For those of us working toward important fundamental reform, including the movement to get money out of politics, it can sometimes be easy to become disheartened and feel like the day-to-day grind is not enough. We’ve all been there.
Seeing the headlines of increasing political spending, surges in dark money, and ultra-wealthy donors spending more money in one lump sum than many of us will make in our entire lifetimes is deeply troubling. But, as former Ohio State Senator and American Promise Advisory Board member Nina Turner writes in a recent op-ed in Truthout, we cannot let the setbacks deter us.
“When we’re fighting for big things, impactful things, we’re going to have our valley moments,” she writes. “We are going to win — but we are going to have moments where it does not feel like we are winning, moments where it does not look like we are winning, and moments where we might indeed not be winning in certain parts of this country.”
She continues: “Know that it’s going to take a lot of fight and a lot of faith, a lot of sweat equity and a lot of understanding, and that sometimes we feel down and out — but we are not down and out forever. We are setting the play for the victory. The victory will ultimately be ours, but we have to demand it.”
Nina’s passionate calls for action are, as always, a rousing reminder that when we come together we will win. By going person-by-person, state-by-state, and candidate-by-candidate, we will build the conditions necessary to pass the American Promise Amendment and end the political spending arms race that has left so many Americans out of the conversation.
“With the amendment, elections will be about the best ideas and the best candidates, the needs of the people, and not about who has the biggest wallets,” Nina writes.
