While I'm disappointed by the decision of the court in the matter of Citizens United v. FEC, we know that corporate money has always maneuvered around the legislative barriers erected by Congress. Moreover, the academic doomsaying around this issue overlooks an essential truth about American politics: millions of engaged Americans are always worth more than millions of corporate dollars.
Denying the agency and power of Americans feeds a culture of cynicism and disengagement that is antithetical to a healthy political process. If defeatist arguments carry the day, we will hand corporate interests a more significant victory than their money could ever buy.
ActBlue's success tells a different story. When we founded ActBlue in 2004, I knew that corporate donations would always be a significant factor in our political process. ActBlue is a counterweight, a means of balancing special interest money through Democratic mobilization. Our model has been proven. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have used ActBlue to raise $118,000,000 for Democrats. That's six times more money than the entire oil and gas industry gave to Democrats over the same period.
ActBlue allows Democrats to shape their political future in profound and enduring ways. Regardless of the court's decision in Citizens United v. FEC, that's change we can believe in.
