John,
Our democracy is worth saving.
This election cycle, our democracy has been staggered by blow after blow. We cannot pretend otherwise; to do so would be to accept that this hamstrung system is the one with which we must live. It is not and we do not accept that it is. We will keep fighting for our democracy.
So we face the facts. We know Donald Trump, twice impeached and responsible for inciting an insurrection when he lost the 2020 election, was declared the President-Elect following the 2024 election. We know he is disqualified to hold this office under the Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause of the U.S. Constitution. However, he was permitted to remain on the ballot because of a corrupt and broken Supreme Court. We know that he infused his campaign with violent, racist rhetoric that to at least some of his supporters is a feature, not a bug.
We know that Trump and Harris raised a combined $2.7 billion, with more than $1 billion coming from super PACs and other sources outside their official campaigns. We know that for all federal elections, outside expenditures exceeded $4.5 billion, shattering previous records set in 2020. We also know that the majority of that spending came from super PACs.
We know that, in the shadow of Trump’s repeated threats against a free press, billionaire-owned newspapers refused to endorse a candidate over the opposition of staff. We know that social media platforms are flooded with disinformation and that our access to the words of others—whether they be friends, journalists, or anyone else—is subject to the whims of algorithms designed to maximize profit over truth.
We know that Trump—currently facing multiple federal criminal charges for interfering with the 2020 election and stealing classified documents—is unlikely to be prosecuted while he holds office, and that the Supreme Court has granted him immunity for crimes arising from his “official acts.” We know that he was in violation of the emoluments clause when he took office in 2017 and is poised to remain in violation of the emoluments clause when he takes office again in 2025.
We know that our judicial branch is mired in corruption and partisan scandals that have been uncovered not by official investigation but by journalists—all without consequence. We know that the Supreme Court and lower courts across the country continue to render decisions that erode voting rights and anti-corruption laws.
Big money in politics does not and cannot coexist with political equality. Free speech should not be a zero-sum game. But in the hands of oligarchs and the politicians and judges who rely on them, that is what it has become. Where money has been given the status of speech and corporations the status of people, where our mechanisms of sharing speech and knowledge are shaped by profit maximization, then some voices can and do silence others. This is dangerous on its face, and it is particularly dangerous where, as we see now in our country, powerful voices are targeting marginalized and vulnerable communities. They do so in order to foment racist, violent support for their causes, to intimidate those who oppose them, and to make it seem as if silence in the face of oppression is the safest course.
It is not. It may be the safest course for billionaire newspaper owners and profit-maximizing social media companies, but it is not the safest course for the people of this country or for the United States. We know this. We know that our democracy will not be saved by accepting its billionaire/corporate capture as fait accompli. And we know that there are elected officials, judges, grassroots organizers, journalists, lawyers, institutions, and ordinary people all across the nation who remain committed to our democracy—including those voters in Maine who overwhelmingly voted to abolish super PACs in elections in their state.
With this knowledge—the good and the bad—Free Speech For People remains committed to its ongoing fight to protect our democracy and our elections for people and not corporations and to lift up the promise of political equality for all. We will continue to demand accountability from our judges and our elected officials, including the President. We will carry on our work to challenge big money in politics and unchecked corporate power, and we will celebrate every step that moves us closer to an equitable, just, democratic society.
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