To: Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary in '16 PAC (political action community)
This petition is intended to assemble a voter-driven PAC (political action community)—to demand campaign finance accountability for the 2016 Presidential Election. As the undersigned voters, we urge Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton to limit all campaign contributions to $250 per donor (whether from individual, pac or so-called “super” pac) beginning January 1, 2015. The goal of this petition will be to gather five (5) million signatures by that same date.
Why is this important?
What Washington gridlock over the last several years has illustrated about the conflict that stalls our government is that it’s not about right vs. left, liberal vs. conservative; rather, the struggle lies between voters and the buyers of political influence. When push comes to shove, it’s usually buyers of political influence who come out on top (see the overwhelmingly passed Monsanto Protection Act, as well as President Obama’s consideration of cuts to Social Security as example of elite interests prevailing over voter consensus).
What is at work to thwart our aim of self-governance is an influence gap between voters and a lobbyist/wealthy campaign donor syndicate. Through large campaign contributions coupled with lobbying efforts, they’ve wielded their considerable financial resources to disproportionately influence the decision making of elected officials. As voters, we take responsibility for this influence gap—because of apathy and our unwillingness to work together to hold elected officials accountable for selling their decision making to the highest bidders. By not demanding a limit to campaign contributions as a condition of electability, we’ve gradually allowed members of a small, exclusive establishment game the political process for their own advantage.