Can Bernie Sanders Make It?

Yesterday, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, kicked off his Presidential campaign against former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who announced her candidacy since April 12th.

Speaking from Burlington, Vermont, where Sanders served as mayor from 1981 to 1989, he declared a revolution for the middle class family and laid out his progressive agenda. "Today we stand here and say loudly and clearly: Enough is enough. This great nation and its government belong to all of the people and not to a handful of billionaires."

You could go to his campaign website right now and see what happened in Burlington.

Actually before photos and videos from his campaign launch released in online, the website gotten 404 error and Sanders posted up this video of himself explaining the error message.

It is interesting to see more people begin to prefer Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton, who is too conservative for mainstream liberals and progressives' taste and tries way too hard to pander left-wing bases.

In fact, she has a lot of campaign money from big businesses and corporate banks like Goldman Sachs. Believe it or not, her family's charitable Clinton foundation faces so much scrutiny for accepting donation from foreign countries and oil companies.

Bernie Sanders made his public image as some sort of an antithesis of President Barrack Obama's 2012 Republican opponent Mitt Romney. Or just an opposite of President Obama himself. People, especially liberals and supporters of Occupy Wall Street movement, wanted Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren to ran for the President of the United States. However she declined the challenge, so her supporters decided to endorse Sanders as an alternative to Warren.

The problem is: can Sanders make it?

First, I like his campaign model. He accepts public donation rather than Super PAC money as many candidates usually accepts. His Presidential goal is to overturn Citizens United and restore democracy back to the people. Second, throughout his political career, he is honest. Even one of conservative politicians in Washington will admits that Sanders is one of the most honest politicians in the house. And finally, he openly declared war on billionaires and oligarchs and constantly spread his populist message. He will expand medicare and improve healthcare system, give larger tax  to the rich, and make college tuition free.

However, here are possible problems along the way as a long shot candidate.

Billionaire donors like the Koch brothers would public smear him through negative ads produced by their own Super PACs and bring down his campaign. Good thing is, this won't deters Sanders, and he said he will not do attack ads and decided to play fair. Also, he is open about his socialist view and considering how United States of America had a negative attitude toward Marxian idealism and left-wing views in the past (look up McCarthyism), people won't easily accept his message. But that doesn't worries Sanders. He even replied to George Stephanopoulos's concerns about upcoming Republican attack ads that Sanders will turn America to Scandinavia, by saying, "What is wrong with Scandinavian countries?" (By the way, socialism is now popular among millennials.)

Most importantly: the cost. Any candidates with public-financed campaign and supported by the Occupy Wall Street movement will never make it due to the cost of being in televised debate. According to former Governor of Louisiana Buddy Roemer, who tried to ran as Republican in the last Presidential election, the broadcasting network won't invite him to the televised debates between other Republican candidates because he didn't have enough money. When Roemer ran for Louisiana governor, he had seven televised debates. He liked being in debate because he liked the "fire and the passion." That was when he had a million and half dollars and won the election while others have more money than him. The problem for him now, if he wants himself to be in people's living room television, he have to raise more money and be on the debate. He had both Washington and state political experience, but he never invited to national debate.

If Bernie Sanders could make himself to the televised debate, then he better pile up all money he could. Fortunately his campaign able to raise more than 1.5 million dollar in less than 24 hours, more than any other current Republican candidates in the first 24 hours after their announcement. 4 days later, his campaign raised 3 million - a building anticipation.

Ben & Jerry Ice Cream founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield jumped into his support as well along with actors Mark Ruffalo from The Avengers and Patton Oswalt. While other people in Washington and in Hollywood publicly endorse Hillary Clinton, Sanders managed to bring ragtag group of idealists on his side.

For me, I would personally endorse him. In fact, he is one of my favorite politicians in Washington. If I live in the most chaotic moment in the history of mankind and lists out three people I could forever trust with, one of them would be Bernie Sanders (the others are Paul Krugman and Glenn Greenwald).

