Special-interest money is destroying our democratic process. But now that the Citizens United decision has thrown out campaign spending limits as abridgments of free speech, Americans want to know what they can do about it. There's nothing inherently unconstitutional in limiting the amount of speech, Cressman insists. We do it all the time-cities control when and where demonstrations can take place or how long people can speak at council meetings. It's not at all what the Founders had in mind when they wrote the First Amendment. Cressman examines how courts have failed attempts to limit campaign spending, details what a constitutional amendment limiting paid speech should say, and reveals an overlooked political tool concerned citizens can use to help gain the amendment's passage.

When Money Talks: The High Price of Free Speech and the Selling of Democracy

Business & Money

Cressman, Derek

Finance

Berrett-Koehler on Dreamscape Audio

Special-interest money is destroying our democratic process. But now that the Citizens United decision has thrown out campaign spending limits as abridgments of free speech, Americans want to know what they can do about it. Derek Cressman gives us the tools, both intellectual and tactical, to fight back. There’s nothing inherently unconstitutional in limiting the amount of speech, Cressman insists. We do it all the time—for example, cities control when and where demonstrations can take place or how long people can speak at council meetings. Moreover, he argues that while you choose to patronize Fox News, MSNBC, the New York Times, or the Wall Street Journal, political advertising is forced upon you. It’s not really free speech at all—it’s paid speech. It’s not at all what the Founders had in mind when they wrote the First Amendment. Cressman examines how courts have foiled attempts to limit campaign spending, details what a constitutional amendment limiting paid speech should say, and reveals an overlooked political tool concerned citizens can use to help gain the amendment’s passage. Seven times before in our history we have approved constitutional amendments to overturn wrongheaded rulings by the Supreme Court—there’s no reason we can’t do it again.

Education & Reference

Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Reality(TM) 2048: Watching Big Mother

An inquisitive woman goes through the motions of life in a not too distant Los Angeles that has lost its vivacity. Vera escapes her hollow world through searching deep within herself to avoid a deluge of commercial information. She develops the capacity for independent thought, falls in love, and must then avoid a seductive technology that could render her catatonic.
This post-Orwellian dystopian thriller explores how the truth drowns in a sea of alternative facts, verified information, and sensationalized politics. Instead of deprivation, censorship and doublespeak of 1984, we see a world where corporations fuel vapid consumerism and control individual thought through a barrage of advertising, propaganda, and addictive entertainment streamed directly into the brain.
More than pure science fiction, Reality(TM) 2048 is a political philosophy that challenge the tenants of Ayn Rand, globalism, and judicial activism with characters who confront the murky boundaries between rationality and emotion, objective truth and lived experience. Vera's journey explores how socially manufactured identity blocks what each of us can comprehend and asks whether democratic society can exist when we no longer believe anything is true. It's where reality TV and mindless pursuit of technology could take us if we cannot find ways to reconnect with the real world.

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

Poplar Leaf Press LLC

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Books by Cressman, Derek