{"id":4876,"date":"2015-06-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-06-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www-prod.greenpeace.org\/usa\/issues-2\/"},"modified":"2024-12-10T16:22:46","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T16:22:46","slug":"issues-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/usa\/issues-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Democracy Issues &#038; Threats"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class='p4descriptive_paragraph'>Democracy is supposed to work for us, not corporations. So why do huge companies and super-rich individuals\u2014including some of the world\u2019s worst polluters\u2014have so much influence on our government? It\u2019s time to stop these companies and individuals from putting our rights at risk for their profit. <\/span><\/p>\n<figure class='wp-block-image size-large p4featured_image'><img src='https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/planet4-usa-stateless\/2024\/11\/22627f82-gp02ac1-koch-brothers.jpg' alt='Airship Protests Koch Brothers Meeting' \/><figcaption class='wp-element-caption'>The Greenpeace Airship A.E. Bates flies over the location of Charles Koch&#8217;s secret political strategy meeting in Rancho Mirage, California in January, 2011.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>We know that the environmental challenges ahead of us are great. We urgently need to make progress on fighting climate change, protecting our oceans, stopping deforestation, preserving the Arctic, and much more.<\/p>\n<p>A democracy crippled by special interests and corporate influence can\u2019t achieve this progress. Every year, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-usa-stateless\/2024\/12\/7f942924-kingpins-of-carbon.pdf\">fossil fuel corporations like Shell, BP and ExxonMobil<\/a> and people like the Koch brothers make billions by maintaining the status quo.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re fighting against the changes we need for a better future, so we\u2019re fighting back. Here\u2019s what we\u2019re up against.<\/p>\n<h2><b>Attacks on Voting Rights<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Everyone deserves equal voice in a democracy. Despite this, corporations are aligning to undermine the voting rights of the communities fighting for change. Too often, it\u2019s those most affected by pollution and environmental destruction that see their voices suppressed.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of restricting rights, we need to be knocking down barriers and propping up the right to vote. So what\u2019s going on?<\/p>\n<h2><b>Money in Politics<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Climate denying corporations and individuals are fighting against the changes we need by funneling unlimited amounts of money into political campaigns. But this extent of corporate influence in political campaigns and decision-making is fairly recent.<\/p>\n<p>How did it get this way? And how can we stop it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democracy is supposed to work for us, not corporations. So why do huge companies and super-rich individuals\u2014including some of the world\u2019s worst polluters\u2014have so much influence on our government? It\u2019s time to stop these companies and individuals from putting our rights at risk for their profit. The Greenpeace Airship A.E. Bates flies over the location [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":5852,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_hide_page_title_checkbox":"","p4_title":"","p4_subtitle":"","p4_description":"","background_image_id":"","background_image":"","p4_button_title":"","p4_button_link":"","p4_button_link_checkbox":"","p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_seo_meta_title":"","p4_seo_meta_description":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4876","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.9 (Yoast SEO v23.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Democracy Issues &amp; Threats - Greenpeace<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/usa\/issues-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Democracy Issues &amp; Threats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Democracy is supposed to work for us, not corporations. 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