Why I Bought a Stamp From Stamp Stampede

The Citizens United Supreme Court decision is a blemish on the American political system. It has diminished the transparency of our elections system and produced a political environment susceptible further abuse by the wealthy and special interest groups. NBC News indicates that, in 2012, nearly $1 Billion of additional money flowed into Super PACs and political non-profits specifically through the channels that the Citizen's United case helped to create. This is exactly what the Occupy Wall Street movement was fighting against - more money and control upon our political system through corporations and the wealthy. Corporatist power is a step towards fascism, a type of totalitarian government where a select few interest groups control the nation and its people.

For a while now, I've been looking into ways that I do my part to help keep we the people in control of our government. This has always been and will continue to be a struggle in our great country. It's our duty as citizens to keep fighting the good fight during our lifetimes. The first step and arguably the most important part of the fight is awareness and controlling the message. After seeing this post on Reddit by Ben Cohen of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream fame, I realized that his initiative was one that I could approve of.  Importantly, it's both easy to do frequently and even easier to distribute.

Stamp Stampede's video:

The goal is to get enough awareness out there that enough states will pass laws in hopes that we can get a Constitutional amendment to curtail the amount of influence money has on our political system.

So right now, all you have to do is stamp your bills and make your regular purchases with them. Everyone uses them daily, and so they get passed quickly throughout the community. Awareness occurs virally - Brilliant! The stamp cost around $10, but it looks as though StampStampede.org is doing a doing a pay what you can month, so you could potentially get one for a lot less.

So let's start churning these out and get to stamping money out of politics!