UnPAC and Rootstrikers

Email from Rick Staggenborg

Re: Rootstriker​s and Demand Progress announce their Pledge to Amend campaign
  Time is running out for those of us who want a strong amendment to be passed.

As you can see below, building on a small-scale project in 2012 UnPAC has joined with Rootstrikers in launching a campaign to call on Presidential candidates to advocate for an amendment to "overturn Citizens United." Obviously, that is not enough. They are also not targeting the right people, since Presidents have nothing to do with passing amendments. Targeting candidates for Congress would make more sense. We can start to do that now if we choose.

No other organizations working for a constitutional amendment have done anything to make it a campaign issue since Public Citizen called for pledges in 2010. If we continue to ignore this strategy, we risk having a weak amendment passed. If that happens, the Obamacare phenomenon will happen: A lot of people will assume that we won the fight and lose interest in the issue.

Some organizations are banking on a long-term strategy of educating the public about the need for an amendment that will both institute effective campaign finance reform and abolish corporate personhood before trying to force Congress to take a stand. They are risking the loss of the public's attention by waiting to make this a campaign issue.

I hope that local amendment advocacy groups will try to get whatever national organizations they are working with to discuss working with other groups on a pledge strategy that will bring out the issues that are not going to be discussed in a campaign to merely "overturn Citizens United."

Whatever local groups or national organizations decide, each of us can individually ask all the candidates running for Congress this year whether they will support a strong amendment and encourage others to do the same.

Rick

In solidarity for peace and justice,

Rick Staggenborg, MD
Board President, Take Back America for the PeopleFounder, Soldiers For Peace International
http://www.soldiersforpeaceinternational.org/2011/01/asymmetrical-warfare.html

Coos Bay, OR
541-217-8044

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Subject: The anti-corruption movement just got a whole lot bigger!
From: unPAC@demandprogress.org
To: staggenborg4senate@hotmail.com
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 2014 22:00:40 +0000

Rick, During the 2012 election, you joined with thousands of others to confront the corrosive influence of Big Money in our political system. Together, we crowd-funded ads in four states, inspired a nation-wide, corruption-focused art exhibition led by Shepard Fairey and pressured the president to publicly support an amendment to overturn Citizens United. I am thrilled to announce that with the next election approaching, unPAC is joining forces with Rootstrikers and Demand Progress. To successfully take on the system of corruption in Washington, we all need to work side by side. Our first campaign together will force presidential candidates during the 2016 election to answer one critical question: How will you, as president, end the system of corruption in Washington? Will you add your name to encourage the people of New Hampshire to force every presidential candidate to answer this one question? Candidates flock to New Hampshire early, before anyone knows (or cares) who they represent. By holding the first presidential primary, New Hampshire sets the tone for the national election. Our hope is that the New Hampshire Rebellion will make this issue central to the rest of the country throughout the 2016 election. Rootstrikers and Demand Progress have been allies since unPAC launched. In case you haven't heard of them yet, I want to tell you just a bit about our new partners. Rootstrikers is organizing people across the nation to fix our democracy, led by Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law Professor and author of Republic, Lost. Demand Progress, co-founded by the late activist and technologist Aaron Swartz, is renowned for winning fights to prevent Internet censorship and is now turning its focus to the fundamental issue of systemic corruption in Washington, D.C. Together, we will grow the movement across the country, deepen our roots at home and weed out the systems of corruption and injustice that afflict our democracy. Onward, Matt and the unPAC Team PS: If you're in New England, find a NHRebellion event near you here. Money plays a corrupting role in our political system, and unPAC, Rootstrikers, and Demand Progress have joined forces to build a mass-movement to fight it -- and to return control over our government to the people. Find us on Facebook and Twitter.