The Obamacare ruling wasn’t the only controversial decision the Supreme Court made recently.
On June 25, the Supreme Court overturned a century-old Montana law which banned corporate campaign spending by refusing to reevaluate the 2010 Citizens United ruling.
Yet, with the presidential campaigns already under way and the effects of the Citizens United ruling evident, maybe it is time to reexamine that decision.
The Citizens United decision ruled that placing limits on a corporation or labor union’s ability to spend money on political advocacy campaigns violated these organizations’ First Amendment rights. The ruling paved the way for corporations and other organizations to influence elections through “independent organizations” and super PACs.
However, one of the claims of the court’s majority opinion was the notion that “independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.”
Citing this language, the Montana Supreme Court upheld its law, known as the 1912 Corrupt Practices Act.
Their argument: Montana’s own history.
At the turn of the 20th Century, Montana was largely at the mercy of the “Copper Kings,” men who made their money in the local copper mining industry and used it to buy newspapers and manipulate the local politics.
Eventually, one of the Copper Kings, William A. Clark, was chosen by the state legislature to represent Montana in the Senate. However, it was soon revealed that Clark had bribed members of the legislature for their votes.
Clark reportedly responded to the scandal saying, “I’ve never bought a man that wasn’t for sale.”
The blatant corruption of the Copper Kings motivated Montanan citizens to act, eventually resulting in the passage of the 1912 Corrupt Practices Act.
But the Supreme Court wouldn’t hear it. Despite the protests of the four liberal-leaning dissenting judges, the Supreme Court decided Montana’s claims were not even worthy of a hearing.
Yet, is there really any doubt that money corrupts politics? According to several polls, there isn’t.
Most recently, a Reuters poll released in May found that 75 percent of Americans feel there is too much money in politics, and 76 percent believed that the amount of money in elections have given the rich a disproportionate amount of influence compared to the average American.
Even if we ignore the usual arguments against Citizens United – that corporations are not people, and that money is not speech – there is still an inconsistency that results in alarming loopholes.
While individuals are limited to giving $2,500 in political contributions to a certain candidate, the Citizens United ruling has allowed individuals to skirt around this limitation by giving them the right to donate an unlimited amount of money to “independent” super PACs and other non-profit entities. Why even have the pretense of a limit in political contributions when individuals can spend money in these ways?
If money is equated to speech as the Citizens United ruling states, then the wealthiest Americans essentially have megaphones compared to the rest of us. The ruling squandered one of the most basic tenets of democracy: the position that each American should have equal influence when electing a candidate.
The result is that campaigns have become games for the American elite, such as billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who has stated he is willing to spend $100 million to defeat President Obama.
This is only the beginning as this year’s election reveals.
Already, the presidential candidates and their independent backers are spending more money on ads at a quicker pace than the record-setting 2008 election. Spending in this year’s election is also expected to double the total of the 2008 election with projections as high as $11 billion.
If Americans want to make sure that their democracy is just as open to the downtrodden as it is to the wealthy, then campaign finance reform needs to become a priority.
If not, we might as well put a sales tag on our political offices.
David Scheuermann is a 20-year-old mass communication and computer science junior from Kenner. Follow him on Twitter at @TDR_dscheu.
Contact David Scheuermann at [email protected].