Andy Levin, Pushed Out of Congress by AIPAC, Calls for Change in U.S.-Israel Policy
Andy Levin, Pushed Out of Congress by AIPAC, Calls for Change in U.S.-Israel Policy
We speak with former Michigan Congressmember Andy Levin, a former synagogue president, who lost his 2022 Democratic primary in a race that saw millions spent by pro-Israel groups to unseat the progressive Jewish lawmaker. AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and other lobby groups ha...
Well let's get fucking real about this. PAC activity is bad because it invites foreign influence and limitless spending. The honest tale is that any system that allows this is bad, and these shitheads are just exposing that, and it's not the first time.
We need to repeal any laws that allow this kind of bullshit. Also probably to stop self-funding of campaigns, as has become a problem.
We had a law. The Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court invalidated it saying the First Amendment takes precedence so we’d need another Amendment limiting speech in politics, which is complicated. I believe we already have laws about foreign money in politics, but we have extremely weak enforcement for it (and weak enforcement of other political laws in general). If we made stronger laws requiring PACs to report where all of their funding came from the current Supreme Court would likely knock it down saying anonymous speech is also protected by the First Amendment.
This is horrible.
I'm truly sorry we lost Andy Levin's support in the Michigan Congress. And I won't soon forget the foreign meddling that caused this.
He lost his reelection a while ago. His district changed due to redistricting. I met him at the Huntington Woods 4th of July parade. Really seemed like a great guy
What is the real solution to money buying elections. All I can think of is the gov gives you a budget, and that is all that can be spent. People are welcome to voice thier opinions, but not to spend money spreading it. Seems unlikely to work out as planned. Any better ideas?
Limit campaigning to 6 weeks before the election. Our drawn out campaign cycle is unsubstainable.
1st amendment would be an issue with this.
Prevent substantial wealth differentials in the first place.
You're not wrong. But while you can knock them down, you can't stop them. The powerful will always find a way.
Ban political advertising and campaign contributions, at minimum. Might need a constitutional amendment for this.
Or it might be necessary to ban rich people.
Or it might be necessary to ban rich people.
Haha, now we're talking!
Yeah that's the thing, an solution that requires an ammendment is a nonstarter. That is why all these PACs exist. They are not part of the official campaign, so they aren't under any campaign rules. I just don't know how we manage that without an ammendment.
This is correct. The government decided the amount you get for ads and such. I’d really like something like France also where we have a media black out about it leading up to the election.
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