Special interests – from Big Oil, to the Military-Industrial Complex, to tech giants like Amazon – want what’s best for them, and not for workers, communities, or the planet. And they know how to get it by spending big money to buy influence. As a result, Congress supports hawkish military policies, a business environment that… Read more
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Big Money Is Trying to Buy Our Democracy Behind the Scenes
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We talk a lot about how Big Money tries to influence our government through campaign contributions, independent expenditures, and unaccountable dark money spending. Usually, we think of how corporate interests spend on legislative and executive elections to benefit their bottom line. But we cannot ignore some of the subtler ways Big Money is undermining our… Read more
Oil & Gas Industry Spent Millions Lobbying Congress to Increase Record Profits
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What’s more frustrating than the oil and gas industry raking in record profits at the expense of consumers and the environment? Learning that they spent $124.4 million lobbying the federal government in 2022 for favorable legislation and regulations, and knowing that their spending has tangible results. A new report from Open Secrets found that the… Read more
The Unlucky 13th Anniversary of Citizens United
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January 21 will mark 13 years since the Supreme Court made its ill-fated Citizens United ruling, which allowed special interests to wield more influence than ever before on our political system. From 2010 through 2021, more than $4.4 billion in outside money was spent on federal elections alone (more than $1 billion of that was… Read more
Defense contractors spent $101 million lobbying this year. What are they hoping to get for Christmas?
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This holiday season, defense contractors have to be feeling pretty good. With Congress adding an extra $45 billion to President Biden’s request for the Pentagon, and the war in Ukraine increasing demand for weapons, the five biggest defense contractors have a lot to celebrate. And those defense contractors are spreading the wealth around to their… Read more
Big Money, January 6, and the Future of Democracy
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If you’ve been following the coverage of the January 6 hearings, you might have noticed a troubling connection: big money and brazen efforts to undermine our democratic elections. The Supreme Court’s misguided 1976 ruling in Buckley v. Valeo established that the federal government could not restrict independent political expenditures. By essentially decreeing that “money =… Read more
Danny Goldberg Reps the Stampede!
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Legendary Stamper Danny Goldberg recently sent us this selfie with the Stamp Stampede sweatshirt! Goldberg, who serves on the boards of People Power Initiatives (the Stampede’s parent non-profit) and Public Citizen, is the former manager of the band Nirvana and the former president of Atlantic Records. His latest book, Serving The Servant: Remembering Kurt Cobain, is available now wherever you… Read more
RUSH: Insights from the #1 Stamper
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Here at Stampede HQ, we’re always looking for new ways to stamp. Despite our competitive leaderboards, we like to give everyone the tools to succeed at stamping because we all play an important role in the movement to stamp big money out of politics. @RUSH, our #1 Stamper, has turned stamping and distributing bills into… Read more
The Stampede Takes New Hampshire: Join Us at Democracy Town Halls!
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Primary season is in full swing in New Hampshire! Stamp Stampede was at the heart of the action this Sunday as a co-sponsor at the first Democracy Town Hall in Concord, NH, moderated by Equal Citizens founder and Harvard Law Professor Larry Lessig and featuring 2020 Democratic candidate Andrew Yang. Yang discussed his proposed plan… Read more