Protect Mt. Squadmore Blog Draft

Here at TYT, our mission is to push for positive change in the world. Part of that mission includes getting as many progressive politicians into office. To this end, we played a pivotal role in creating the Justice Democrats political action committee. Together we helped get over a dozen progressive candidates in office. All of which have pledged not to accept corporate money. These candidates are now tangentially connected to the progressive group of elected officials known as The Squad. We were so proud to have aided in the election of The Squad that we made a commemorative shirt and hoodie featuring the four founding members. Unfortunately, The Squad lost two members this year.

In July, we witnessed the most expensive House race in American history. On one side, there was Squad member Representative Jamal Bowman of New York's 16th Congressional District. On the other side is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Also known as AIPAC, they are a bipartisan political action committee dedicated to lobbying on behalf of the nation of Israel’s interests. In recent months, Representative Bowman has become publicly critical of how the Israeli government is conducting its military affairs in the Gaza Strip. His demands for a ceasefire attracted the attention of AIPAC who responded by flooding his primary election with an unprecedented 14.5 million dollars. Ultimately Bowman was defeated by his “pro-Israel” opponent George Latimer. 

Less than a month later, fellow Squad member and ceasefire proponent, Cori Bush, was defeated in the second most expensive house primary race. Bush, like Bowman, also found herself at odds with the interest in AIPAC. We may be highlighting AIPAC today, but there are a lot of foreign lobbying groups flooding our electoral system with cash. So how did this happen? What changed in America to allow this new threat to our democracy?

In 2010, the Citizens United V. FEC created a new paradigm in America. Thanks to the decision of the Supreme Court, money was equal to speech, and political action committees were granted the ability to spend as much money as they pleased in our election. In a sense, AIPAC didn’t spend millions of dollars to push Bowman and Bush out of office. Instead, they spoke millions of dollars worth of opposition against these candidates and they lost. If that sounds ludicrous to you, it’s because it is. This is a system where the money trickles down from the hands of powerful special interest groups into the pockets of politicians and the media companies willing to serve them. It’s legalized bribery. How can a nation claim to be independent and free when it so easily bows to the interests of external forces?

Cenk has raged against the growing corruption in our government for years.  He even founded his own political action committee to aid in the effort to overturn Citizens United. But we are all going to have to work together to free America from the tyrannical influence of foreign governments and corporations. Jamal Bowman and Cori Bush aren’t represented on our Mt Squadmore merch. But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t stand up for the remaining seven members of the squad. We may not agree with them on all issues. But their presence in government is preferable to the corrupt corporatists they replaced. 

Wear your support for protecting progressives in government and expanding their influence one election at a time. Snag your own Mt Squadmore shirt or hoodie today.