"In California, 2026 is suddenly becoming the year of the big tech flex. Silicon Valley donors are unleashing tens of millions of dollars to reshape the power dynamics in this resolutely Democratic state":
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/04/woke-up-the-sleeping-giant-tech-goes-hard-on-california-politics-00765304?utm_content=politico/magazine/Politics&utm_source=flipboard
#politics #tech #CampaignSpending

A quotation from Teddy Roosevelt

There can be no effective control of corporations while their political activity remains. To put an end to it will be neither a short nor an easy task, but it can be done. We must have complete and effective publicity of corporate affairs, so that people may know beyond peradventure whether the corporations obey the law and whether their management entitles them to the confidence of the public. It is necessary that laws should be passed to prohibit the use of corporate funds directly or indirectly for political purposes; it is still more necessary that such laws should be thoroughly enforced. Corporate expenditures for political purposes, and especially such expenditures by public-service corporations, have supplied one of the principal sources of corruption in our political affairs.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Speech (1910-08-31), “The New Nationalism,” John Brown Memorial Park dedication, Osawatomie, Kansas

More info about this quote: wist.info/roosevelt-theodore/2…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #teddyroosevelt #TheodoreRoosevelt #bigbusiness #campaignspending #capitalism #corporations #corruption #government #meme #politicalcorruption #politics #regulation #transparency

President Biden just announced $150M in research spending for his cancer moonshot.

To put that in perspective, a pro-Trump super PAC will spend $100M in the next few weeks trying to disparage Kamala.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08/12/trump-super-pac-100-million-ad-00173644

And AIPAC spent $100M trying to unseat progressives critical of Israel's war on Gaza.
https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/20/pro-israel-groups-gaza-us-elections

We need better priorities.

And better campaign funding rules.

#cancer #research #ResearchFunding #CancerResearch #democracy #CampaignFunding #CampaignSpending #Election2024 #Kamala #KamalaHarris #Biden #CancerMoonshot #Gaza #genocide #CitizensUnited

…the #CitizensUnited ruling… upended nearly 100 years of #CampaignSpending #restrictions.

The #conservative #legal movement seized the moment w/greater success than any other group, & the consequences have shaped American #jurisprudence & #politics in dramatic ways.

From those early discussions among #Leo, #Thomas & #Crow would spring a billion-dollar force that has helped remake the #judiciary & #overturn longstanding legal #precedents on #abortion, #AffirmativeAction & many other issues.

The #SCOTUS 2010 #CitizensUnited decision transformed #politics. It loosened restrictions on #CampaignSpending & unleashed a flow of #anonymous #donor #money to *nonprofit* groups run by #political activists.

In the months before the ruling…, a group of #conservative activists came together to create just such an org. Its mission would be to, at the time, block then-President Barack #Obama’s pet #initiatives.

#DarkMoney #GinniThomas #LeonardLeo
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/10/ginni-thomas-leonard-leo-citizens-united-00108082

What Ginni Thomas and Leonard Leo wrought: How a justice’s wife and a key activist started a movement

Thanks to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, a trove of so-called "dark money" was about to be unleashed. Two activists prepared to seize the moment.

POLITICO
Exclusive: Lauren Boebert Accused of Illegally Spending $60k on Campaign

The Colorado Republican is facing an FEC complaint over money spent on GOTV calls during her 2022 midterm campaign.

Newsweek

Sick of corrupt government, America?

Here's your to-do list:

The 1st thing?
#EndCitizensUnited

The 2nd thing?
Abolish the #ElectoralCollege

The 3rd thing?
#TermLimits for #Congress

The 4th thing?
Limit #CampaignSpending

That would fix most of of it.

Wish list: Abolish #Lobbying