Even before his campaign launch, I flirted with democratic socialism and admired Nordic model of democracy. Scandinavian countries like Norway or Sweden tends to have less political corruption and all political campaigns are public financed. Also, they don't have income inequality and anyone can live like their ideal capitalist while the state provide appropriate amount of welfare at the same time. If their way democracy proven to be efficient, why can't United States of America learned anything from them?

How many times do we have to listen political ads from candidates how pro-family they are or how much moral they have. I am tired of this "one guy with big megaphone on a soap box" way of election. It is time for people to get up and vote for candidate who can represent their voters, not billionaire donors.  

(UPDATE) Where have I been lately???

Update: forgot to post up the video.

Hey there folks.

If you are a loyal reader of my blog, you've been wondering why I haven't updated blog for a long time.

I got busy with final exams for couple of weeks, and I got no times to make any blog post on recent money in politics news.

If you are following me on twitter, you see I tends to post up The Young Turks videos of money in politics news (and other random stuffs). 

Recently I am part of this Stamp Stampede Millionaire Club and I am top of the chart right now (I was #1 for a while, now I am like #2 or so). I even made a music video of myself stamping every twenty dollar from my bank account and they just approved it and shared it to their website. If you Stamp Stampede stampers out there, if you want to beat me, then come join the fight.

At the same time, I was also named as Super Stamper of the Month, which is awesome. James Earle, the Outreach Coordinator, contacted me and we had a phone conversation about how I got introduced into campaign finance reform movement and how do I feel about winning Super Stamper of the Month. It's interesting how much I am close with the community.

Next month, my family and I are going to South Korea over the summer. I will still blogging there and report money in politic stories. Even better, I could update this blog more frequently than before, rather than bi-weekly as usual. So look forward to more stuffs later in the future.

(Stamp Stampede-related) Banks Would Likely to Silence Your "Speech" If They Don't Like The Message

Here's an anecdote I would like to share it with you.  

There is a small bank called US Bank at the Student Center in University of Missouri - Columbia. I came here to get more five dollar bills to stamp on by exchanging with a twenty dollar. When I handed my stamped twenty dollar to a bank lady, she told me I shouldn't stamp on it anymore because I am defacing it. 

Now keep in mind that this lady worked at the bank for more than 20 years and she have seen stamped bills like 'where's George' many times before. When I gave a stamped bill to her for the first time, she said it reminded her 'where's George' dollars she got from the past. 

After she said I am defacing it, I replied to her it is legal to stamp on money and also a "free speech." However, she also said that the bank can "silence" my "free speech" if they don't like it.

This reminds me of this story about how Senator Elizabeth Warren met JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. It was featured in the afterwords from Warren's autobiography A Fighting Chance. When Dimon demanded more risky bank deregulation in front of her, Warren was furious and call him off for a possibly illegal act. Dimon laughed off and said, "So hit me with a fine. We can afford it." Which means Jamie Dimon already bought many legislators in the House of Congress and literally he runs the government. You can check out The Young Turks's report below:

Now, US Bank is nowhere near big or corrupted as JP Morgan Chase, but it seems like within a banking industry, bankers doesn't like when people speak out against money in politics and demand for prosecuting bankers who were part of the 2008 economic recessions. As you can see an image from the top, this guy mentioned how his bank shreds Stamp Stampede dollars whenever they ends up in ATM. 

This is outrageous. The banking industry knew we are coming after them. They are afraid we are turning money into weapons against them, even though Citizens United ruling (or Buckley v. Valeo) technically allowed us to speak out against money in politics through "free speech."

I am not going to make any speculation whether the banking industry would pressure the Congress to propose some restrictions on stamping dollars, but I feel like they would most likely to do so in order to "silence" our "speech."

