Blog de Dunlap: Nothing will change until we do this

Danielle, here’s the truth:

Nothing will change until we tackle one specific problem head on: corruption.

Our government has been hijacked by the rich and powerful. It works great for defense contractors. It works great for the gun lobby. It works great for Big Pharma companies. It works great for Big Tech CEOs. It works great for billionaires. It works great for politicians who are willing to sell out to the highest bidder. We have a government that works for those at the top — and only those at the top who are looking to get richer.

Our campaign finance laws enable this. Powerful special interests and billionaires use their piles of money to fund campaigns and support politicians that will block any legislation that threatens their bottom line.

That was true before the Trump era. He took an already rigged system to the extreme.

He is the worst symptom — not the cause — of our corrupt system.

So defeating Trump just to go back to business as usual won't be enough. We need to hold him and his cronies accountable for breaking the law. Then we need to clean up the corruption in Washington to guarantee our government can never be hijacked again.

That’s what I’m focused on.

I’m putting my resources towards winning the midterms in November so that Donald Trump no longer has free reign to do anything he wants.

And I’m urging the Democratic party to adopt aggressive, bold, transformational changes after we win.

I have a long list of plans to root corruption out of Washington. They will impose an enforceable code of conduct on the Supreme Court, require the president and vice president to disclose and divest from any potential financial conflicts of interest, ban all individual stock ownership by members of Congress, padlock the revolving door between lobbyists and government, create a new anti-corruption agency dedicated to enforcing federal ethics laws, get Big Money out of politics, and much more.

We can only make real progress on issues impacting our country if we root out this corruption.

If you’re able, will you pitch in $100 or any amount to help power our anti-corruption campaign? Every donation is another signal that the American people are demanding real change and calling for a country that works for everyone, not just the rich and powerful.