Money has corrupted our political system, but there's new legislation aimed at putting government back in the hands of the people. On Wednesday, Democratic Representative John Sarbanes introduced the Government By the People Act, and it's already been endorsed by at least 30 progressive organizations. According to Demos, this legislation would increase "the power of small contributions that ordinary citizens can afford to give, providing incentives for congressional candidates to reach out to average constituents."

 

The new bill has four key provisions, including creating the Freedom from Influence Fund to match small contributions 6-to-1, and providing a $25 dollar tax credit for individuals who make donations. The Government by the People Act would also increase matching funds in the last two months of a general election to counter outside spending groups, and it would create People PACs to join the voices and power of ordinary citizens. Karen Flynn of Common Cause said, "The Government by the People Act is a shot of powerful medicine for the cancer of big money growing within our body politic."

 

We should not give up on the fight to overturn the Citizens United ruling, and our nation must proclaim that money is not speech. But, this act can help restore the political power of real Americans. Corporations and billionaires do not deserve more speech than the rest of us, and our politicians should report to all voters - not just their big-money donors. The Government by the People Act will help make this possible, and we must call on our lawmakers to make this bill a reality.

 

-Thom

 

(What do you think? Tell us here.)

       

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 9pm... What to do when Capitalism fails (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT, and catch past shows on Youtube)

 

Get your copy of Thom's new book, The Crash of 2016, today and click here for tour dates & events!

 

Watch the video 'Last Hours' narrated by Thom Hartmann about the "time bomb" that is ticking underground, underwater and under ice... frozen methane that is now escaping and could trigger runaway climate change. www.lasthours.org

 

Have a question or comment for Thom? Grab your phone, hit record and send your video to YourTakeMyTake@gmail.com and we may air it on "The Big Picture."

 

Need to Know: TPP/Fast Track...Hey media, where are you?
- Mike Papantonio, Ring of Fire Radio 

 

Screwed: What to do when Capitalism fails
- Dr. Richard Wolff, Democracy At Work  

 

Your Take / My Take Live: Call Thom LIVE at (202) 904-2134 TONIGHT 7-8pm ET (check local listings)

 

 

Why you're wrong about communism
- Jesse Myerson, Salon.com    

 

 

Wednesday's Daily Stack 

Hour One: A Conservative defends the 1% - C. Edmund Wright, WTF? How Karl Rove and the Establishment Lost...Again.

Book: WTF? How Karl Rove and the Establishment Lost...Again by C. Edmund Wright.

Article: "Elizabeth Warren Proposes Replacing Payday Lenders With The Post Office" by Alan Pyke.

Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman.

Article: "Eating too much added sugar may be killing you" by Nanci Hellmich.

Article: "Soylent Green Is Made Out of . . . the 1 Percent?" by James Pethokoukis.

Article: "A "socialist joke " as told by Pete Seeger".

Article: "The Techtopus: How Silicon Valley's most celebrated CEOs conspired to drive down 100,000 tech engineers' wages" by Mark Ames.

 

The Big Picture
- Andrew Campbell, The Big Picture producer

Article: "Obamacare Finally Gives Workers The Freedom Conservatives Demanded" by Igor Volsky.

Article: "The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2014 to 2024" by CBO.

Article: "What The Next Decade Of Obamacare Will Look Like" by Sy Mukherjee.

Article: "RNC Names Obamacare Supporter A 'Republican Trailblazer'" by Adam Peck.

Article: "Tighter economic regulation needed to reverse obesity epidemic - study" by World Health Organization.

Article: "Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the 2012 Presidential Permit application for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline" by Department of State.

Article: "Report Opens Way to Approval for Keystone Pipeline" by Coral Davenport.

Article: "GM's First Female CEO Will Make Half Of What Her Predecessor Made" by Bryce Covert.

Article: "Salt-Water Fish Extinction Seen By 2048" by Daniel DeNoon.

Article: "The future of fish" by Boris Worm 1 and Trevor A. Branch.

Article: "CVS Caremark To Stop Selling Cigarettes, Will Cost $2 Billion In Revenue" by Michael Felberbaum and Tom Murphy.

 

Article: "Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan & Kevin McCarthy: Plot To Sabotage US Economy with Frank Luntz" by keepemhonest.

Article: "Congressman: Extending Safety Net For Long-Term Unemployed Is 'Immoral'" by Alan Pyke.

Video: Official Coca-Cola "Big Game" Commercial 2014 - America Is Beautiful.

Video: Coca Cola Commercial - I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony) - 1971.

Article: "Rush Limbaugh's Favorite Lesbian Socialist -- Author of 'America the Beautiful' -- Inspired the Super Bowl Coke Ad" by Peter Dreier.

Article: "Fast Internet Is Chattanooga's New Locomotive" by Edward Wyatt.

Book: "What's the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America" by Thomas Frank.

Article: "Who Wants Competition? Big Cable Tries Outlawing Municipal Broadband in Kansas" by Jon Brodkin.

Article: "One American City Enjoys a Hyperfast Internet -- Any Surprise Corporations Don't Control It?" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Municipal Telecommunications Private Industry Safeguards Act" by ALEC Exposed.

 

Talk Radio News Segment:
- Bob Ney 

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Book: "Sideswiped: Lessons Learned Courtesy of the Hit Men of Capitol Hill" by Robert Ney.

Article: "US Senate finally passes farm bill after months of negotiation" by Paul Lewis.

