Coloradans Get Big Money Out of Politics is a coalition of organizations and individual Coloradans dedicated to creating meaningful and long term change to an out-of-control campaign system. We, along with a majority of Americans, know that there is too much influence being wielded over our elected officials in the form of campaign spending. We realize that just because someone has a lot of money or knows how to raise a lot of money does not mean that person will better represent the people. Given a level playing field, the right women and men for the jobs will represent us.
Because of the 2010 US Supreme Court decision Citizens United vs. FEC, and several other decisions, local, state and federal officials no longer have the authority to decide how much money can go into our elections. Our elected representatives, the Supreme Court told us, are no longer allowed to make decisions on behalf of American citizens on how much Super PACs, 527s, corporations, unions and wealthy individuals can spend to elect or defeat candidates or ballot measures.
By saying that money is a form of free speech, the Court is using the First Amendment to bless political corruption.
If poverty rates, healthcare costs, and money spent on defense aren’t strong indicators of the problem, maybe something more simple is. Single digit approval ratings are no longer effective accountability tools, because our elected officials are not accountable to us; they are accountable to the highest bidder.
In our democracy, we have a failsafe for situations like the one we find ourselves in, amending the US Constitution. We have amended our Constitution 17 times since passing the Bill of Rights. Each time we did it, because the status quo was wrong. Now, we are living in a country where money buys the law. It’s time to make a change. We can amend the Constitution to make clear that money is not free speech, and we the people can limit it.
We have a chance to show that representative democracy is sacred to Coloradans. We can restore a vision where elected officials represent the people — by taking Big Money out of the equation.
Coloradans Get Big Money Out of Politics is a coalition of organizations and individual Coloradans dedicated to creating meaningful and long term change to an out-of-control campaign system.
In addition to the thousands of Coloradans who have signed the petition calling for a federal amendment to limit campaign contributions and spending, several organizations make up this coalition, including the proponents Colorado Common Cause and CoPIRG.
