INFORMING CONSUMERS FOR BETTER GOVERNMENT
Last Year Corporations Paid $3,300,000,000.00 to influence politicians and laws.
Our political system is broken. Politicians no longer serve there constituents and their votes prove this fact. According to Pew Research, 84% of all Americans support expanding background checks to include private firearm sales and purchases at gun shows, including a majority of Republican respondents. Yet Congress and President refuse to set forth common sense legislation. 82% of voters favor Term Limits for Congress, but again, they refuse to even bring up the issue. As you can imagine, Corporations prefer the devil they know and don't want term limits either.
Why have politicians stopped voting in the interest of their constituents? Simple... Money! Last year Corporations Paid $3,300,000,000.00 to influence politicians and laws.
While our votes may no longer wield and influence on our elected officials once they are in office, Corporations have an army of lobbyist's walking the halls of government on a daily basis insuring their agenda is always first.
Since our 21st Century Democracy has evolved, constituents need a new tool-set to insure their beliefs and values are being listened to and considered when politicians create policy.
Corporations clearly dictate Policy.
The current political process is quite depressing to most Americans. We feel disenfranchised and taken advantage of. Most Americans do not have the luxury of extra time to advocate for themselves directly to congress. We are busy working, taking care of our families and shopping.
What if we could cast our vote every time we went grocery shopping, to the mall, traveling or just changing the channel on our remote?
The fact of the matter is that we can! Every time you buy a Coca-Cola you're indirectly endorsing their lobbying efforts. Buying a car? That too. Picking an airline to fly? Yep! Blue Money Matter wants to help consumers make buying decisions based on how their purchases may influence policy and the politicians in the states and municipalities these corporations are headquartered.
20 years of data reveals that Congress doesn't care what you think.
For the last few years, Mansur Gidfar had this sense that everything he learned as a kid about how America's government works is completely wrong. But he had no idea how bad things actually were until he saw one simple graph.
Why does this matter? Because even just a small shift in how consumers spend can dramatically influence how companies seek to make their customers happy. From lowering the price on an item to firing personnel, like NetFlix did with Kevin Spacey in order to make sure consumers did not cancel their subscriptions in support of the #metoo movement.
The recent passage of the Jobs and Tax Act is the first issue Blue Money Matters began to address. This inequality of the bill clearly shows that 99.9 Americans will only see a small decrease in taxes with some middle class families now actually paying more in taxes.
Blue Money Matters
Blue Money Matters provides the public with information that will allow individuals to make spending decisions based on how brands and companies align with their own social and public policy views.
The “Citizens United” ruling notes: “Political spending is a form of protected speech under the First Amendment, and the government may not keep corporations or unions from spending money to support or denounce individual candidates in elections.” As a result of the “Citizens United” decision The Blue Money Matters campaign believes that many American citizens have been further disenfranchised by the political process. Monied corporations are far more influential in the formation of public policy than everyday Americans. This sense of powerlessness has led to continued voter fatigue and lack of participation.
Blue Money Matters provides the public with information that will allow individuals to make spending decisions based on how brands and companies align with their own social and public policy views.
The “Citizens United” ruling notes: “Political spending is a form of protected speech under the First Amendment, and the government may not keep corporations or unions from spending money to support or denounce individual candidates in elections.” As a result of the “Citizens United” decision The Blue Money Matters campaign believes that many American citizens have been further disenfranchised by the political process. Monied corporations are far more influential in the formation of public policy than everyday Americans. This sense of powerlessness has led to continued voter fatigue and lack of participation.
Corporations Control Congress
To start, by highlighting the location of corporate headquarters to users, consumers will be provided with knowledge that can inform their purchasing decisions. Traditional means of communicating with legislators goes largely unanswered. Information provided by Blue Money Matters will provide consumers with the knowledge they need to wield their collective buying power. It is our hope that economic pressure applied to corporations will encourage their leaders to exert their billions of dollars in lobbying efforts to better reflect the needs of their consumers, and the American people as a whole.
Consumer power can cross state lines!
Policy Through Purchasing
When it comes to "Pay to Play" Politics, corporations and the .01 percenters definitely have the upper hand over us regular folk. However, Blue Money Matters would like to see if we can change "Pay to Play" into "Policy Through Purchasing".
The remaining 99.9 percent of Americans are a collective economic power house that can influence those same corporations (and the .01 percenters that run those companies). By letting them know through our purchasing behavior how we would like them to utilize their political and billions in economic lobbying power to benefit their consumers.
Corporations More Responsible Than Politicians
The recent trend of corporations being more responsible and responsive than elected politicians (to the will and values of its consumers and American citizens) proves that they are indeed listening. Their bottom lines depend on it. Consumers can affect change quickly though purchasing decisions; no need to wait for the next election cycle.
Americans don’t have the time to call or email their legislators with messages that usually go unheard. Americans do, however, hold the upper hand in our expansive economy. We can potentially shift corporate policy views based on the products we choose. We are not bound by our political geography. Our local purchasing decisions can affect change nationally.
Blue Money Matters does not encourage boycotts, but rather provides Americans with a new toolset to preserve and participate in our country’s ever-evolving 21st century democracy.