The political process is increasingly rigged by corporations and the billionaires who control them, as a result of the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision that opened the floodgates to unlimited and secretive donations to political campaigns. Are corporations really people? Is money the same as free speech? This hour discusses tactics, strategies and possible solutions on local, state, and national levels to the plague of “Dark Money” in politics.    

Best-selling author and top-ranked progressive talk radio host, Thom Hartmann, hosts the sixth episode of Free Speech TV and Manhattan Neighborhood Network’s joint production of Elections 2018 — The Progressive Path Forward: Money in Politics. Hartmann is joined by Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, Rachel Curley, Democracy Associate for the Congress Watch Division of Public Citizen, and Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, national director of Move to Amend.

Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN) and Free Speech TV will premiere this sixth episode in the monthly series, Elections 2018 — The Progressive Path Forward: Money in Politics, on Thursday, July 12, 2018 at 8:00 pm ET on both MNN-FSTV (Spectrum channel 1301 and FiOS channel 39 for Manhattan viewers or streaming online worldwide at mnn.org) and Free Speech TV (DISH 9415, DIRECTV 348, and streaming on Roku, Apple TV, Sling TV and freespeech.org). Produced by Globalvision and taped at the MNN El Barrio Firehouse Community Media Center in East Harlem, this episode is a co-production of Free Speech TV and Manhattan Neighborhood Network.

During the broadcast, MNN (@MNN59) and FSTV (@freespeechtv) will host a live Twitter chat with the panelists, using the hashtag #ProgressivePath18.

Watch all previous episodes in our Elections 2018 series here.

“The deeply toxic, undemocratic impact of unlimited dark money flowing into the American electoral system is perhaps the most important underreported story of the 2018 midterms,” said Free Speech TV Executive Director Ron Williams. “Join us for this spirited discussion of the problem and various strategies we can use to win back our democracy.”

“Voters have the power to change our country’s trajectory, but they can’t do that without a full understanding of what is currently happening in our government,” said MNN CEO and President, Dan Coughlin. “Our goal with this series is to provide voters with a comprehensive look at the issues at stake and empower them to make informed decisions at the polls this November.”

Broadcasts are scheduled as follows (ET):

• July 12,  2018 – 8:00 PM
• July 13, 2018 – 3:00 AM
• July 13, 2018 – 11:00 PM
• July 14, 2018 – 4:00 PM
• July 15, 2018 – 8:00 AM
• July 15, 2018 – 8:00 PM