The campaign's founder Ben Cohen's lawyer already prepared a legal opinion regarding the issue of stamping dollars and you can read and download the it right here. And when the bank tells you something about "defacing" dollars, just show them this legal opinion and tell them how it is not illegal. But just to be clear: it is ILLEGAL to destroy paper currency or deface it so much that it’s no longer recognizable. What we are doing is a legal and we want our dollars to be circulated as much as possible! 

I have seen many people on Instagram founded Stamp Stampede bills all over the country. Even within Columbia, Missouri! So don't give up. The point of this campaign is to spread the message much as possible.

As Marshall McLuhan said, "the medium is the message."

Whatever Happened to Sen. Bob Menendez?

Looks like someone got indicted for bribery related to Super PACs. This is such a rare thing ever happened in politics. In a country where political bribery is legal, Senator from New Jersey named Bob Menendez indicted last Wednesday afternoon for 14 criminal counts of bribery, conspiracy, and making false statement. 

He has a friendly but sketchy connection with this millionaire eye doctor named Salomon Mengel, who became rich through Medicare. 

This is what The Daily Beast described the behind the scene curtain:

Three years ago, prosecutors began looking at the New Jersey Democrat’sfriendship with Salomon Melgen, an ophthalmologist who became filthy rich, much to the ire of the government, because of Medicare. Melgen was suspiciously generous to Menendez: providing him with luxury hotel suites in Paris, stays at his vacation home (called Casa de Campo, of course), and hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions. In return, Menendez seemingly acted as Melgen’s personal advocate in the federal government.

Menendez claims this is typical friendly behavior. Prosecutors, he snapped on Wednesday, just “don’t know the difference between friendship and corruption.”

And sure, who among us hasn’t—as the indictment specifies—personally called an ambassador to get visas approved for three of our friend’s girlfriends, or intervened when that friend was accused of Medicare fraud, or tried to prevent a foreign government from screwing up a contract with that friend’s business—all while that friend financed our reelection campaign? It’s just what friends do.

Menendez’s defense hinges in part on the sheer length of his friendship with Melgen: 20 years. Of course, 20 years ago, Menendez was a congressman rising rapidly through the ranks in the Democratic Party. No matter, Menendez says, because the cigar-loving duo are so close that they know each other’s families.

Some may say this is the tipping point of political corruption from Super PAC. The author of the article went on and making connections with Citizen United case.

I've written about why such an outcome for Menendez might feel inevitable: New Jersey is, The Washington Post’s Philip Bump calculated, the No. 1 state in the country when it comes to politicians who also are criminals. But it also was arguably inevitable that it wasn't just New Jersey that provided the culture of corruption, but the Citizens United decision.  

Paul S. Ryan, senior counsel for the Campaign Legal Center, said the most interesting part of the indictment has to do with Melgen's $600,000 donation to Menendez, funneled through a super PAC run by former and current aides to Harry Reid, the intention of which was to maintain the Senate majority for Democrats.

“It shows how misguided the Supreme Court, in Citizens United, was when it declared that independent spending can’t or doesn't pose any threat of corruption,” he said. “In fact, we see now, a very direct instance of corruption flowing from contributions made to an independent expenditure group.”

“I think this was all very predictable,” Ryan went on. “The court was completely out of touch with how politics works and this Menendez indictment reflects precisely how politics does work and influence-seekers are going to be exerting their corrupting influence through super PACs just as they used to do it through political parties and soft money. Super PACs provide the same exact types of threats and avenues for corruption.

“The court was wrong and now we have, at least, the first bit of alleged evidence about how wrong the court was in Citizens United.”

Trevor Potter, former chairman of the Federal Elections Commission, agreed. On the Acela from Washington to New York City on Thursday afternoon, Potter told me that “the reality” is “that of course, candidates and officeholders are in the middle of the super PAC world.” He said it was a predictable outcome, although “the court claimed it wasn't going to happen.”

The whole idea of Citizens United was that huge sums of money injected into politics wouldn't cause corruption because the politicians themselves wouldn't be involved in the super PACs—but what about Menendez and Melgen, so close that the latter selected hotel suites for the former?

