Corporations are not people. Democracy is for people.
Yet, in 2010 the US supreme court decided in the Citizens United ruling that corporations are ‘people’ and are therefore allowed to use their profits to play a direct role in influencing American elections. In other words the ruling allows for limitless independent spending of corporations for political purposes. The creation of Independent expenditure political action committees, or Super PACs, was directly facilitated by this ruling. A super PAC is a political organization that has the ability to receive unlimited corporate contributions to advocate for a candidate.The result? Billionaires are now able to essentially ‘buy democracy’ by spending as much as they want on their favourite candidates. But last time I checked, democracy was for people, not corporations.
In keeping a close watch on the road to the US elections, I have realized the huge problem the allowance of corporate funding has created. I feel that the manner through which decisions the United States, as a country, is making has been fundamentally corrupted through the allowance of corporate personhood, secret money and so called ‘bought-and-paid for’ legislation. However, I feel that many people haven’t come to terms with the various possible ramifications of such systematic corruption. So what is the effect of corporate donations on US Politics?
I think that allowing corporations to act as people is so plainly wrong. Corporations are not people and therefore there is no question in my mind that they should never be given the same rights as people. In fact, substantial donations to a political campaign allows for special interests and effectively goes against the very concept of democracy. Special interest money is tipping the scale and the result is a democracy out of balance. Political complacency and low voter turnout are directly related to this notion of bought-and-paid for politics.This is a fundamental problem that needs to be addressed. But how does the US increase visibility and use checks and balances to work to bring integrity and accountability back to American politics?
New York Times infographic outlining different ways to use campaign funding:
What steps do you think need to be taken to get money out of US politics?
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