Votes Cast in the Street for Democracy when not on Offer Elsewhere

Amy Goodman:

In Denver, but particularly in St. Paul, dissent was crushed with a massive array of paramilitarized police, operating under the U.S. Secret Service, granted jurisdiction over the “National Special Security Events” that the conventions have been dubbed. Corporations pay millions to the host committees, earning exclusive access to lawmakers and candidates. The host committees, in turn, unleash police on the public, all but guaranteeing injuries, unlawful arrests and expensive civil litigation for years to come. More than just a campaign-finance loophole that must be closed, this is a national disgrace.

Amy's arrest here.

Comments

[Jay Taber]

It takes a lot of money to keep democracy down. Jerome Himmelstein's book The Transformation of American Conservatism is a good introduction to the financing and investments made against democracy in the United States in the 1980s, when the foundation for fascism was laid by the Reagan Administration.

[Phil]

Philanthropic dollars as well, I assume.

[Jay Taber]

My mistake, that is the subtitle. The title is To the Right. He also wrote a book about philanthropy, but I haven't read it. He teaches at Amherst.