“It’s possible that [Melgen] did that without anyone talking to the Menendez world,” Potter said, an eyebrow raised skeptically.

Funny how the author mentioned how politicians in New Jersey are also criminals. Look at Governor Chris Christie and the BridgeGate debacle. 

The New York Times went on details of how this corruption came about. You can read the article here. 

This is the big deal because it is contrary to what Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy said about the Citizen United decision, that independent expenditures “do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.”

Even though this is the rarest moment that many had warn to the Supreme Court, why it is so overlooked and why the evidence never matters to them?

“The court’s position is pretty simple, and it is not that independent expenditures can never create gratitude in an officeholder,” said Bradley A. Smith, a professor of law at Capital University Law School. “Rather it is that as a constitutional matter, they do not pose a threat of corruption sufficient to justify the invasions of First Amendment rights that the ‘reformers’ crave.”

Even worse, they would probably overlooked at it more. By the time I am writing this blog, Menendez pleads not guilty to bribery accusation (well, according to the headline).

I'm gonna leave you some links to more articles on this case. 

The Robert Menendez Corruption Charges Undermine the Supreme Court

Menendez indictment marks first big corruption case involving a super PAC

And please, if you want to fix the system and get corruption out of politics, then join us at Wolf-PAC.
Sign the petition and join as the member.
http://www.wolf-pac.com/sign_petition?recruiter_id=63374

INTERVIEW FAILED. And More About Washington.....

Hello folks. Sorry for not updating blog for long time. I tried to contact Byron DeLear but he haven't picked up the phone. At the same time, I had two midterm exams this month. However, I paid attention to the recent Israel election, the #47traitors incident with Senator Tom Cotton, and, yes, Pope Francis's comment on money in politics. There is also a recent news about Congressman Aaron Schock resigning over misuse of campaign funding but this is the only dark money-related news the corporate media would comment on. There are few things I would like to make comments about them and why I think these people who support such politicians are disgusting.

Let's start with Israel.

• While I am writing this, I will stay neutral on the issue of Israeli-Palestine conflict. I believe Israel, as a state, have a right to defend themselves, but at the same time, I think they should leave Palestine alone and shouldn't occupy more further onto their land. Also, both sides should better make a diplomatic peace deal together and enact two-state solution already. 
• Unfortunately, two-state solution is only a wishful thinking in the world of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing supporters from United States and his own country Israel. Speaker of the House John Boehner invited Prime Minister Netanyahu to speak at the House of Congress without any approval from the Obama administration. At first, I thought this was a joke: why would a powerful man in US politic committed a treasonous act by inviting a foreign leader without any permission? 
• Netanyahu did came to the House of Congress gave a hawkish speech in front of Republicans, while others, including Democrats who supports Israel and even Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, boycotted the speech. Even worse, this happened at that time the Obama administration trying to make a deal with Iran about nuclear program that Netanyahu is afraid of. The Prime Minister of Israel warned everyone in Congress about the threat of Iranian nuclear program, the same way he warned everyone at United Nation about it few years ago. The problem with his speech was that, according to the leaked top-secret Mossad documents, Iran was “not performing the activity necessary to produce weapons”. He cried the wolf couple of times over the last decade and did not listen to advises from his Mossad chief whether or not Israel should attack other countries in Middle East that look threatening for them.
• Many pundits and commentators believe that the speech Netanyahu gave at the Congress would negatively affects his re-election campaign in Israel. As long as Israeli-supporting right wing billionaire Sheldon Adelson is on his side, this won't matters. Adelson subsidize largest printed media in Israel to push the agenda supported by Netanyahu's followers. So he used corporate funding, fear-tactic, and voters suppression on Arab citizens of Israel (and Palestinians) to gain more votes and re-elected for the fourth time. In other words, Israeli election is just as much as rigged as United States. People said Israel is the only democratic nation in Middle East? Well they should add two more words, "kind of".
• And funny thing is, Netanyahu stated that there will be no two-state solution before he got elected. After that, he backpedaled and said he SUPPORTS two-state solution.  The truth is he and every Republicans in congress who applauded his speech still wants to bomb every Middle Eastern.

