Action Archive

Protect The Estate Tax

OurFuture.org Staff — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:21:21 -0400

When the 2010 budget was moving through Congress, conservatives, while refusing to support the budget out of a misguided sense of "fiscal responsibility", inserted an amendment into the budget that would cut the estate tax for the richest 5,854 multimillionaire families in America, while costing the government over $300 billion in lost revenue over the next 10 years. Just when it looked like this wildly irresponsible and regressive measure was going to find safe harbor in the budget, we responded by asking progressives to make their voices heard.

Progressives pushed back, sending over 10,000 emails to their members of Congress to show that this outrageous tax break for the rich wasn't going to slip in under the radar at a time when millions of working Americans are fighting to get by. When the final version of the budget came out of conference committee with the estate tax cut stripped out, we had plenty of reason to celebrate--not only will that money now be available to invest in America's future, but we can also feel good knowing that progressive grassroots oversight made it happen.

Fight For Obama's Budget

OurFuture.org Staff — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:08:33 -0400

After the success of passing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, President Obama's next big priority was to pass the fiscal 2010 federal budget resolutions. Once again, the conservative opposition mounted a fierce campaign to embrace the failures of Herbert Hoover and the Bush presidency, and even supported an alternative budget which called for more Bush-style tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy as a way to get us out of the recession those same policies helped create. Once again, we called on the progressive community to fight for real solutions from Congress.

And once again progressives responded. As a result of our call to action, over 20,000 emails were sent to members of Congress urging them to support President Obama's crucial investments in America, and to reject wasteful tax cuts for those who don't need them. As with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, your pressure helped produce a truly progressive budget that puts us on a path toward health care for all, affordable and accessible education and a clean energy economy. This budget truly represents a blueprint for change.

Take A Stand For Economic Recovery

OurFuture.org Staff — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 12:38:01 -0500

As one of President Obama's first acts of office he called on Congress to pass his American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Conservatives responded with their typical obstruction and failed ideas, and when anti-investment pressure was mounting on Congress from the Right, we asked our supporters to step in and tell Congress that Americans demand economic recovery for Main Street, not the alternative do-nothing plan.

And you responded. Over the next few weeks while Congress debated the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, you flooded Congress with nearly 30,000 emails, and countless phone calls, demanding a real solution from Congress. While in the end conservatives in both parties managed to water down parts of the legislation, we succeeded in passing the biggest investment in America's foundation since the New Deal. Without a doubt, Congress could not have passed such historic and desperately-needed legislation without the unceasing pressure of the grassroots keeping them on track. We all own a piece of its success.

I.O.U.S.A. Is Not OK

OurFuture.org Staff — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:50:06 -0500

During one weekend in January, CNN turned over a total of four hours of programming to the financial backers and stars of the anti-investment documentary “I.O.U.S.A." We demanded that CNN give equal time to public investment strategies that will put our economy back on a sound footing.

As a result of our campaign, decision makers at CNN received thousands of emails letting them know that biased anti-investment programming by a news outlet is not acceptable. We hope that as a result of this push-back, CNN will think more carefully about giving an inordinate amount of airtime to groups pushing biased reactionary viewpoints in the future.

No Blank Check

OurFuture.org Staff — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:56:58 -0400

When the Bush administration sent a request to Congress for a $700 billion blank check for Wall Street Campaign for America's Future jumped into action, and so did progressives all across the country. Within days, progressives sent over 80,000 emails to members of Congress demanding that any bailout measure passed through Congress must contain strict oversight, new regulations, and help for Main Street, not just Wall Street.

As a result of our efforts, and the efforts of our progressive allies, Congress quickly rejected Bush's proposal, and demanded many of the changes we demanded. While the final bailout plan that passed Congress was much less than what we wanted, it was also much better than what the Bush administration wanted quickly shot through Congress without question.

With the help of progressives across the country we made a real difference. This challenge was just the first of many to come. This bailout was just the first step, a bitter pill that didn't do nearly enough for Main Street. In the coming months we will continue to push for Congress to support the real economy and real families, who are right now struggling to make ends meet.

Thousands Say No to Toxic Toys

Robert Borosage — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 03:00:00 -0500

The Campaign for America's Future on Tuesday delivered 85 pages of signatures from people across the country demanding the resignation of the acting chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Nancy Nord. A letter to Nord from America's Future co-director Robert L. Borosage accompanying the petitions said, "We hope you will do what's best for the safety of American families, acknowledge your failures and honorably step aside."

Also, our video highlighting the dangers of toxic trade—featuring a Barbie with "symptoms" from a one-night stand with Ken—has been featured by Fox News Channel, ABC News, The Washington Post and the Associated Press.

Wal-Mart Slogan Contest

tjackson — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 13:52:04 -0500

We empowered our supporters to send a message of their choice to Wal-Mart -- through a prominent billboard that we reserved less than one mile from Wal-Mart's Bentonville, Ark., World Headquarters. We received thousands of excellent slogan submissions, and narrowed the field to ten finalists. Tens of thousands of our supporters voted on the finalists and a clear winner emerged, "Wal-Mart: Killing Local Businesses One Main Street at a Time."

After selecting the winning billboard slogan, supporters contributed enough money to publish it for one month. We designed the billboard artwork and submitted it to the billboard leasing company -- the Fort Smith, Ark., division of Clear Channel.

Unfortunately the division president, Bob Sadler, decided unilaterally -- and based on what we believe are partisan political grounds -- to censor and deny the posting of our slogan.

Nearly 12,000 Campaign for America's Future emailed Bob Sadler to demand that he not censor the truth about Wal-Mart, and publish our billboard. He has yet to deliver an official response, and we're currently exploring legal options to pressure him and Clear Channel to overturn the censor.

Since Clear Channel wouldn't publish our one billboard in Bentonville, Ark, we published 10,000! In January 2006, we produced 10,000 bumper stickers with the same message and design of the original billboard, and distributed them, free of charge, to the communities where the billboard's message most needs to be seen.

The 10,000 bumper stickers were distributed to community groups working to stop Wal-Mart from coming to town and closing small businesses. You can still get your own bumper sticker, download a flyer and take action to protect small businesses at fixwalmart.com

Premiere of Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

Robert Borosage — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 13:38:44 -0500

The campaign to expose the truth about Wal-Mart began with the promotion of the Robert Greenwald documentary, "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price." Working with Brave New Films, Campaign for America's Future joined a coalition that sponsored over 7,000 citizen screening parties, giving the documentary a true people's premiere.. We also hosted the official Washington movie premiere, an event attended by Robert Greenwald, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., Rep. George Miller, D-Ill., and two stars of the film, Red and Dee Esry. You can listen to podcasts and see photos from the D.C. premiere, our Capitol Hill press conference with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and you can find out where to purchase the movie.