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    When Money Talks: The High Price of "Free" Speech and the Selling of Democracy
    When Money Talks: The High Price of "Free" Speech and the Selling of Democracy
    When Money Talks: The High Price of "Free" Speech and the Selling of Democracy
    Audiobook6 hours

    When Money Talks: The High Price of "Free" Speech and the Selling of Democracy

    Written by Derek Cressman and Thom Hartmann

    Narrated by Derek Cressman

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    About this audiobook

    Special-interest money is destroying our democratic process. But now that the Citizens United decision has thrown out campaign spending limits as abridgments of free speech, Americans want to know what they can do about it. Derek Cressman gives us the tools, both intellectual and tactical, to fight back.

    There's nothing inherently unconstitutional in limiting the amount of speech, Cressman insists. We do it all the time—for example, cities control when and where demonstrations can take place or how long people can speak at council meetings. Moreover, he argues that while you choose to patronize Fox News, MSNBC, the New York Times, or the Wall Street Journal, political advertising is forced upon you. It's not really free speech at all—it's paid speech. It's not at all what the Founders had in mind when they wrote the First Amendment.

    Cressman examines how courts have foiled attempts to limit campaign spending, details what a constitutional amendment limiting paid speech should say, and reveals an overlooked political tool concerned citizens can use to help gain the amendment's passage. Seven times before in our history we have approved constitutional amendments to overturn wrongheaded rulings by the Supreme Court—there's no reason we can't do it again.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBerrett-Koehler Publishers
    Release dateJan 11, 2016
    ISBN9781626568402
    Author

    Derek Cressman

    Derek Cressman is a voting rights advocate and award-winning author who has lived in Sacramento since 2000. He has worked professionally to reduce big money in politics in 1995 with nonpartisan organizations such as Common Cause and the Public Interest Research Group. In 2014, Derek Cressman ran for California secretary of state. Though he wasn't elected, the legislature responded to his campaign, and the efforts of others, by referring a question to the ballot instructing Congress to overturn the Citizens United ruling-the central plank of Derek's campaign platform. Cressman has served as a credentialed elections observer in Somalia, El Salvador, and Florida. When he's not working to improve our democracy, Derek enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters. He credits his time running marathons and mountaineering with building his fortitude to tackle obstacles of social change. He is an avid woodworker and picks at the banjo when he needs a break. Derek grew up in Colorado Springs and graduated with honors from Williams College in 1990 with a degree in political science.

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