Speaking of the war, we then have Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas.

• While the Obama administration trying to make a peace negotiation with Iran, 47 Republican senators signed the letter to Iranian leaders written by newly elected Senator Tom Cotton from Arkansas that tells them not to trust President Barack Obama.
• As you can see from Netanyahu speech about the nonexistence threat of Iranian nuclear program, obviously Republicans want to declare war on Iran and they would do it the same disastrous way they did with Iraq. 
• Not surprisingly, Tom Cotton, who is leading on this, received campaign donation from private defense contractors (who usually keep hawkish lawmakers in power) and let them profit more from the pointless and unnecessary war.
• When I learned about this, it made me hit the roof. So these are the same people who claimed they care about life and yet they want to send their voters' children to war and let defense contractors to make money off of it. People who voted for them just disgusts me. This what happen if you let the rich people control the election results and made majority of the people too apathetic to vote. 

Upside to this money in politics mess? Well we got an unusual ally for "get money out" movement and it is the Pope of Roman Catholic Church.

• Pope Francis has called for greater transparency in politics and said elections should be free from backers who fund campaigns in order to prevent policy being influenced by wealthy sponsors.
• The Pope also suggested that he would support a public financing system, noting that such a method of funding elections “would allow for me, the citizen, to know that I’m financing each candidate with a given amount of money.” The same five conservative (Catholic) justices who decided Citizens United, however, have also made public financing virtually impossible to implement successfully in the United States.
• Why's that matters is that he shares the same value Wolf-PAC believes in and ever since he got elected, he have preached against human greed and for the voice of the voiceless.

That's all for the overall summary of money in politic stories throughout first half of March. Even though I wanted to talk about Aaron Schock but I already pointed out this is the only thing the mainstream media would report on so I prefer not weighting on this.

For this spring break, I am going to do some trainings with new Wolf-PAC volunteers. I better get prepared. If you haven't sign up for Wolf-PAC: do it right away. 

Wish me luck.

BREAKING: New Jersey Becomes the 4th State to Call for Article V Convention (and guess who's on honorable mentions list?)

Yesterday, New Jersey became the 4th state to call for Article V convention for the new amendment to the US constitution. Cenk Uygur announced this today and congratulated New Jersey team for the effort.

Even though I am in Missouri, but guess who's on the honorable mentions list?

Move to 5:11 and see for yourself. 

UPDATE: Interview Coming Up! And How I Failed to Cover MO Politics

Hey folks!

I have been busy lately with school stuffs and that's why I haven't look into the Missouri politic, yet.

Sure you may heard about Right-to-Work bill which was created by American Legislative Exchange Council within the state house. It is a de-unionization bill that only benefits employers but not employees, and The House of Congress of Missouri just passed the bill about a week ago. Supporters argue that it could improve Missouri business, even though Missouri is already one of pro-business states in America. 

So there's little snippet of what Rex Sinquefeld aiming for the state of Missouri.

Anyway, let me tell you a little update for this blog:

Few months ago I contacted former Missouri state legislature and Article V activist Byron DeLear and asked for an interview. I met him though Wolf-PAC Missouri Google Group where he shared the article he wrote for St. Louis Post-Dispatch about his time at Assembly State of Legislatures. I send him some questions on his background, his political views and his advocacy for Article V of Constitution.

I haven't got a response from Byron DeLear until few weeks ago. He said we could get on the phone and discuss. He also shared a link to his blog post about how U.S. House finally count Article V application for the first time in centuries, thanks to this man named Dan Marks. The Young Turks covered how Dan Marks, who is also an Article V advocate, requested the congress to count the states' call for amendment convention and how Wolf-PAC got involved with this, and you can see it right below here:

Stay tune for the interview of Byron DeLear later next month or week.