Dear Readers,
Here’s the pledge I’m asking you to sign:
Sign a pledge that you support an end to political campaign donations
This week in the news, Howard Schultz (CEO, Starbucks) publicly called on business leaders of major corporations to end political campaign donations. The debacle and political inability to reach a resolution in the debt ceiling issue was, in many ways, a driving factor in this bold move to pledge to end political donations.
The Huffington Post interviewed Howard Schultz about it here:
Huffington Post interview of Howard Schultz
On August 12, 2011, Howard was interviewed by the New York Times, on this issue, and here’s an excerpt:
In effect, Schultz thinks the country should go on strike against its politicians. “The fundamental problem,” he said, “is that the lens through which Congress approaches issues is re-election. The lifeblood of their re-election campaigns is political contributions.” Schultz wants his countrymen — big donors and small; corporations and unions — to stop making political contributions in presidential and Congressional campaigns. Simple as that. Economists like to talk about how incentives change behavior. Schultz is proposing that Americans give Washington an incentive to begin acting responsibly on their behalf.
Please share this petition and this blog post. Please consider retweeting this, or using Facebook, or Googleplus, or whatever means you like to share this with your friends. I’d like to garner a show of support to this bold move for political change. We will never be effective if we lose momentum.
Thank you in advance for your support!
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I’d be happy to give you my garner Melody. I never give to a political campaign anyway. Horay for Howard!
I am encouraged and in total agreement with Davids stand on withhoding giving any money to these inept officials. He was great on the Piers Morgan show. I will buy a pound of Starbucks today in his honor. Ed Mullins
This is something long overdue! I signed…altho I don’t feel too optimistic about it. (but that’s never stopped me before)
I am in total agreement. I am proud to sign and send a message to Washington. Enough is enough!
@Denise, Jean-Marie, Ed, and Steve – Thank you! Steve, I think you should sign the petition! Please share it with others.
Where do I sign?
@Steve: click onto the 2nd sentence in this thread, in green: “sign a pledge that you support…..” It will take you right there and you fill in your basic info and that’s about it.
Thanks Denise I just did it but didn’t have time to read the terms. I hate terms. Hope someone doesn’t send me tons of spam.
Starbucks and Politicians? A little bit off the charts eh?
Article Source: [url=http://www.newsytype.com/10212-howard-schultz-political-donations/] Howard Schultz drops political figures off at the wallet [/url]
Schultz definitely has more conviction up his sleeve than anyone else i know in the coffee business. My grandma was right indeed, you should never mix politics and coffee. It’ll just ruin everything else.
@Denise -Thanks for helping out with further clarification to Steve.
@MirindaM – Sorry it took so long for your comment to show up. It got caught in my spam filter. I’ve always considered conviction a good thing. Many people think that one should never talk about religion, sex, or politics, in polite conversation – and its probably true. But here, if we’re going to create change, we need leaders like Howard Schultz to create the tidal wave. And then the little people like you and me, can at least help a little bit to create a ripple effect. We can’t create big change without big leaders.
I have signed the petition. And actually, if you contact Starbucks they also will give you Howard’s corporate email address so that you can email him directly on feedback and suggestions pertaining to this issue. I discovered this through sending an email through corporate responsibility on the Contact Us section of the website. I think Howard would appreciate hearing that his efforts are supported by his customers. Take advantage of this opportunity because Starbucks (and Howard) wants to hear from us.
@Nancy – I owe you big thanks. As you know from our email conversation, your email to me asking ‘where’s there a petition?’ is what inspired me to do this. THANK YOU. And thank you for signing it. I really do ask that if you have a facebook profile, that you share the link to the petition there. It’s going to take a ton of work to keep adding signatures to it. It’s 11 pm and I’m tired, and so I hope I make sense, but I just wanted to quickly say hi and thank you!
~Melody
This is one thing I do agree with. Petition signed!
Thank you LatteRose! Please email it out to your friends! Send an email with the link. Creating a movement takes teamwork!
Thanks for the opportunity to show Howard that his bold proposal has support from the heart of his customer base.
@DadCooks – and his employees!
This alone is enough to make me proud to be a partner – I only hope that others follow his lead, on both this and his pledge to continue hiring and maintaining employee perks and benefits.
@DadCooks and Kitenarie – Thanks for showing your support here! I’m seriously asking you to email the petition, or facebook it, or whatever. It will mean less if I get to 105 signatures, and then the engine dies and no one signs it anymore. It’s so hard to keep it going, but in supporting the move, I think we have to keep the petition circulating.
Is there any other action other than a boycott that can be taken to prevent campaign contributions? Will the petition be sent to CEO’s when it reaches 10,000?
I am afraid Nancy, that this is sort of dead in the water. Last time I checked it was up to 111 signers. At this rate it will probably be many, many years until there are 10,000 signers and really to be effective it should be at least 100,000 and maybe a lot more, quite possibily a million or many more millions. I posted it several times on twitter and facebook to no avail.
