It’s a problem that lies at the heart of American government, and almost no one is talking about it.
It’s not a problem that’s about Democrats or Republicans. It’s not about a controversial social issue. It’s not about where we, as a nation, stand in comparison to the rest of the world.
There’s something flawed with how we elect political candidates to office in America.
The problem involves super political action committees. These groups are not nifty, James Bond-type organizations that conduct spy work.
Instead, they are groups that threaten democracy as we know it by electing our leaders and promoting their agendas from behind the scenes of government.
According to U.S. News and World Report, super PACs first came into prominence following the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission in 2010, which enabled corporations and individuals to donate unlimited amounts of money to any political candidate running for office.
The court majority argued that money counted as free speech and gave rise to the idea of corporate personhood, which claims that corporations should be granted the same rights as people.
Since then, the effect on our politics and government has been tremendous.
So far in the 2016 election cycle, just 158 families, including owned or controlled businesses, have contributed a total of $176 million in political donations, according to the New York Times.
Does this seem like a good idea? Allowing the funding of politicians’ campaigns to come from wealthy donors and businesses instead of the American people?
Corporations can just buy whichever candidate they want to represent them and their interests best.
Does this sound like a government that works for the people, by the people? Or is it a government that works for the wealthy and the few?
Super PACs hinder those who already don’t have a say in this country that’s driven by money.
I firmly believe this is an issue that supersedes political parties. Every Democrat, every Republican and every voter should care about super PACs and their detrimental effects on democracy.
Former president Jimmy Carter said the United States doesn’t even resemble a democracy anymore thanks to the Citizens United decision in an interview in July with the Thom Hartmann Program.
“Now we’ve just seen a complete subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors, who want and expect and sometimes get favors for themselves after the election’s over,” Carter said.
It’s pretty telling when one of our own presidents speaks against such a heinous assault on the American election process.
It’s not only important, but it is also necessary for us to overturn the Citizens United decision and inject some political enthusiasm back into the American bloodstream.
After all, it might not be difficult to imagine a United Walmart Stores of America in our near future.
ttfitzpa@indiana.edu
@tfitzwrites
