The Big Beautiful Bill Was Bought
The so-called Big Beautiful Bill proposes one of the most sweeping attacks on the U.S. social safety net in decades, with estimates that the changes to SNAP alone will likely result in more than 1 million people losing food assistance, while millions more will face disruptions in health coverage under tightened Medicaid rules.
The cruelty of the Big Beautiful Bill is not some spontaneous policy misstep. It is the predictable outcome of a political system where mega corporations pay lawmakers to slash the public welfare and boost their corporate welfare.
This bill is another act of policy violence toward our already brutalized communities. It attacks our healthcare, food, environment, immigrant neighbors, education, and more, all in the name of tax cuts to the already under-taxed ultra-rich.
What’s rarely said in mainstream coverage is that policies like these are the direct result of money in politics. As long as lawmakers are dependent on campaign donations, accept gifts and perks from lobbyists, and rely on secret Super PAC money to win elections, they will remain more accountable to their big donors and their private interests than to the people and the public’s interests. This bill didn’t emerge from thin air. It was bought with decades of campaign contributions, bribe-laden lobbying, and revolving-door politics.
This crisis isn’t just national, either. It’s playing out in Pennsylvania’s very own statehouse, where corruption has become routine and reform is long overdue. In Harrisburg, lobbyists can shower legislators with unlimited gifts – everything from lavish dinners to Super Bowl tickets to vacations to Europe. Elected officials are allowed to accept these gifts from the very industries they’re tasked with regulating, including corporate lawyers, pharmaceutical companies, and corporate healthcare networks. And it’s all legal.
As long as our democracy is bought and sold, the cruelty will continue (no matter which party holds the pen). To fix this, we need to go upstream. We need to get money out of politics. Ban gifts and legal bribes to lawmakers. Close the revolving door and ban side jobs. End secret spending in elections. Build public financing systems that empower everyday people to have a say in the decisions that govern our lives.
ORGANIZED PEOPLE BEATS ORGANIZED MONEY
This is a grim picture, yes, but it’s not hopeless. History shows that organized people can take on organized money and win. The labor movement won the eight-hour workday and the weekend. The civil rights movement dismantled Jim Crow. Medicare and Medicaid were not handed down from on high. They were won by pressure, protest, and long-term, sustained organizing. If we build power — real power, organized power across all arbitrary lives of division — we can tear this corrupted system down and build a big beautiful democracy in its place.
WE NEED YOU TO DEEPEN YOUR COMMITMENT TO THE DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT:
Go to GiftBan.org and call the four legislative leaders and the Governor and tell them to pass a gift ban.
Invite one person you know into the ongoing work of MarchOnHarrisburg!
Learn something about the fight for democracy (here are good articles, and here’s a great resource on the fight against Super PAC’s!
Set up a $10 / month recurring donation and/or get one person you know to become a donor!