February 3, 2013
Dear Securities and Exchange Commission:
It is long past time to end secret political spending by corporations.
For the implied warning with which Lincoln concluded his Gettysburg Address has indeed come to pass: government of the people, by the people, for the people has indeed vanished [in the United States], replaced instead with government of, by and for the corporations -- and the fabulously wealthy.
Therefore, I strongly support the SEC issuing a rule in the very near future that would require publicly-traded corporations to disclose all their spending on political activities. Though a modest step, it is at least a useful beginning.
At the very least, shareholders and the public have a right to know how much a given corporation spends on politics (directly and indirectly, through intermediaries), as well as which candidates are being promoted or attacked.
Sincerely,
A.J. Averett