Not that I’m fixed either way on this, but it appears interesting to consider.
If enough Americans do end up supporting this, WILL it help change a tide of crony corporatism saturating our government through influences of greed, power, fear and corruption? Since such elements appear to be the motivating factors, I would presume yes it could help.
[quote]The Chamber of Commerce, under the leadership of Tom Donahue, has gone from a well respected trade organization to an extremist political organization dedicated to corrupting American democracy by elevating the profits of big corporations over the well being of the citizens they serve. The most recent example of this corrupt behavior is the Chamber’s announcement that it is spending more than $100 million to defeat initiatives to protect the environment and provide affordable health care to everyone.
The Chamber is the biggest lobbying operation in the United States, spending billions of dollars on behalf of big business over the past decade to corrupt the political system. Polluters like Big Coal, Big Asbestos, and Big Oil only need call the Chamber to stop any accountability for their toxic destruction.
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Tom Donahue has turned the once respected and even-handed Chamber into an extremist organization, bragging that the Chamber gutted the Clinton tobacco settlement, killed the Clinton health care plan, and scuttled previous oversight of Wall Street and the banking system.
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Not only is the Chamber lobbying and advertising against the interests of Americans, it is also committing fraud and violating campaign finance laws by creating fake astroturfing front groups,
…Therefore, we demand the following:
[ul][li]Fire Tom Donohue.[/li]
[li]Drop Corporate Support for the Chamber.[/li]
[li]Launch A Criminal Investigation Against The Chamber For Fraud, False Tax Filings [/li][li]And Campaign Finance Violations.[/li]
[li]Ask Congress To Investigate The Chamber.[/li]
[li]Reorganize The Chamber.[/li]
[li]Speak Out Against The Chamber.[/li][/ul]
velvetrevolution.us[/quote]The movement states: Velvet Revolution is a term coined to describe the peaceful road to change in countries where governments ignored the inalienable rights of the people. A few inspiring Velvet Revolutions occurred in the former Soviet Union, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, South Africa, and of course, most recently in Ukraine. The citizens of those countries, tired of corruption and arrogant power, joined together by the millions in a sustained campaign of opposition - they demonstrated, boycotted, petitioned, and engaged in strikes until the pillars of power were replaced by the halls of the people. (source)
President Obama weighed in on the topic.[quote]'Big financial firms and their lobbyists" are “using every bit of influence they have to maintain a status quo that has maximized their profits at the expense of American consumers,” Obama said. “In fact, over the last 10 years, the Chamber of Commerce alone spent nearly half a billion dollars on lobbying - half a billion dollars.”
Source[/quote]
Here’s a stinging opinion in the Washington Post.[quote]In the past few weeks, a number of big-name companies – including Apple, Nike and PG&E – have resigned from the Chamber or its various boards and committees over its continued opposition to doing anything about global warming. … But in the process, the controversy managed to expose three embarrassing truths about the Chamber.
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The first truth is that the Chamber, in fact, does not represent anything close to the 3 million businesses it has always claimed.
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the second dirty little secret that was revealed by the defections is how undemocratic the Chamber has become.
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What we’ve also learned this week is how disingenuous the Chamber has become in its Washington lobbying. … And rather than focus on working constructively to improve legislation, the Chamber’s default strategy is to try to kill it outright through exaggeration, misrepresentation and outright lies.
Source: Defections Expose Chamber’s Dirty Little Secrets[/quote]
Any comments?
prolly not.