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Saturday, May 9, 2015

Doug Hughes

In mid-April, former mailman Doug Hughes flew a gyrocopter to Washington D.C. and landed on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol.  His intent was to bring attention to the corrosive influence of big money in campaigns.  

This is another one of those situations where everyone in D.C. knows that big money is truly corrosive but yet they appear powerless or afraid to do anything about it.  No one wants to upset some billionaire who might spend big bucks to remove him from office, and so they spend most of their time on Capitol Hill begging for money for their next election.  Hence, politicians serve money and power and the little guy goes unheard.

Doug wants to change that, as millions of Americans do, and he appeared on Democracy Now! to follow-up.


"It Was Worth Risking My Life, My Freedom": Campaign Reform Activist on Flying Gyrocopter to Capitol


In mid-April U.S. mailman Doug Hughes made national headlines when he flew a tiny personal aircraft known as a gyrocopter on to the lawn of the U.S. Capitol in an act of civil disobedience. Hughes was carrying letters to every member of Congress urging them to address corruption and to pass campaign finance reform. The letter began with a quote from John Kerry’s farewell speech to the Senate: "The unending chase for money I believe threatens to steal our democracy itself." After landing on the Capitol Mall, Doug Hughes was arrested and could now face up to four years in prison on charges of violating national defense airspace and operating an unregistered aircraft. Despite being under house arrest and forced to wear a GPS monitoring device, Doug Hughes has decided to keep speaking out about the need for campaign finance reform.


(If the video doesn't work for whatever reason, go here.)

You can read the transcript of the video here.

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He's always watching

He's always watching