Follow the money

Since the US Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United in 2010 that a corporation is a person  and has the same free speech rights, a corporation can donate an unlimited amount of money to political campaigns giving them the power to buy politicians who will promote their corporate interests even at the expense of the people the politician is sworn to represent and serve.

Citizens United has allowed the oligarchs to take over the US government. The costs of federal elections doubled in the last decade from $6.5 billion in 2016 to $14.8 billion in 2024. This explosive rise in campaign spending had come from corporations and not from the constituents in the politicians district. In 2024 only 17.6% of campaign money for house races came from the candidates home states, and 27.5% for senate races. This is a stark contrast to 20 years ago when the vast majority of contributions were from local donors whom the politicians were campaigning to serve. (For more click here.)

If citizens are to protect and further nurture democratic processes they need to know who is buying their politicians allegiance. He who pays the fiddler, calls the tune. So the news behind the news is who is funding social policy development and implementation for what interests? In other words, if a student wants to better understand the workings of democracy in the US, follow the money. 

The buying of politicians is such a significant issue for the functioning of our democracy, MarkhamsSlowNews will be reporting on this topic regularly.