This is powerful, non-partisan, empowering. From the Open Secrets website http://www.opensecrets.org/about/index.php:
Our Mission: Inform, Empower & Advocate
Celebrating our 25th anniversary in 2008, the Center for Responsive Politics is the nation's premier research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy. Nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit, the organization aims to create a more educated voter, an involved citizenry and a more responsive government. In short, CRP's mission is to:
- Inform citizens about how money in politics affects their lives
- Empower voters and activists by providing unbiased information
- Advocate for a transparent and responsive government
We pursue our mission largely through our award-winning website, OpenSecrets.org, which is the most comprehensive resource for campaign contributions, lobbying data and analysis available anywhere. And for other organizations and news media, CRP's exclusive data powers their online features tracking money in politics—counting cash to make change.
Influence & Lobbying
The primary goal of much of the money that flows through U.S. politics is this: Influence. Corporations and industry groups, labor unions, single-issue organizations – together, they spend billions of dollars each year to gain access to decision-makers in government, all in an attempt to influence their thinking.
http://www.opensecrets.org/influence/index.php
Congress
The House of Representatives has 435 members, the Senate has 100, and OpenSecrets.org has fundraising profiles for all of them. Use the search box to the right to find the member or congressional candidate you're interested in. Some of the leaders - and the biggest fundraisers - in Congress are listed below.
110th Congress Casualty List
111th Congress House Leadership (view Senate)
http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/index.php
* * *
Through pride we are ever deceiving ourselves.
But deep down below the surface of the average conscience a still,
small voice says to us, 'Something is out of tune.' ~ Carl Jung
* * *
The Roots of Violence:
Wealth without work,
Pleasure without conscience,
Knowledge without character,
Commerce without morality,
Science without humanity,
Worship without sacrifice,
Politics without principles.
~ Mohandas K. Gandhi
I think Jung and Ghandhi had it right. The corruption that the 'Open Secrets' web site is seeking to make transparent, reflected in the tracked money that is changing hands, goes deeper. It reflects a corruption of our souls, our ways of life. We live in a society and culture where individuals are discouraged from looking at themselves (in the manner of Jung's 'inidivudation'). Through the widespread use of technological rhetoric, and our increasing view that 'history' represents what happened 10 minutes ago (and is therefore, irrelevant), we're becoming a society that discourages, even fears, self-reflection.
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