In this episode of Wine, Women, and Revolution (The Socialist Podcast) Heather hosts a panel on clean money and politics. She is joined by Dr. Steven Fenichel and Chris Crapello. Dr Fenichel is a long-time activist and currently a candidate for Congress for NJ’s 2nd congressional district. Chris Crapello is a clean money advocate and had worked on political campaigns in NJ.

The problems with big money in politics are all encompassing. It denies us healthcare as a right. It gives us an astronomical military budget. This all comes from lobbyists serving their corporate masters. Dr Fenichel refers to big money as “A fatal poison to our democracy”. Concerns of citizens are ignored in favor of profit, from clean air, food, or the environment. Mr. Crapello adds that there is not a single change we are going to make on any of the major political issues unless we get big money out of politics. Our democratic process has been completely subverted by big money interests.

Chris has been fighting the battle against corporate takeover of government for year. He is optimistic that people might finally be waking up to the dangers. It can feel paralyzing to know how little your government cares about you. We must break that paralysis and treat it as a call to action. We are in for a fight for our very democracy.

Chris recommends 2 grassroots organization fighting to clean up money in politics. https://movetoamend.org/ is working to pass a constitutional amendment that ends corporate personhood. https://represent.us/ works on the local levels to pass the American Anti-Corruption Act. He then sparks a civil debate about the merits of working inside or outside a corporate duopoly party.

Dr Fenichel talks about how Van Drew became the democratic nominee because he had 600,000 in his war chest and the party aligned behind that money and not their values. A large part of my Steve is running is to bring up the issue of money and politics. No one will be talking about that on the local level if we only have pro corporate candidates running.  This is not his first time running to bring up this issue. He ran previously in 2003 on a clean money finance reform platform. Steve feels his passion for Healthcare as a Human Right can never be realized unless we take money out of politics. You can listen to more of Steve here

Dr Fenichel talks about his friend Paul Shamus Ryan from Campaign Legal Center, who helped him draft a local clean money ordinance for his home town of Ocean City, NJ. You can find information about Dr Fenichel’s court case to fight for a clean money ordinance in Ocean City here https://campaignlegal.org/index.php/cases-actions/fenichel-v-city-ocean-city-nj the reaction of the Town Council in Ocean City here