How Billionaires Destroyed Politics (Script & Sources)
Added 2021-02-23 02:29:01 +0000 UTCDo you ever wonder why it seems like billionaires have suddenly become outrageously powerful political figures? Why Congress was able to pass a 2 trillion dollar tax cut for the ultra-wealthy in two months, but they’re STILL haggling over how many hundreds of dollars we’re allowed to have during the worst economic and health nightmare in modern history? Does it seem like all of this got dramatically worse in the last decade? Well, that’s because it did, and it all stems from a single Supreme Court ruling that you’ve probably heard of called Citizens United.
About 114 years ago they realized that letting corporations and banks spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns was obviously bribery, so Theodore Roosevelt passed The Tillman Act of 1907 which outlawed it. Then more laws were passed limiting donations and requiring disclosures, especially after Richard Nixon was caught getting unmarked suitcases of cash, and by 2010 the rules were that the maximum any individual was allowed to give a candidate was up to $2,700 [CORRECTION $2,400], or $5,000 if it came from an outside group. The idea being that both YOU and any billionaire could only give each candidate $2,700, thereby equalizing the influence you both have in politics.
But then, on January 21st, 2010, the Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United vs. FEC, that restricting donation amounts was actually a violation of free speech. Oh and also that corporations and political groups had a right to that specific kind of free speech, but individual people DID NOT have that same right, because THAT could lead to corruption.
Now, individuals were still limited to $2,700 in direct campaign contributions, but corporations and outside groups had no limits to indirect campaign contributions with the only stipulation that the money could not go directly to a candidate. But it COULD go to an organization, called a Super PAC, created explicitly to benefit and support a political issue or a candidate, and it's allowed to do almost everything that a campaign is allowed to do, like run ads, canvass and call voters, hold public rallies, compile mailing lists and do research, they can even pay people to work on a dedicated campaign for or against a candidate. The only legal stipulation is that SuperPACs can not directly coordinate with the campaign they are in support of. But they CAN be run by former members of that campaign who are in constant contact with the candidate.
The 2008 presidential race was the most expensive in US history and outside groups accounted for about $143 million dollars. In 2020, those groups accounted for $3 billion dollars.
Oh, and it’s actually probably impossible to change this in our lifetimes because it would require a constitutional amendment which requires a two-thirds vote of both Congressional houses, or another Supreme Court decision which is currently at a 6-3 conservative majority, which is more conservative than when Citizens United was passed.
So billionaires can spend unlimited amounts of money in support of a candidate, who then passes laws that benefit those billionaires, and there’s nothing we can do about it
