The world faces unprecedented global challenges that cannot be solved unless business leaders and other citizens take personal responsibility for the whole. Our inability to enact necessary reforms in the face of urgent crises relating to climate change, the financial system, and offshore drilling is a testament to the need to reform our political system and end special interests’ capture of Congress.
But engaging in the political process is not enough. People must use both their political power and their purchasing power to shape corporate conduct and counter the political influence of well-funded corporate interests that put private profits above the public good. Websites like MapLight.org and OpenSecrets.org track companies’ lobbying and campaign expenditures, enabling people to align their spending with their values.
Democracy is far superior to any other form of government but it has its own pitfalls. Writing in the May 17 New Yorker, James Woods reminds us of de Tocqueville’s prescient observations about America when he journeyed there in 1831 at the age of 25 and warned about the dangers of new forms of tyranny from spreading materialism and the emphasis on individualism.
Such conditions, he warned, would lead people away from collective political actions and toward an excessive and “relaxed love of present enjoyments.” This new despotic force, hard to recognize as one, “does not break wills, but it softens them, bends them, and directs them; it rarely forces one to act, but it constantly opposes itself to one’s acting; it does not destroy, it prevents things from being born.”
Take action and help give birth to a better world.
Now it’s easier than ever to align your political beliefs and spending habits. Use the new Checking Influence tool to see the political and lobbying expenditures of the businesses you frequent.
The Sunlight Foundation, a non-partisan nonprofit dedicated to making government transparent and accountable, created the tool for citizens to use on any web page that shows their spending transactions, such as a banking site, credit card statement, or Mint.com.
Two other non-partisan websites, MapLight.org and OpenSecrets.org, also offer excellent tools for tracking the influence of money on public policy.
To find the most energy-efficient products on the market, visit TopTen.info for information about products in Europe and China or “Top Ten USA.” Search by product category, including cars, household, lamps, office equipment, consumer electronics, and building components.
Find service opportunities that fit your unique talents and skills, empower your community, and align your spending with your values:
Change.org: This popular website raises awareness about important causes and makes it easy to sign or start petitions or take other action.
Causes: Mobilize your friends, create your own advocacy group, and launch a movement that spans local communities or changes the world.
Care2: Browse petitions by cause or start your own to make a positive and earth-friendly impact on the world.
Catchafire: Explore this innovative, skills-based volunteer matching platform that matches professionals with nonprofits and social enterprises that need help (only in greater NY area so far).
Universal Giving: This award-winning marketplace helps people give and volunteer with top-performing, vetted projects all over the world.
DonorsChoose.org: Connect to classrooms in need by browsing funding proposals by public school teachers and donating whatever you like.
Encore Careers: Helps “Boomers” find second careers that combine purpose, passion, and a paycheck—work that leaves the world a better place.
WorldofGood.com: Visit the world’s largest multi-seller marketplace for fair trade and eco-friendly items from around the globe.
Cities of Service: Find ways to fill local needs through this website founded by a bi-partisan coalition of mayors working to engage citizens.
SeeClickFix: Don’t miss these multi-platform civic improvement tools— with separate components for government, community groups, and the media— to flag problems and track solutions to non-emergency local issues.
In January, the Supreme Court threw out 100 years of law and ruled that corporations could spend unlimited amounts to influence election outcomes. This radical decision giving corporations the same rights as people endangers our democracy and threatens to drown out the voices of individual citizens.
As Adrienne Huffington wrote in her new book, Third World America: “For decades our political leaders have systemically squeezed the nation’s middle class in order to promote the corporate interests paying for their re-election…. In today’s Washington, the fix is in. So that’s the first thing we need to fix,” starting with “a complete reboot of the way we finance our elections.”
The only way to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision is to amend the Constitution. Passing a constitutional amendment is a long, slow process. In the short-term, curb the corporate agenda of activist CEOs—and protect your 401(k) invested in stocks or mutual funds—by supporting the Shareholder Protection Act. Or support the Fair Elections Now Act, a bipartisan bill that enables Congressional candidates to run viable campaigns using public funds and unlimited small contributions from ordinary citizens.
Want to stop funding climate change deniers and junk science? Stop buying Koch Industries’ consumer brands, including Brawny, Dixie cups, Quilted Northern paper products, Stainmaster carpet, CoolMax, and Lycra.
Foundations controlled by Koch Industries, the oil and chemical industry giant, have spent almost $25 million between 2005 and 2008 to bankroll climate change deniers and groups opposed to green energy policies.
Since 2005, Koch Industries has spent over $5 million bankrolling Americans for Prosperity, a leading organizer of the U.S. tea party movement. The company’s founder, Fred Koch, was the co-founder of the John Birch Society. Now the Koch brothers are funding Proposition 23 on the California November ballot, to repeal California’s climate change law which has set an important standard for the rest of the country while creating new green jobs.
To find out what companies are funding front groups, visit:
- The Center for Media and Democracy’s SourceWatch, which profiles the activities of front groups, PR spinners, and industry-funded organizations; and
- The Free Press website, which has a handy section on “astroturfing”—fake grassroots activism created and funded by corporations, political parties, or industry trade associations to advance their own interests.
“Oil production is among the most heavily subsidized businesses,” according to a New York Times article that details some of the subsidies for an industry known for its record profits.
“Nearly 30 members of the congressional committees overseeing oil and gas companies held personal assets in the industry totaling $9 million to $14.5 million late last year. That included at least $400,000 in the three companies at the heart of the Gulf of Mexico oil-drilling disaster,” according to the Washington Post.
Globally, direct subsidies for fossil fuels are about 10 times greater than direct global subsidies for renewables, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Direct subsidies for renewable totaled about $43-46 billion last year, a small fraction of the $557 billion in subsidies for fossil fuels last year.
Need information for quizzing Congressional candidates about their energy policies and spending priorities?
- Green Scissors 2010 identifies more than $200 billion wasteful government subsidies that are harming the environment and wasting taxpayers’ money. It targets four main areas: energy, infrastructure, agriculture and biofuels, and public lands.
- Or visit Dirty Energy Money, an interactive tool that tracks the flow of oil, gas, and coal money in U.S. Congress.
Tell your Senators to enact comprehensive energy and climate change legislation.
Offshore tax havens cost U.S. taxpayers as much as $100 billion per year, or about $500/year per taxpayer, according to a US PIRG report, "Tax Shell Game."
A loophole in U.S. tax law lets insurance companies avoid paying billions of dollars of income taxes on their U.S. business by forming an offshore “headquarters” that performs only superficial activities.
83 of the 100 largest publicly traded U.S. corporations (including 74 federal contractors) avoided taxes through subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands and other offshore tax havens in 2007.
Sign the petition to support proposals by President Obama and Members of Congress to close these loopholes in U.S. tax laws and stop tax haven abuses.
Corporations and political candidates are using MRIs, EEGs, and other brain-scan technology to craft irresistible media messages designed to shift buying habits, political beliefs, and voting patterns.
By measuring activity in different parts of the brain in response to an ad or other media message, advertisers and political consultants can create advertising campaigns that tap into the pre-conscious brain.
This form of marketing, known as neuromarketing, undermines our core democratic values of freedom and self-determination. ...more...