What we say. What we do. It matters.

[angrychair]

I tell my kids to not steal, it's wrong. If they then see me stealing, even small things, then tell them "this is different. I have to do this this time. If I were in charge of the company, no one could steal anymore. When I am in charge, it will be different. "Just stealing for right now because I have to steal."
What kind of message does that send? Campaign finance reform is important. Revoking Citizens United is important. Just not important right now. Just not this time. Maybe next time. Maybe the next time after that. Maybe. Right now we have to do it. Everyone else is.

Its the old "The end justifying the means" lie. The thing is you are not just lying to me or my kids. Your lying to yourself.
The frustrating thing is that she is rich, she will be fine. Its my future and my kids future she is selling to the highest bidder.

[daleanime]

1. K&R.....

[cantbeserious]

2. Preach It - Our Collective Futures Are At Stake - The 99% vs The 1% - See The Six Questions

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251812060

[JaneyVee]

3. The hell are you talking about?

Hillary is actively fighting Citizens United, who do you think is behind the Hillary movie and all the FOIA requests? Citizens United.

And btw, Bernie is currently in the senate, what has he accomplished on this issue?

And: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/05/14/hillary-clintons-litmus-test-for-supreme-court-nominees-a-pledge-to-overturn-citizens-united/

[artislife]

5. With the money she gets from the Financiers...oh...

It makes me sad you believe what you post.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. It boggles the mind

that so many forget, don't know, or don't care about the background subject matter of what ended up argued before the Supreme Court as Citizen's United v FEC.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/14/AR2009031401603_pf.html

Joe Madison oft-quotes MLK's comment in situations such as this -

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

[Weidman]

7. When Clinton's campaign has SuperPACs, she becomes a hypocrite

to "fighting Citizens United".

[angrychair]

9. "actively fighting Citizens United"

Are you kidding? Really? She has 24 SuperPACs! I don't call that "actively fighting Citizens United". She has one of her SuperPACs splitting off and intending to work in a way to avoid campaign finance rules and coordinate with her campaign.
Nothing she is doing is, in any way, is "actively fighting Citizens United".

[onecaliberal]

4. EXACTLY!

Thanks you, thank you, thank you. It's beyond madness.

[dreamnightwind]

8. And everyone else isn't

Since Sanders is not taking that money, what excuse does she have to use that money against him in the primary? Certainly not the excuse that everyone else is doing it. She should compete based on her ideas, not based on the strength of her corporate donations.

[NanceGreggs]

10. It's not a matter of the ends justifying the means.

It's a matter of not bringing a knife to a gunfight. And as long as Citizens United stands and money is part of the election process, elections will continue to be gunfights.

The smart politician uses whatever is at their disposal to get their message out there, because they know the other side is going to do exactly that.

Do you really believe that if Democrats "take the high road" and refuse funds to run their campaigns, the Republicans are going to follow suit? Do you think a Republican in the WH is going to do anything about getting money out of elections - when they know they just won an election because they outspent the Democratic candidate?

Recognizing that the Republicans are armed-to-the-teeth financially in every election is not lying to one's self - it is facing up to that reality, and acting accordingly. And pretending that some other "reality" exists is sheer folly.

As things stand, money IS an election weapon - it pays for ads, flyers, surveys, phone lines, rallies, travel to meet voters across the country, and all of the other things that contribute to a campaign that successfully reaches millions of voters. No matter how strong the message of any candidate, if that message goes unheard, it is rendered pointless by virtue of it never reaching its intended audience, being the American voters.

If you think that NOT using a gun at a gunfight is somehow more principled, that's your prerogative. But when your candidate is dying of gunshot wounds while a well-armed Republican is inaugurated - a man or woman who will stand as a shining example of what election money can accomplish - your principles will be buried in an unmarked grave, along with your hopes of the rules of the game ever being changed.

[angrychair]

11. If i didn't know better

I would have thought this was paraody. You used the word "gun" 5 times. This isn't the O.K. Corral. It is a political process that the average person struggles to remain relevant in.
You said: "No matter how strong the message of any candidate, if that message goes unheard, it is rendered pointless by virtue of it never reaching its intended audience, being the American voters."
Who cares if the the message being given isn't for the American people but the dark money people funding it. At the end of the day, either we believe we should have the political system we were promised or continue to deal with the one being forced on us by people with millions of dollars of interest that are not ours.

You said "your principles will be buried in an unmarked grave, along with your hopes of the rules of the game ever being changed."
Your statements would preclude any hope of real change. You speak so harshly of having principles (your principles will be buried in an unmarked grave) to have grown so callous to what Democrats hold as core values, we should never be so quick to seek the easy path.

I have more faith in the American people than you. I think it will matter to avoid SuperPACs and campaign fairly. If that doesn't matter to the American people anymore than we have already lost as a nation.

[840high]

12. ....x10+

[NanceGreggs]

13. The candidate who gets elected ...

... has the power to initiate change. The candidate who loses doesn't.

You fight the battle with all that is allowable and available - you don't hand your weapons to the enemy while you go into combat unarmed, or using your principles as a shield against bullets.

I have great faith in the American people. That's why I am confident that HRC will be the next POTUS. She understands that you have to play-to-win to achieve a position where you can initiate a change in the rules.

Wanting money out of politics is a goal. It is not a strategy in a game where money, like it or not, still matters. And right now, money is still a big playing piece on the board.

If you believe that the Democrats should tie one hand behind their backs while fighting the GOP for the WH - well, that's your prerogative.

I want the Dem to WIN - because that's the ONLY chance the get-money-out-of-politics idea has a chance of succeeding.