On January 21, 2010 the Supreme Court ruled on the case Citizens United v. Federal Election Committee. This ruling allows big businesses and labor unions to spend unlimited amounts of money financing political campaigns. Prior to this ruling, businesses and unions were limited in the amount of money they are able to spend on campaigns. In 2012, which was the first Presidential Election since the ruling, just over 1 billion dollars was spent by outside groups otherwise known as “super PACs.” This was the highest ever; the previous high was only 338 million in 2008. The Koch brothers and their group of investors are on pace to spend nearly 900 million dollars. This alone almost sets the record for campaign spending. What has happened to our right to vote? Who are we truly voting for? Are we just voting for rich people disguised as politicians?
This is an outrage. This year the Koch brothers invited all of the Republican candidates for the presidency to their mansion in order to question them, and also to give the candidates a chance to woo them for their money. This is not right. These politicians are getting controlled by two men. What will the candidates owe the Koch brothers for investing in their campaign? What is happening to our country? Since the ruling came down on the Citizens United v. FEC, the government has rarely been able to function as a true democracy as our forefathers intended.
Super PACs are the true reason why republicans say that climate change does not exist. Republicans are smart enough to realize the dangers that are ahead but are worried that if they admit the truth, they will lose the money from the Koch brothers and investors like them. If climate change is real, then the government has to come up with a way to stop it. Any measure that looks to increase the use of renewable energy sources and thereby slow the effects of global warming will decrease the amount of money the Koch brothers will earn. Republicans are hesitant to act on these issues because they are afraid of the repercussions. This is true for so many other issues. The Citizens United case has forced Congress into doing nothing. It caused the government shutdown, slowed down everything in Congress, and has worsened the tensions between the Democrats and the Republicans. Washington is turning into a billionaire's club, just like it was before the Great Depression. Do we really want that to happen again? The government is starting to crumble. The Democrats in the Senate tried to overturn this case by passing a constitutional amendment regulating campaign financing. 44 senators, all Democrats and Independents, voted for the amendment, whereas 56 senators voted against it, including every single Republican member of the Senate. What is happening to our Democracy? The preamble to the Constitution starts by saying “We the People,” but are we, the people of the United State, actually voting for true, honest politicians who care about making our country great, or are we just voting for politicians that only care about the billionaire class? Should the preamble start by saying, “We the Billionaires of the United States?”
I truly believe this is an issue. The corruption of big name firms within politics is an unknown plague. It has negatively impacted the ability for lawmakers and government officials to do their jobs. The candidates currently are more worried about who can give them the most money to become president, rather than what they will do when they are President to fix the issues. It is sad that we cannot trust anyone with our rights anymore. The top 1% are trying to control politics and government officials, and they are doing a good job at it. It is sad to say that big name firms are running the country now. Who can we truly turn to for protection of ourselves and our rights? Government officials only care about money and firms that make it, not the everyday person. It is sad that we have lost touch with humanity.
