Haruna,
Turn on the news. Open the paper. Look around.
Soulless and insatiably greedy multinational corporations dominate our politics, our economics and our lives. The problems they’ve created for our people, our nation and the world are legion.
It’s enough to feel hopeless and helpless.
But there is hope. And you are helping.
All of us, working together, have more power than the corporate giants. We can and do make great things happen.
Think about all we’ve done together — as Public Citizen — over the past year.
Public Citizen massively expanded our Democracy Is For People campaign to overturn the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling. More than a million people have signed petitions for a constitutional amendment to keep corporate cash from overwhelming our elections.
Public Citizen helped launch the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards, a broad alliance that is challenging the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s attack on fundamental consumer, health and safety protections.
Public Citizen petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to remove several dangerous drugs from the market. We are proud to be Big Pharma’s worst enemy.
Public Citizen forced Richard Nixon’s 1975 grand jury testimony — in which the former president discusses the infamous gap in his secret tapes — to be unsealed.
Public Citizen obtained leaked documents revealing that speculation by Goldman Sachs was the primary driver of inflated gas prices.
Public Citizen and our allies have continued to thwart expansion of the World Trade Organization, where giant corporations aim to extend rules that give them power to undermine consumer and environmental protections in the U.S. and other countries.
Public Citizen worked with allied organizations to delay approval of the Keystone XL dirty oil pipeline, which would cause more oil spills, drive up gas prices and dramatically worsen climate change.
Public Citizen issued a report proving that caps on medical liability in Texas do nothing to reduce the costs or improve the effectiveness of health care for the state’s citizens.
Public Citizen successfully defended a group of young climate activists who were sued by Koch Industries for the “crime” of exercising their First Amendment free speech rights.
Public Citizen issued a report showing that more than half of doctors disciplined by their hospitals are not subject to subsequent state action. We continue to be the leading advocates for physician accountability.
Public Citizen made major gains in our campaign to review and repair World Trade Organization rules that impose limits on financial regulation. All of the major developing countries asked for a review — only to be blocked by the United States and other rich countries.
Public Citizen helped pass 14 energy efficiency and renewable energy bills in the Texas legislative session.
Public Citizen generated a record number of comments submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators on CEO pay.
Public Citizen overcame White House delays to force issuance of an important new rule to protect child agricultural workers. We also petitioned the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to adopt a new rule protecting workers from excessive heat exposure.
Public Citizen worked closely with the office of U.S. Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) on nuclear disaster preparedness legislation.
After halting consideration of three Bush-era free trade agreements for four years, Public Citizen delivered the largest Democratic opposition vote to any Obama initiative in his presidency when Obama flip-flopped on his campaign commitments and pushed the deals for approval.
Public Citizen coordinated a large national coalition on shareholder protection — aiming to advance the modest principle that a corporation should not spend money on elections without authorization from its shareholders.
Public Citizen’s Solar Si, Nuclear No campaign resulted in all the major partners pulling out of the South Texas nuclear plant.
Public Citizen argued our 60th case before the United States Supreme Court. We are involved with nearly a third of Supreme Court cases.
Public Citizen led the push for tight restrictions on energy speculators, urging the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to establish firm position limits in energy derivative markets.
Public Citizen celebrated its first four decades as the people’s lobbyist with a series of events nationwide, culminating in our inspirational 40th Anniversary Gala in October.
All of that is merely a sampling of what Public Citizen did this year. Just think what we will do in 2012 and beyond! And there is nothing — nothing — that we accomplish without activists, members and supporters like you from coast to coast and from all walks of life.
You read our email action alerts and urgently respond on critical issues. You demand accountability from your members of Congress. You push regulators to operate on behalf of the public, not the businesses they are meant to regulate. You urge the Obama administration to act on its better instincts and not curry favor with corporate donors. And you demand that corporations behave responsibly.
You stay informed and engaged through our website, blogs, Facebook and Twitter.
You read our publications. You tune in to webinars and conference calls, attend organizing parties, participate in demonstrations in your communities, and come to events at our headquarters in Washington, D.C.
You get the word out by talking to your family, friends, colleagues and neighbors about how to make change.
And you provide the generous financial support that makes everything we do together possible.
Public Citizen IS you.
All that Public Citizen gets done to protect people from runaway corporate power is thanks to you.
I thank you for making Public Citizen an organization with the history, expertise and credibility to lobby in the halls of power, to litigate on behalf of the public interest, to produce groundbreaking research, and to mobilize grassroots action across the country.
And I thank you for making Public Citizen such a strong force — as we head into a fifth decade — in our shared struggle to save American democracy from the abuses and excesses of corporations and their cronies who believe that the Machiavellian pursuit of profits is the pinnacle of human ambition.
You and I know there is a higher calling.
You and I are in this together. And we are not about to give in.
Onward!
Robert Weissman
President, Public Citizen
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