ACTIVISM
U.S. Democracy Held
Hostage By The Rich As Never Before
Five years after the Supreme Court's
Citizen United ruling, politicians increasingly court the rich.
ByBrendan Fischer
/ Center for Media and Democracy
January 21, 2015
This week, Republican
presidential hopefuls like Gov. Scott Walker, Gov. Chris Christie, and Sen.
Rand Paul will travel to an exclusive resort near Palm Springs, Florida to
kiss the rings of David and Charles Koch.
The New York
Times calls it the
"Koch primary."
Over the last five
years, the Koch political network has evolved into what many have
described as a shadow political party. The Kochs and their network of wealthy
donors spent $300 million in
the 2014 elections, after raising at least $400 million in
the 2012 presidential races, with almost all of the spending passing through an array of
political vehicles that are officially "independent" from
candidates and political parties.
Today, candidates
who receive the blessing of Charles and David can watch their political
fortunes skyrocket, thanks to the huge financial resources the Kochs and
their deep-pocketed allies can funnel into elections. Joni Ernst, for example,
was a local elected official four years ago, yet this year was sworn-in as a
U.S. Senator and delivered the Republican response to the State of the
Union address--a rapid trajectory which she
attributes to support from the Koch
political network.
If a "Koch
primary"--where a handful of wealthy donors can determine political
futures, regardless of political party--sounds more like an oligarchy than a
democracy, you are probably right.
The level of political
influence made possible by such extravagant spending would have been all but
impossible five years ago, before the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Citizens
United v. FEC. In that decision, a narrow majority of the Court struck
down limits on "independent" spending, paving the way for Super PACs
and dark money vehicles that can now spend literally billions of dollars
influencing elections.
Citizens United turns five on January 21.
Citizens United Has Transformed American Elections
In the five years
since Citizens United, Super PACs have spent one billion on federal
elections, according to a
Brennan Center analysis. Around 60 percent of that amount came
from fewer than 200 people. Hundreds of millions more have been spent by
so-called "dark money" groups--organizations that spend to
influence elections but evade donor disclosure laws--and in the 11 most
competitive U.S. Senate races in 2014, a majority of outside spending came from
groups that keep their donors secret.
Although the Court's
rationale in Citizens United rested on the notion that groups
raising and spending unlimited funds would be "independent" of
candidates and political parties, the reality is that around half of all Super
PACs were formed to support a single candidate and are often led by the candidate's
former staff, Public Citizen
has found.
Besides the $1
billion-plus spent on federal elections after Citizens United, hundreds
of millions more has been spent on increasingly expensive state races. David
Koch's Americans for Prosperity, for example, spent $10 million supporting
Governor Scott Walker in his 2012 recall election. In 2014, tens of millions were
spent by outside groups in the Massachussetts governor's race, more than double the
amount spent four years earlier.
And, in the years
since Citizens United, judicial elections have increasingly
been dominated by outside spending. At least $56.4 million was spent on state
Supreme Court races between 2011 and 2012, according to Justice at Stake, raising
serious concerns that justice is truly for sale. That concern is particularly
pointed in Wisconsin, where the Court will be deciding a case
potentially involving criminal liability for the majority's biggest
supporters--and with it, ironically, deciding the future of Wisconsin campaign
finance laws.
Although the unlimited
spending made possible by Citizens United has allowed the
Koch network to reshape U.S. politics and the Republican Party to advance their
corporate and ideological interests, wealthy Democratic donors are increasingly
stepping up their game. The political arena is becoming a billionaire's
playground.
The Ruling Class: Tiny
Slivers of Ultra-Wealthy Donors
As limits on money in
elections continue to deteriorate, candidates must increasingly rely on
big campaign spending from a tiny sliver of wealthy individuals like the
Kochs. Elected officials, in turn, are far more responsive to the preferences
of the wealthy--who bankroll their campaigns--than to the average voter, and a
large body of research shows that the rich have different policy priorities
than the general public, as Demos and Common Cause have
documented.
For example, vast
majorities of Americans support raising the minimum wage and enacting paid sick
days, but these policies are not a priority for the wealthy donor
class, and are actively opposed by entrenched corporate interests (and big
political spenders) like the National Restaurant Association. As a result, the
federal minimum wage has remained stalled at $7.25 per hour, and the U.S. is the only
developed country on earth that doesn't guarantee that
workers can stay home sick without losing pay or their job.
Even worse, when
cities and counties have tried to enact these laws in their communities,
they've been thwarted by corporate-backed state legislators--most of whom are
members of the American Legislative Exchange Council--passing
"preemption" laws at the state level to crush local
efforts to enact paid sick days or a higher minimum wage. (ALEC has also demanded that
state legislators protect the "right" of corporate interests to
anonymously influence elections.)
This big money
politics means that elected officials are primarily responsive to the policy
preferences of their financial supporters rather than average people. And, as Demos has
described, this dynamic further hinders a truly multiracial
democracy: major political donors, to both parties, are almost entirely white.
Which means that policymakers are primarily responsive to the preferences of a
rich, white donor class, and people of color and the poor have their voices
marginalized, even as the country grows increasingly diverse.
Any Hope Is on the
Horizon?
This week, thousands
of people across the country are taking to the streets on this fifth
anniversary to raise their voices against Citizens United. Five million
people have signed petitions calling for a constitutional
amendment to reverse the decision. And 16 states and over 500 cities
have passed resolutions calling for an amendment, including New York, Los
Angeles, and Chicago, thanks to the work of Public Citizen, People for the
American Way, Common Cause, Move to Amend, Communications Workers of America,
American Sustainable Business Council and others.
On Wednesday, seven
activists with the democracy movement 99Rise
disrupted the U.S. Supreme Court, issuing a series of statements calling for
the justices to overturn the unpopular Citizens United decision. Each protester
stood up and presented a demand to the Court before raising their index finger
in the air to signify one person, one vote as the basis for democratic
representation.
And last September, a
majority of the U.S. Senate voted to advance a
constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and
restore the ability of Congress and states to put limits on electoral spending.
Of course, that gesture was symbolic as the GOP-led House would never even take
up that proposal.
But even as popular
support is being expressed on the side of democracy, hundreds of super wealthy
individuals are meeting this week with the Koch brothers, attracting scores of
leading Republicans in Congress and likely presidential candidates. That comes
in the same week that the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case on whether judicial
candidates should be allowed to fundraise, as judges run for office in many
states.
So even as there is popular
support for democratic reforms, there is also tremedous momentum among the
monied classes to perpetuate their power and influence.
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