic policy that isn't rigged for the investor class. The least we can do is listen and say we hear your anger. We hear your frustration. It is completely justified. We have had a political class that has failed us. We are doing our best to change. Not taking corporate money is a step-- a small but significant step -in that direction."