The time has come. 

Today marks the launch of an interesting new bi-partisan campaign to get corporate money out of U.S. politics. Two new sites – Represent.Us and AntiCorruptionAct.org – contain lots of information about the effort, so I’ll only scratch the surface in boiling down the elements of the American Anti-Corruption Act:

1) Stop the Bribery – ban lobbyists from donating to politicians or otherwise lavishing them with ‘freebies’ to influence decision-making.

2) End Secret Money – require full transparency and disclosure of donors who contribute to politicians via bundlers.

3) People Over PACs – impose strict limits on PACs, and give voters an annual $100 tax rebate to spend supporting the candidate or party of their choice.

Why?   Well, here’s a short video explaining why you should care about this and why you should tell everyone you know to support it as well. 

If you’re interested in getting involved, become a citizen co-sponsor of the Anti-Corruption Act now, and spread the word far and wide.

This initiative was organized by the fine folks at United Republic.

Here is a bit more about the concept:

Sweeping campaign reform legislation called the American Anti-Corruption Act was unveiled today by a bi-partisan group that includes legal scholars, political experts, consumer advocates, Tea Party supporters and Occupy Wall Street activists.

The campaign was introduced by a panel of key supporters: Trevor Potter, former chairman of the Federal Election Commission and a former senior advisor to President George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain; Theodore Roosevelt IV, an investor and the great-grandson of President Roosevelt; Lawrence Lessig of Harvard Law; Richard Painter, chief White House ethics officer for President George W. Bush, and consumer advocate Josh Silver, who is the campaign director.

The American Anti-Corruption Act will be introduced first to the American people – not Congress. This is a dramatic departure from past attempts at campaign reform, which for decades have focused largely on Washington. The grassroots campaign to pass the act is called Represent.Us.
…
The American Anti-Corruption Act, almost two years in the making, has attracted a broad coalition of supporters, representing a wide mix of political views.

They include:
*Tom Whitmore (DC Tea Party Patriots)
*Cecelia Frontero (Occupy Wall Street)
*Mark McKinnon (Republican Strategist)
*Susan McCue (Democratic Strategist)
*Dennis Kelleher (CEO, Better Markets)
*Jack Abramoff (former Super Lobbyist)

Learn more at Represent.Us
 

Bonus points to anyone who notices Jack Abramoff’s name on that list of endorsers – yes, the former scandalous super lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

And for folks who arent’ familiar with Trevor Potter, he’s also Stephen Colbert’s lawyer. Here he is helping Stephen transfer all his Colbert Super PAC SHH! money to himself…