December 3rd, 2014 by Mike Vasilinda
An 81 year old Sarasota woman finished a 400 mile walk from her home to the state Capitol today. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, she is part of a growing movement that believes money is the root of all evil when it comes to politics.
Rhana Bazzini began her walk began 52 days and 430 miles ago.
“I can’t believe I’ve actually done this, and I’m actually walking up to the Capitol. There is a very surreal element to it” the activist told us as she approached the State Capitol.
She arrived with a hundred or so supporters., Along the way, Rhana Bazzini met with lawmakers and picked up a following. Her goal: Get the money out of politics. “People from the tea party to the Occupy Movement support the idea of getting money out of politics. They don’t always agree on how to do it” she says.
This is a national movement.
David Cobb is a Move to Amend Founder. He told the crowd “The have perverted our constitutional right to self governance.” The remark brought a loud cheer.
Move to Amend wants a 28th amendment to the US constitution. It would prohibit corporate political contributions.
“We now call it corruption reforms” says Lawrence Lissig, a Harvard Professor. He did a a poll that shows 96 percent hate the money in politics, but 91 percent believe nothing can be done. “They’re already convinced. They already believe the government is corrupted, and all we have to do is show them there is a way to fix it.”
Rhana Bazzini acknowledges it’s an uphill battle. “Yea, of course it’s going to be hard. It probably won’t happen in my lifetime. I’m 81. They tell me I’m going to live to a hundred. That would be very nice. Maybe if I live to a hundred, it will come to pass.”
The next stop for this movement…New Hampshire in January where they hope to get on the radar of Presidential candidates.
The movement began with a dozen people in a living room. It now has more than three hundred thousand members across the country.Supers: Tallahassee
Ideas for fixing the problem range from giving tax credits to small political donors to passing out 50 dollar vouchers to be given to your candidate of choice.
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