The US Government is failing to govern at the most fundamental level, let alone to address challenges like record levels of inequality or climate change. Meanwhile, corporate power grows unchecked: big companies freely violate environmental regulations, receive government bailouts and tax breaks, give dizzying executive pay packages, and write trade, internet, and energy policy. What ails our democracy? And how do we fix it?

While many changes are needed to create a robust participatory democracy, this workshop will focus on efforts to prevent further erosion of voting rights and efforts to overturn two Supreme Court Rulings that have damaged our democracy and threaten innovative local efforts to create a new economy: Buckley v Valeo, which ruled that election expenditures cannot be limited (on the grounds that money is speech), and Citizens United, which ruled that corporations have the right to unlimited election expenditures (on the grounds that corporation are people). The panelists will discuss the movement to defend voting rights and to restore democracy and challenge the misuse of corporate power.

Collaborative live notes: https://commonbound.hackpad.com/Reclaiming-Democracy-and-Reining-in-Corp...