In ancient times, Romans crossed out coins imprinted with the face of their tyrannical emperor, Caligula. In the early 20th century, British suffragettes carved “Votes for women” onto pennies in order to circulate their demand for political equality throughout the United Kingdom. About six years ago, Iranians enraged by the questionable re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stamped their banknotes in protest of rigged elections. Today, over 65,000 people are legally stamping anti-corruption messages like “Not to be used for buying elections” onto their cash with StampStampede.org.
In recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court has zealously established the “right” of billionaires and huge corporations to influence our elections with unrestricted amounts of money on the basis of free speech – cutting off everyone else from the political process.
I started this grassroots campaign to fight big money’s incursion into America’s political system. The Stampede is a visual protest that taps into the virality of currency, which is seen by hundreds of people whilst in circulation. Money is the original form of viral media.
The Romans, the suffragettes, and now the Stamp Stampede employs this time-honored tactic. We’re harnessing the might of citizen-activism to stop the ultra-rich’s appalling power-grab of our democratic republic by creating a visual demand for change. In our political system mired by the “free speech” of the wealthy few, the Stampede amplifies the voices of “We the people” so our outrage can be heard.
All across this country, Americans have had it with big money in politics. They’re demanding a government not of the highest bidders but as President Lincoln famously put it – “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” The root cause of our nation’s descent into political corruption is big money and activists are stamping it out, one dollar at a time.