ReplyDeleteJust as this article states, the United States is at the point where the government is no longer being run by politicians, it's being run by businessmen dressed up to be politicians. Running an effective government and trying to keep the people happy at the same time is hard enough, but once you throw in investors who are campaigning for specific politicians, the whole issue gets a whole lot worse. How can we know who is being genuine in their stances on certain issues, and who is being payed off by investors to hold a position. There has to be a way to make sure that politicians cannot be corrupted by investors and super PACs. We the people, no matter how bleak it looks, have to take a hard line stance against all of this interference by investors. We simply have to pressure congress to the point where they can no longer ignore the issue of money in government. This relates back to the pharmaceutical industry. The big pharmaceutical companies aren't mass producing drugs for the sake of the sick people who need them, they're doing it for the money, just like how politicians aren't taking stances because they believe in them, but because they are getting payed a ton of money to take it. Hopefully people will start to stand up to this great injustice soon, before it's too late to stop all of these investors from owning the government as a whole. Corruption is a big problem in the government right now, and the more money gets thrown at politicians, the worse it's going to get.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting issue and it's something I've thought about for a long time. I really hate how there's so much money integrated into the national government. It makes landing a government job a way to make money rather than help a large amount of people. Having private interest groups and companies feeding money to politicians on both sides of the rope makes for bad politicians. It makes them bad because you don't get something for nothing. They get campaign funds and the companies get tax cuts or special government jobs that other people might deserve or might be more qualified for. Candidates getting money from private companies and groups makes them a pawn who must do everything that they who hold the money command. An alternative that could work is just banning companies and groups from donating all together. While that may sound a bit ridiculous I believe Democratic candidate is running a fairly successful campaign without accepting donations from big business and certain groups. He's only accepting small donations from individuals which speaks volumes about how he is a candidate who's truly independent and can do what he wants without fear of supporters pulling money out from beneath him. One last thing I wanted to mention was how in my Politics of the U.S class we learned about how much leverage the national government has over the states just in regards to money. The national government threatened to pull funding from states if they didn't de-segregate schools. That threat ended the segregation of schools for the most part. That's the kind of pull companies and groups have over our candidates and potentially the President of the United States. Just think about that...
ReplyDeleteThis has been a problem that has been progressing ever since politicians realized the more money they had, no matter what they stood for, would win them a better spot. That's not right. That's not democracy. Why should we even vote if we are not going to be represented by the people who we want in office. And the thing that is the most absurd is that the government lets this happen! As long as the government is happy with the money flow that they get they will turn a blind eye. It seems as the years go on and the more primaries we have the more "politicians" who are willing to spend billions just to weasel their way into Congress and the Presidents seat. It is morally and should be politically wrong. Another thing that is interesting is that whenever there is a poll taken with the representatives in Congress it is always divided, Democrats vs Republicans. Regardless of your party and political stance, you need to vote with how you think the people you represent would want you to vote.
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely an issue with today’s politics. The article states that the Koch brothers offer candidates a significant higher amount of money than any party organization could possibly offer them, but at what price? Of course, if someone is going to fund your campaign, you are going to be inclined to make policies and laws in favor of that benefactor. This seems like a subdued type of corruption. I don’t blame them, however, for taking the money, especially when it might mean the difference between winning or losing a election. Although there are rules against coordination between candidates and Super PACs, they are hardly ever enforced. Candidates are too concerned with getting elected and not concerned enough about what they want to do when they are elected. Once they are elected, they spend their time worrying about reelection. What if they vote for something that goes against a Super PAC and they lose that Super PAC’s funding? They are not willing to take that risk and, as a result, politicians are not being honest and they are not doing their best to serve the people of America.
ReplyDeleteTo be completely honest, I had no idea that this was happening in our government and politics today. I was never aware of this court hearing or the outcome of it. I am shocked. How could it come to the point where in order to win an election, one must take money from someone to fund their campaign? By taking this money, they are basically subject to do whatever the person giving them money wants them to do, because if it wasn't for them then they wouldn't even be in the election. Essentially, elections today are all about the money. So when you vote for a presidential candidate, you are basically voting for whoever gave them money to allow them to run for presidency. There are very few campaigns now-a-days that are self funded, almost everyone that is running for presidency has to answer to someone. That some one or more than one being the person or people supplying the campaign with money. This leaves the people with the most money the ones calling the shots. The fact that our country is essentially being run by people with money rather than the people who are being voted for is appalling. But what is almost more appalling is that I, a young adult, didn't even know this was occurring.I know for a fact that there are numerous young adults like me, 18 or 19 years old and voting for the first time, who did not know this was happening. And I am sure there are people who are even older than that who are unaware of the court hearing. So all of these young adults are voting for candidates without even knowing the true story behind them, that being they are answering to someone with money. The person funding their campaign could have completely different ideas than the candidate them self. This could become extremely tragic if the people in the government with the money make decisions that could effect millions of Americans, a decision uncontrollable by the people "in charge".
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