Congress intends to pass the Trans-Pacific "Partnership" after the November elections, no matter how those elections turn out. It doesn't matter that both Presidential nominees have declared their opposition; it doesn't matter that even an inveterate "free" trader like Sen. Portman has declared his opposition; it doesn't matter that the vast majority of Americans do not want a "free" trade deal that would outsource our jobs and nullify our laws. All that matters is that Congress wants it, and the President wants it, and that no law can prevent them from ramming it through in the lame-duck session; they do not care about the people's will and the common good. I repeat: they do not care about the people's will and the common good. Unless, of course, we remind them, again and again and again, of our will and of the common good. So Sum of Us helps you tell your Congressfolk to reject the Trans-Pacific "Partnership." Their hook is the environment, and clean air and clean water will surely suffer under a TPP regime, but you can think of other ways the TPP would injure our freedoms.
Meanwhile, WildEarth Guardians helps you tell the Forest Service to fulfill its obligation to protect the Okanogan-Wenatchee forest from off-highway vehicles. The Forest Service has already mandated -- via its Travel Management Rule, finalized way back in 2005 -- that off-highway vehicles may only operate on designated trails, but the Service has, apparently, been quite slow in ensuring that good folks follow this rule in the Okanogan-Wenatchee forest, which covers much of northwest Washington state and is the largest of the Pacific Northwest's National Forests. Lately, they've shown some interest in rectifying this problem, which causes damage to wildlife, soil and water, and fish habitats, but they could use a push from us. It's not enough to respond it's public land so I should be able to do what I want on it because I'm the public, because the public includes everyone, not just one person with an oversized motor vehicle, or one corporation with a drilling apparatus, and we have long established that protecting certain lands from the effects of our presence benefits all of us.
Finally, in the Pennsylvania state legislature, HB 1980 and SB 11 would introduce strong campaign finance limits in Pennsylvania, by allowing the Secretary of the Commonwealth to set campaign contribution limits every two years and requiring recipients of campaign contributions to tabulate donors who give more than $10, among other necessary and overdue reforms. Pennsylvania has long had notoriously lax campaign finance laws, and even though the Supreme Court has (in the notorious Citizens United v. FEC decision, among other, subsequent decisions) dramatically loosened campaign finance restrictions nationally, the Court hasn't killed all campaign finance restrictions, and as citizens we should fight for the most vigorous campaign finance reforms at the state level anyway, and dare the Court to strike them down. (And I suspect the Court will uphold more campaign finance restrictions, if it moves leftward in the coming years.) Hence Common Cause helps you tell your Pennsylvania state legislators to support campaign finance reform by supporting HB 1980 and SB 11.
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