Dear Kevin,
This fall, a group of large corporations will funnel tens of millions of dollars through a shadowy organization to try and buy the American election. The organization is called the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and when it’s not buying elections, the Chamber has spent millions pushing Congress to tear down industry regulation and protect corporate subsidies and business-friendly tax loopholes — all at our expense.
We need your help to decide whether to commit to a major campaign we’ve been thinking about around the Chamber. We think it’s the right time, but we want to know what members the SumOfUs.org community think first — because it’s going to take all of us working together to pull it off.
We’ve been hearing from the SumOfUs community for months about how important it is to tackle the corrosive influence of corporate money in the upcoming election. The Chamber recently pledged to spend $50 million buying the election, so we think it’s the perfect time to launch a campaign against it. But what do you think?
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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has such an extreme agenda that it has begun to alienate relatively responsible companies. Many local chambers of commerce broke ties with the national organization over its campaign spending. Big corporations like Apple and Yahoo have already quit the chamber over its radical, destructive stances on climate change and internet freedom. And last fall, when the Chamber backed bills that would have let big corporations censor the internet, Google considered leaving as well.
Last December, nearly 200,000 SumOfUs.org members asked Google to renounce its membership in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Google didn’t leave at the time, but we think it and other more responsible companies might reconsider if we start associating their brands with the Chamber’s creepy electoral activities.
Every time a high-profile corporation leaves, it undermines the U.S. Chamber’s claim to being the “voice of American business.” Companies like Apple and Yahoo have already done so. Google has staked out a position as a comparatively ethical corporation, supporting clean energy, internet freedom, and LGBT rights, all of which the Chamber opposes. Google’s unofficial motto is “don’t be evil,” and if it wants to abide by it, it needs to quit the Chamber immediately.
Now, as the Chamber gears up for a massive dirty-politics election-year ad buy, we have a choice to make, and we need your advice.
Should SumOfUs.org launch a big campaign to push Google and other more responsible companies to quit the U.S. Chamber once and for all? If we go ahead, our tiny team will devote a lot of our time to this campaign, and we’ll be asking you to pull out all the stops, too — signing petitions, sharing information with your friends, making phone calls, and more. Click a link below to cast your vote.
Thanks for taking time to cast your vote. We’ll be back soon with the results!
- Rob, Emma, Kaytee, and the team at SumOfUs
No Abortion. No Exceptions.
Aug 21, 2012 | By ThinkProgress War Room
GOP Doubles Down on Extreme Social Agenda
Even as Republicans attempt to distance themselves from the comments about “legitimate rape” made by Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), they once again reaffirmed that they agree with Akin and other extremists when it comes to women’s health issues.
Just today, the committee drafting the Republican Party’s official policy platform underscored the fact that Republicans believe we need a constitutional ban on abortion in all circumstances — no exceptions for victims of rape or incest or to protect the life of the woman, not to mention any of the numerous other reasons a woman may need an abortion.
No abortion. No exceptions.
Not coincidentally, the GOP’s platform committee is chaired by Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, who received national condemnation for his support of a bill mandating that women seeking abortions receive costly transvaginal ultrasounds regardless of medical need.
Cecile Richards, President of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund got it right today:
“The Republican Party platform approved today is Mitt Romney’s agenda every bit as much as it’s Todd Akin’s agenda. It shows a fundamental disregard for women and women’s health.”
And Republicans didn’t stop at women’s health when it comes to their radical plans to rewrite the Constitution. In addition to language that could only be considered an outright attack on LGBT people, the platform reaffirms that Republicans want to write discrimination into the Constitution in order to permanently ban same-sex marriage.
During today’s hearing on the platform, a Romney adviser who is best known for authoring the Arizona and Alabama anti-immigrant laws took the opportunity to compare homosexuality to both drug use and polygamy.
When it comes to social issues, the Republicans are running on an official agenda more suitable for 1950 than 2012.
Evening Brief: Important Stories That You May Have Missed
Akin: When I was talking about “legitimate rape,” what I really meant was that women make “false claims” about being raped.
New report: women can’t afford the cost of Romney-Ryan presidency.
An adviser to Paul Ryan called on Congress to authorize war with Iran.
Paul Ryan and Todd Akin worked together to try and ban birth control too.
Missouri Republican leader: getting pregnant after being raped is really just a rare blessing in disguise.
Todd Akin won’t drop his Senate bid, despite pleas from Republicans.
New frontiers of extremism.
Akin apologist Rep. Steve King (R-IA): I’ve never heard of getting pregnant from statutory rape or incest.
Not just gays and women: the GOP platform will go after Muslims too.