Money still does not equal speech

Thanks to Donald Trump's Supreme Court, political parties can now spend unlimited money in coordination with candidates for office — further eroding the fabric of democracy and launching us into a corporate-controlled republic.

This kind of unfettered spending isn't free speech. It allows rich and powerful people to have more of a say because they have more money. Having more money doesn't make speech any freer; it just lets you say something on television more often than someone who doesn't have as much money.

The more money we put into politics, the more poisonous our politics becomes. Money does not equal speech. It never has, and it never should.

The disconnect between this ruling and reality is tragic, and it wrenches this country further from being by, for, and of the people, and dangerously lurches us towards being by, for, and of whoever has the biggest bank account.

Now that the Supreme Court has given billionaires another way to dominate the airwaves, it's on us to claw back control. You deserve the final say in our politics and our elections.

That's why I took a big pledge: no corporate PAC money for my campaign. Defending our democracy starts with defending it against a corporate takeover. When we take back Congress in November, that's where we should start. Help sustain this real, people-powered movement and continue to prove that we can win without corporate interference.

For democracy,

Jim