In a new op-ed in The Nation Magazine, John Bonifaz, co-founder and president of Free Speech For People, and Christina Livingston, executive director of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment Action (ACCE Action), argue that the fight over a billionaire wealth tax in California is really about democracy. 

They write: 

In a democracy, there is a simple principle: Voters decide, not the people with the most money. Today, that principle is under extraordinary strain. The 170 biggest-spending billionaire families have already contributed a record-breaking $1.7 billion to the 2026 midterm elections. Elon Musk, now the world’s first trillionaire, has spent more than $480 million to bend the outcome toward his own financial and political interests. Billionaires are deploying unprecedented sums to drown out the voices of ordinary voters, and they are proving a hard truth: We can have a government of, by, and for billionaires, or the people, but we cannot have both.

Read the full article here.