Tracking Money In Politics

As shown through previous posts, the web hosts a lot of information on social and humanitarian issues and their interaction with governmental affairs. However, I found a website that tracks monetary donations given to political campaigns.


OpenSecrets.Org: Exposing Money in Politics

OpenSecrets.org is a non-partisan research group that tracks money in politics. It is used to view how much each local, state, and federal candidate has raised and to see what corporations, businesses, and people donate to. In addition, this site displays how much each donor has given.

You can track the money by easily searching through industries, candidates, or regional fiscal donations. I looked up 2008 Presidential candidates and found that collectively they have all raised just over $420 million. If money didn't matter in campaigning just imagine how much more efficient we could use that money to feed the hungry or shelter the homeless across the world.


Money and Politics: A Deadly Cocktail

Money in governmental affairs is a large controversy. Many corporations try to "buy" candidates so that nominees will pass laws or veto laws that benefit that business rather than the common people. More importantly, money in politics makes it nearly impossible for average people to run for state and federal positions because of the cost of campaigning. With politicians always looking for contributions, they can not delegate the progressive actions and social help needed to the middle and lower economic classes of the United States.

Why Use this Site?
It is important to use this site to become more educated on the sources of money donated to candidates. You may disagree with the way a candidate gets his or her money and you may want to change your vote to another candidate.

This site is also used to get citizens more involved with the "behind the scenes look" at politics.

OpenSecrets also hopes to create a "more responsive government" by showing candidates that citizens care about politics and want their vote on issues to matter and not be overshadowed by large corporate desires.


Further Research
For more information on why massive amounts of money in our political system is not beneficial to average citizens, please visit Democracy Matters for more information and ways you can help get money out of politics and people back in.

DemROCKacy

If you are passionate about music like you are about politics, I suggest taking a look at punkvoter.com. Although this site focuses solely on punk and rock musical genres, this website has lots of bands, musicians, record labels and fans backing up Punk Voter’s mission to educate, register, and activate progressive voters.

How Music Influences Social Change

PunkVoter uses music as an inspiration for social change. Historically, punk rock is known for being influenced by politics and has a tradition of punk bands singing out against modern politics and government in general. This site hosts an overlapping field of music and politics. Activists that use this site are primarily motivated prominent punk bands and their lyrics and use this sort of art to ignite social and governmental change.

This site also offers interviews with punk rock bands. However, instead of just posting interviews about the bands music, the site features musicians' insight and opinion of current political affairs which is very interesting to me as a huge music buff.

Why PunkVoter Works

In order to get people active and involved, PunkVoter has declared thre mission statements inorder to achieve their goal. They are:

1. To activate young people to participate in elections.
2. To expose the chaotic policies of George W. Bush and his current adminsitration.
3. To build a coalition of informed voters who can individually and collectively influence public policy.

By pulling younger voters in and getting them excited about music and what punk rock really stands for, punkvoter leaders can educate the youth through their website. On the issues page, the site offers insight on problems the United States faces today and gives voters a reason to vote to save civil liberties and social rights. Some topics include personal freedoms, the environment, and economics.

Getting Involved with PunkVoter

To get involved all you have to do is register to become a member. After you sign-up you will be e-mailed information on local, state, and national candidates. But, if you don’t want to fill up your inbox, you can still visit the links page and sign petitions, register for rallies, become more educated, and become activists for other progressive coalitions.

Punkvoter also offers an opportunity to register to vote, which is really important to do to get your voice heard at the polls. The site also offers downloadable flyers and fact sheets for activists to distribute to other people.

So, to all you punkers out there itching to stick it to the man, I suggest you visit punkvoter.com and see what you can do to change minds and change politics.