@Steve – It’s a tough thing to promote a petition. I ‘ve tweeted it several times, and if I tweet it too much, I risk that I will anger people for being spammy with it. Even if I can get 1000 signatures, I think that makes a statement. I just think we need a show of support. What I really need is for people to email it and spread it on via email, like a chain. Send it to their friends. People are more likely to click through a sign a petition that came via email than some strange twitter link.
I hope that those who are active in this thread will email this to their friends!
Thanks!
[…] strike against politicians. He’d have us speak the only language they know, money. We would withhold all donations from each and every one until they honestly negotiated, compromised, and resolved their […]
With all due respect, perhaps Howard Schultz should speak out against the policies in China. For example, Tibet? Maybe he has forgotten that religious freedom is not allowed in China? Or maybe speak out against the “one child policy” which amounts to nothing more than Chinese eugenics in that it allows the state to control families. And while we are discussing politics of China, what about the issues with Taiwan? Or maybe Howard Schultz could urge the Chinese government to bring back North Korea to six-party talks and nuclear disarmament. Howard Schultz must recognize the many human rights violations, basic ones that violate the human body and spirit. China’s policies violate the dignity of each and every citizen.
How can we expect our politicians to do anything about the wrongs in the rest of the world when they can’t handle the minor by comparison things that are wrong here in America because they’re too busy worrying about getting re-elected? It’s like they say at the airport – put your own oxygen mask on before you help others with theirs.
While I agree with the overall sentiment of witholding funds, my sense is that given the Citizens United decision, Howard’s well intentioned movement will simply free up more space for the Koch brothers to run roughshod over the political landscape. I guarantee you that those guys will not stop pouring money in. So ultimately who benefits from this movement? Interests like the Kochs. Unintended consequences, Howard, unintended consequences….
Saw Howard on Neil Cavuto’s business show on FOX News this afternoon (8/24/11). Howard has more than 100 large company CEOs that have joined him. Good and informative interview.
Too bad those folks that are biased to not listen to all sides did not and will not see it.
@DadCooks – Did you see that Howard has started his own petition to pledge support for him? It just went live sometime within the past 24 hours, and I’d say probably within the last 8 hours? “UpwardSpiral”
The open letter from Starbucks’ socialist CEO can be summed up very briefly:
1) Let’s curtail capitalist campaign contributions and turn George Soros and the unions loose upon the political landscape before the elections
2) Let’s fake an unsustainable uptick in employment based on emotion rather than economics. Our true agenda won’t get discovered until after we are assured of four more years of Obamunism.
Melody I would love to sign, but unfortunately before teaching and most likely after I will be doing work for various political candidates and consulting. But @violetsouffle signed it! I think it is awesome you’ve got grassroots support on this issue
Thank you Howard for your stand.
@Sharon – Thank you for your support of the movement. I know it IS a lot to ask but I’ve got to keep the petition moving for it to grow in signatures. Facebook is ideal. If you have a facebook page, would you consider posting it there? If not, maybe mail it to one or two people who you think would be supportive?
Thank you again Sharon!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/join-starbucks-ceo-howard-schultz-end-political-campaign-contributions/
Interesting suggestions, but I think it’ll only appear to those who aren’t in the habit of giving to political campaigns anyway. Anyone with a basic knowledge of economics should realize that there’s every reason to cheat and donate anyway just to give your favorite candidate some edge.
423!! That’s not only not good it’s downright lousey. Why don’t people sign? What are they afraid of? At this rate most of us, including Howard, will be dead before the petition reaches it’s goal of 10,000 signers. What’s the matter with you people anyway??
@Steve – It is probably time for me to pull that Howard Schultz petition widget down. I was thinking of replacing it with a PayPal Donate button. After all, the blog is actually quite an expense! There’s no doubt that I have done nothing but lose money on this site! I’ve asked Kelly (my computer person) to give me a hand with that, so you might see that change fairly soon.
@Melody — if you are talking about donations to keep your blog going I am more than willing to add your blog to my select list of quality blogs that I help to support. All of these blogs are still open to all, but “supporters” sometimes receive extra benefits (e.g., private area of forum, special avatar, other “no cost” nice things).
Being a Lawyer, I am sure I do not have to tell you to create a legal business entity and be prepared for more paperwork 😉
Yes Melody by all means take that Howard thing down and let him push his own petition probably on the Starbucks web site. Like I said Melody you, I, Howard, and most people on your blog will be dead and forgotten long before the petition reaches the goal of 10,000 or even a fraction thereof. It is just wasting space here and yes give yourself a Christmas present and ask for donations to keep your blog we all enjoy alive. Not fair for you to lose money..
Please email it out to your friends! This alone is enough to make me proud to be a partner – I only hope that others follow his lead, on both this and his pledge to continue hiring and maintaining employee perks and benefits.
@Vickie – Just wanted to say welcome to the blog. You’re right it’s an important issue, though this issue of campaign donations seems to have lost its steam in the news. Starbucks always has something new around the corner! Hope you’ll come back and poke around this blog more. Thank you!
Banning politicians from PAC”s would go a long way to ending the influence over DC. It’s called the revolving door. How else can an income of $100k balloon into millions in the bank (or off shore acct)?