Recently, the Supreme Court made a decision that will eventually affect our political structure in a negative way. Not that they haven’t done this before, but too often in the past thirty years our glorious Judges have let down the nation by allowing decisions to pass that compromise the integrity of our nation.
In Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, the Court ruled (5-4) that corporations can finance campaigns much like an individual can. What this means to the average voter in our country is that Big Business interests can influence elections directly without any limit and that they have the same First Amendment rights as an American citizen. They can throw as much money at a candidate as they want – and in our modern elections we can see the influence of money in an election. Much has been said about the extreme amount of money that President Obama spent to get his word out. Even though McCain also contributed to the most expensive presidential election in history, Obama still spent over twice as much on his campaign, including a thirty-minute television ad. According to a USA Today poll in 2008, voters already believed too much was being spent on campaigns by 3 to 1.
A New Declaration?
But who cares about the voters? The politicians only seem to care about them at election time. And the Supreme Court doesn’t need them at all.
Although there is some argument to the importance of voter-funded elections over public financing, the campaign process is quickly becoming a contest between who’s wealthier. So much for the average voter having a say, now that corporations can have their say. We might as well not bother. We will be at the mercy of corporations to bend their campaign benefactors in a direction that will benefit us. But with Big Business driving the bus, I doubt this will happen. Our nation will become a futuristic version of the company town, combined with the corruptions of Tammany Hall. What’s worse is the probability that foreign multinationals can get in the game, as well. How do the American voters feel about foreign companies influencing our elections?
The sad thing is that most Americans have not even heard of Citizens United vs. FEC. Years from now, when voters are asking how Halliburton, Exxon, and Monsanto could have influenced the election campaign so much, they will only then learn about this Supreme Court decision.
To learn more about how much was spent between the two candidates and the parties, check out the campaign finance tracker from USA Today.
Scott Dee
The Devil's Advocate 