Article: "Americans hate their jobs, even with perks" by Kelli B. Grant.

Article: "Just how many people were spied on??" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "House GOP stymied on debt limit" by Jake Sherman.

Hour Two: "Brunch With Bernie" (special edition) ... the honorable Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) joins Thom with all the news from our nation's capitol and as always he'll be spending the hour taking your calls and answering your questions too...
Follow Bernie:     campaign site.

Article: "Sanders Details Sweeping Veterans Legislation" by Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Article: "Veterans Back Benefits Bill" by Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Article: "US deficit falls but long-term picture is bleak, says CBO" by James Politi.

Article: "Republicans Again Block Help for Long-Term Unemployed" by Sen. Bernie Sanders.

 

Article: "Universal Service Fund" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Connect America Fund (CAF)" by FCC.

Case: "Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission" (2010).

Case: "Dred Scott v. Sandford", 1857.

Article: "The 40 Highest-Earning Hedge Fund Managers And Traders" by Nathan Vardi.

Case: "Buckley v. Valeo", 1976.

Article: "First Amendment to the United States Constitution".

Case: "Marbury v. Madison", 1803 (judicial review).

Case: "Roe v. Wade", 1973.

Article: "14th Amendment

Article: "13th Amendment" (end slavery).

Article: "15th Amendment".

Case: "First National Bank Of Boston V. Bellotti", 1978.

Article: "26th Amendment". Vote for 18 year olds.

Song: "Eve of Destruction" by Barry McGuire.

Article: "Article 5 of the Constitution".

Site: Move to Amend

 

The good: "Gillibrand & Sheehan Unveil FAMILY Act" by Dave Lucas.

The bad: "Laura Ingraham's Attacks On Sonia Sotomayor Miss Her All-American Heritage" by Ellie Sandmeyer.

The very, very ugly: "Border Patrol Accused Of Teaching Children To Shoot At Human-Shaped Targets Made To Look Like Immigrants" by Rebecca Leber.

Article: "Monopoly (game)" by Wikipedia.

Book: "The Crash of 2016: The Plot to Destroy America--and What We Can Do to Stop It" by Thom Hartmann.

Lawsuit: "Dodge v. Ford Motor Company", Mich. 1919.

 

Article: "Think The Mortgage Industry Has Cleaned Up Its Act? Think Again." by David Sanchez.

Article: "Tens of Thousands of Tons of Coal Ash Spilling Into N.C. River - yet another river being poisoned by fossil fuel companies..." by Sarah Lazare.

Article: "Report: Tar Sands Mining Pollution Far Worse Than Industry Reports" by Lauren McCauley.

Article: "State Could Be First In The Nation To Make Sure Workers Can Take A Vacation" by Bryce Covert.

Article: "RadCast radiation readings - February 5, 2014".

Article: "Study Shows Living Close to Nature Improves Mental Health" by The Wilderness Society.

Article: "Longitudinal Effects on Mental Health of Moving to Greener and Less Green Urban Areas" by Ian Alcock et al.

Article: "Billboard depicts city council members nearly nude" by UPI.

  

Thursday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 3-6pm ET 

Read Thom's latest Liberally Yours column online at The Daily Caller..be sure to add your comments & support your local liberal!

 

Hour One: Mike Papantonio, Ring of Fire Radio  and John Nichols, The Nation Magazine    talk about the TPP & Alec.

 

Hour Two: The Party's Over
- Gov. Charlie Crist, The Party's Over: How the Extreme Right Hijacked the GOP and I Became a Democrat 

 

 

And, the best of the rest of the news and your calls right here on...

 

The Thom Hartmann Program...your media support group for "we the people"...

Free excerpt, read book for free at Truthout, buy the book!

Friday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 3-6pm ET 

We'll have all the news and information you won't hear from the corporate owned news media...

 

Plus, it's Anything Goes Friday...your chance to choose the topics...what's on your mind?

 

And, I'll be taking your calls too...right here on...

 

The Thom Hartmann Program...Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week" for "we the people"...

 

And remember...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...

Thank you for being part of our ever growing community for News, Debate and Opinion on the Thom Hartmann Program.

 

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Sincerely,

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"Crash of 2016" website

Watch Thom on: - MSNBC's The Cycle
- CNN's Crossfire
- Democracy Now!

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Full Show 2/5/14: Saltwater Fish Extinct by 2048?

Tonight's "Lone Liberal Rumble" discusses whether the recent CBO report on Obamacare is good or bad news for health care reform, whether Congress will finally give the long-term unemployed their benefits back and how the RNC is celebrating Black History Month. Thom talks with Marine Ecologist Boris Worm on whether climate change will cause the extinction of all saltwater fish, and in tonight's "Daily Take" Thom discusses how government, via taxes, can help encourage good behavior (getting married) and discourage bad behavior (smoking).

Thom Hartmann on the News: February 5, 2014

Brunch With Bernie: February 6, 2014

The Thom Hartmann Program - February 5, 2014

A Conservative Defends the 1%

The GOP Insurgency Continues!

Caller: Minimum Wage Should be set by Supply & Demand

Abe Lincoln Fought the Civil War for Corporations?

Would you like to help give a child with a very troubled background this feeling of peace?

Thom and Louise Hartmann founded the New England Salem Children's Village (NESCV) in New Hampshire in 1979. With states delaying payment for the children they entrust to the village, they need help with cash flow. Can you help? Now on Facebook.