Dirty Energy Money: Why Congress is Paralyzed
Posted by Ethan on Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Under: Climate Bill
Hey Neergs--
Okay brace yourself! Today's post may come off as a bit of a downer, but it's really meant to give kids a wake-up call and some valuable insight as to why big oil and coal will continue to have incredible power in stopping our efforts to slow global warming and create a clean energy economy. On January 21, 2010, our Supreme Court Justices ruled that corporations should have the same "rights" and freedoms of speech as individuals. This "freedom of speech" included being able to spend as much money as they like to support candidates and legislation that moves their ball forward. Hmmm? Do you think that means they'll support candidates that vote against clean energy legislation? You betcha!
January 21st was a sad, sad day. Our Supreme Court Justices are appointed for life unfortunately. The Justices who passed this ruling were all nominated by the Republican party. This balance of power is unlikely to be overturned for a long, long time. Justices only retire when their party is in power so that they can be replaced by another "conservative." Unfortunately, this means that corporate spending will go unchecked during elections--authentic grassroots candidates and issues will be drowned out by their spending. It is estimated that $153 million has already been spent in the mid-term election cycle--double what was spent in all of 2006! And we haven't even gotten to the Nov. 2 election spending yet!
So what can you do? Stay informed and spread the word. The beauty of social media is that it is free and definitely represents the voices of the masses. And no one can keep you from sharing your opinion--study up and speak up! Today I found a really cool website called "Dirty Energy Money." It exposes which members of congress take money from which oil and coal companies, and it shows you how much! There are plenty of Republicans and Democrats being bought by rich oil and coal companies. How much money are your representatives taking from these companies? Are they really voting for your interests on clean energy? Or is their good judgement clouded by all those campaign contributions? Check out their widget at http://bit.ly/9hWS7U. Peace Out--Ethan
Okay brace yourself! Today's post may come off as a bit of a downer, but it's really meant to give kids a wake-up call and some valuable insight as to why big oil and coal will continue to have incredible power in stopping our efforts to slow global warming and create a clean energy economy. On January 21, 2010, our Supreme Court Justices ruled that corporations should have the same "rights" and freedoms of speech as individuals. This "freedom of speech" included being able to spend as much money as they like to support candidates and legislation that moves their ball forward. Hmmm? Do you think that means they'll support candidates that vote against clean energy legislation? You betcha!
January 21st was a sad, sad day. Our Supreme Court Justices are appointed for life unfortunately. The Justices who passed this ruling were all nominated by the Republican party. This balance of power is unlikely to be overturned for a long, long time. Justices only retire when their party is in power so that they can be replaced by another "conservative." Unfortunately, this means that corporate spending will go unchecked during elections--authentic grassroots candidates and issues will be drowned out by their spending. It is estimated that $153 million has already been spent in the mid-term election cycle--double what was spent in all of 2006! And we haven't even gotten to the Nov. 2 election spending yet!
So what can you do? Stay informed and spread the word. The beauty of social media is that it is free and definitely represents the voices of the masses. And no one can keep you from sharing your opinion--study up and speak up! Today I found a really cool website called "Dirty Energy Money." It exposes which members of congress take money from which oil and coal companies, and it shows you how much! There are plenty of Republicans and Democrats being bought by rich oil and coal companies. How much money are your representatives taking from these companies? Are they really voting for your interests on clean energy? Or is their good judgement clouded by all those campaign contributions? Check out their widget at http://bit.ly/9hWS7U. Peace Out--Ethan
In : Climate Bill