This post is a copy of the petition I created on Credo, found here:
We the People, in order to prevent one party, one group, or one philosophy from holding our government hostage against the will of the greater populace, ask Congress, as the duly elected representatives of the American people, to enact into law in the Constitution of the United States, the requirement that no individual, no person, no corporation, no group, no entity however entitled or constructed, be allowed to sway the tide of political influence such that it unbalances the scales of democracy as we have recently seen borne out by the Tea Party’s actions, resulting in the government shutdown and the threat of debt default.
This cannot be allowed to happen again.
These actions have cost the People of the United States billions of dollars, amity among neighbors, and the respect of the world’s financial institutions. These actions were taken by a tiny minority of the wealthiest US citizens, the so-called 1%, against the good governance and common weal regarding all who call themselves Americans.
This cannot be allowed to happen again.
These actions have jeopardized the good credit ratings of the American people, the default of whose loans, caused by the actions of a few, would have magnified the debt and deficit.
These actions were taken by a handful of proxies, elected to Congress by the people of their districts in the mistaken belief that they acted for the good of all, but whose actions served none but the purposes of their wealthy benefactors.
This cannot be allowed to happen again.
We the People implore our Federal elected officials, the Congress of the United States of America, to cause to be written into the Constitution, such law or laws as needed to prevent the purchase of political power by any body, singular or plural, representing business, labor, government, religion, or other philosophy.
To this end, we ask Congress to enshrine in the Constitution an Amendment such that no body, singular or plural, may contribute to any political cause, party, political action committee, or other group whose interests lay in changing the course of American politics, more than the sum of $100 at any time during any election cycle, and that a publicly available list be made accessible for viewing, both physically and online, kept updated, and clearly posted for viewing by one click from an organization's splash page on their website.
Why is this important?
As we've recently seen, wealthy special interests have commandeered the process of governance and wrested control from the majority. This has to stop. Already, during this one shutdown, we will lose an estimated $28B. If we had gone through the debt default, every person in the United States would have to pay more for everything they buy, for loans, for credit, and for general goods, since everything we buy is affected by credit at some point.
All because a wealthy few persuaded their Tea Party proxies in Congress to hijack the normal diplomatic route to governance and suspend democracy.
