hoosakiwi

I hear a lot about Citizens United, but it seems like money has been influencing American politics since long before the Supreme Court's ruling in 2010. Does overturning Citizens United do enough to deal with the big problems in our government? It seems like it merely returns us to a system where special interests can still pull the strings, but the amounts being spent are smaller.

Also, what do you say to the free speech arguments that many people point to when defending the Citizens United ruling?

This AMA is frustrating. I know you want to sell your book, but it would be great if you actually answered my questions instead of directing me to your book and giving me a one to two sentence response that doesn't actually answer anything at all.

It seems like passing one constitutional amendment, let alone many is going to take a lot of time and is an uphill battle. Is there anything that can be done now?

If you just look at things happening right now, we see a presidential election projected to cost billions of dollars, a political system that makes it difficult for the average person to enter a race and protects incumbents, and a Congress that will push legislation that doesn't necessarily reflect the desires of the vast majority of Americans. Heck, Congress doesn't even read the bills half the time...just look at the latest Omnibus bill.

There are a bunch of great organizations doing work in this field, from Mayday PAC to Represent.Us.

I know that some organizations believe that the best way to deal with the issue is through a Constitutional Amendment, while others (like Represent.Us) want to follow a similar strategy to that of marriage equality.

Which do you think is the more effective strategy?

And which organizations do you think are really leading the charge?

Thanks!