Daniel Newman: UNRIG: How to Fix Our Broken Democracy

Despite our immense political divisions, Americans are nearly united in our belief that something is wrong with our government: It works for the wealthy and powerful, but not for anyone else. Fix Democracy First along with the League of Women Voters hosted the book launch of UNRIG: How to Fix Our Broken Democracy where author Daniel Newman, talked about and showed key parts of the new graphic novel.

In the book Newman, a noted democracy reform leader and artist George O’Connor expose the twisted roots of our broken democracy and highlight the heroic efforts of those unrigging the system to return power to We the People. They take readers behind the scene- from the sweaty cubicles where senators dial corporate CEOs for dollars, to lavish retreats where billionaires boost their favored candidates, to the map rooms where lawmakers scheme to handpick their voters. Unrig highlights surprising solutions that limit the influence of big money and redraw the lines of political power.

In this video, Newman talks about the story of the game-changing fight to rid George Mason University of corrupting Koch influence tracking two heroes: former GMU student Samantha (Sam) Parsons, a co-founder of UnKoch My Campus and its Director of Campaigns, and Professor Bethany Letiecq, the courageous president of GMU’s AAUP chapter. See also: Pirate TV- Nancy MacLean: The Origins of Today’s Radical Right, and her book: Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Rights Stealth Plan for America.

AUTHOR: Daniel G. Newman is a national expert on government accountability and money in politics. He is president and co-founder of MapLight, a nonpartisan nonprofit that promotes transparency and political reform. He led a ballot measure campaign establishing public funding of elections in Berkeley, CA.

SPECIAL GUEST: Estevan Muñoz-Howard is the Program Officer for Money in Politics Reform at the Piper Fund. He helped to lead the successful 2015 Honest Elections Seattle campaign—a historic initiative to implement the Democracy Voucher Program.
Links:
Unrig the Book - https://www.unrigbook.com
Fix Democracy First - https://www.fixdemocracyfirst.org/
Donate $35 for more to Fix Democracy First and receive a FREE copy of Unrig. Donate here: https://www.fixdemocracyfirst.org/donate-book-fundraiser
LWV of Seattle-King County - https://www.seattlelwv.org/
The Piper/Proteus Fund - https://www.proteusfund.org/piper
Our democracy’s founding ideals were false when they were written. Black Americans have fought to make them true. - https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/black-history-american-democracy.html

Fix Democracy First is a non-profit in the state of Washington fighting to improve our Democratic processes. They have been running initiatives and projects in support of public financing of campaigns, fair elections, overturning Citizen’s United, protecting voting rights and other similar efforts for almost two decades and have recently merged with WAmend and continue to work very closely with allies, partners, and volunteers towards the common goal of getting money out of politics.
Recorded 7/7/20