source: "ORIGIN Interview: Mark Ruffalo on Climate Change, the Monopoly on Our Energy Systems, Fighting Fracking, the True Cost of Fossil Fuel Pollution, Showing Compassion, and Being Who You Say You Are". Interview with Leilani Münter, www.marandapleasantmedia.com. April 27, 2016.

topic: Technology, Self, Oil, Oil And Gas, Campaign Contributions

The primary source of waste in government is that legislators are often under heavy pressure to vote for projects that will benefit their campaign contributors, even when those projects fail a simple cost-benefit test. But with the Supreme Court showing little interest in permitting tighter rules on campaign contributions in recent years, there is little reason to be optimistic that we'll start curbing this kind of waste any time soon.

- Robert H. Frank

source: Source: bobmorris.biz

topic: Optimistic, Simple, Government, Contributors, Campaign Contributions

We have two and half million individual campaign contributions, more than any campaign in history.

- Bernie Sanders

source: Source: www.msnbc.com

topic: Two, Campaigns, Half, Campaign Contributions

The reality is we that have a corrupt campaign finance system which separates the American people's needs and desires from what Congress is doing. So to my mind, what we have got to do is wage a political revolution where millions of people have given up on the political process, stand up and fight back, demand the government that represents us and not just a handful of campaign contribution - contributors.

- Bernie Sanders

source: Bernie Sanders during Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, New Hampshire, www.nytimes.com. February 5, 2016.

topic: Fighting, Reality, Government, Campaign Contributions, Campaign Finance

Let's talk about why, in the 1990s, Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street provided - spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions? Well, some people might think, yeah, that had some influence.

- Bernie Sanders

source: Bernie Sanders during Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, New Hampshire, www.nytimes.com. February 5, 2016.

topic: Wall, Thinking, People, Campaign Contributions

What 'eminent domain' laws mean in practice is that politicians have a right to seize your property and turn it over to someone else, in order to gain campaign contributions and win votes.

- Thomas Sowell

topic: Mean, Winning, Order, Campaign Contributions, Eminent Domain

This is what oligarchy looks like: Today, the top one-tenth of 1 percent owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. The top one-hundredth of 1 percent makes more than 40 percent of all campaign contributions. The billionaire class owns the political system and reaps the benefits from it.

- Bernie Sanders

topic: Class, Political, Campaigns, Oligarchy, Campaign Contributions

The lobbying over China most favored nation trading status was disgusting. There's no way in hell that MFN would have passed in '95, '96, '97, '98, '99, 2000 if all these companies hadn't come in flooding and making campaign contributions and ask for people's support. That drove the debate. Every year was the allure of corporate dollars flooding into members' bank accounts.

- Mark Shields

source: Source: www.pbs.org

topic: Years, People, Support, Campaign Contributions

What does a political revolution look like? It means that 80 percent of the people vote in national elections, not 40 percent. It means that billionaires can't make unlimited campaign contributions and buy and sell politicians. It means that the U.S. government represents the needs of all the people, not just the 1 percent and their lobbyists.