Money Talks Democracy Walks

It was one of the founding principles of the Constitution that too much power in the hands of a single institution or person is a bad thing. Our Founders came of age in the era of powerful kings who by divine right could exert their authority absent the consent of the governed. The Constitution they created succeeded and moderated the worst impulses on any single party, institution or set of individuals throughout our history.  

We are now faced with an economic quandary. The Free-Market system has one major flaw. It concentrates wealth into fewer and fewer hands. Today a single person with a fortune of four hundred billion dollars can step on the scale of the Democratic Process and distort the outcome to his liking.

CITIZENS UNITED VS THE FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION

This capability was baked into law by the disastrous Supreme Court Ruling in Citizens United vs Federal Election Commission. It gave First Amendment Freedom of Speech protection to Corporations, Non-Profits and other organizations.

Justice John Paul Stevens argued that the court’s ruling represented “a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent corporations from undermining self-government”.^[3]It was decided on a 5 to 4 vote.

So, what does the First Amendment say. The first ten are a bit of a hodge-podge thrown together after the Constitutional Convention to assure certain states that;

 “in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its power, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added and as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government will best ensure the beneficial ends of its institution.” 

SO HERE GOES: AMENDMENT NUMBER ONE

“Congress Shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people. . . . ”

We’re going to stop here. Does this mean laws against the rights of organizations to exert their free speech rights are protected? We regulate the actions of corporations all the time. Why suddenly is corporate speech not subject to restrictions? Was this protection meant specifically for the people? The Founders had no experience with mass media. Would they see the right of an independent organization whose only purpose is to influence an election as needing protection from the government? As it turns out it may be the other way around.

What we have now is an election cycle dominated by oligarchs and corporate enterprises. They spend lavish amounts of money on media and tip the scale of an election. A certain PAC spent close to 100 million dollars on a certain candidate who favored spending tax money on transgender care for inmates. A cultural flash point. The fact is that only 2 inmates received this surgery. The likelihood that this would impact the quality of life of any voter in the country is absurd. And yet this gifted misdirection probably impacted the most recent election.

We wake up and wonder why many of our political electees seem to be out of step with the the general public on issues. The exorbitant amount of money spent on vilifying candidates, distorting their records has transformed the population into a cynical mass. They mistrust our government and think all politicians are contemptible. Not a great way to run a country.

Now shame on us when we fall for pitches in the dirt. Not sure how we remove the power of money from the Democratic process. If we do not figure it out soon, we will find that a handful of billionaires will run the country. Oh, excuse me. They are about to. Do you think this is sensible. Let us know.