We, the people, are losing our democracy. I’ve covered the recent Citizens United campaign finance ruling previously here. I want to talk a little bit more about why this is so important and what we need to do going forward.
The most common question I hear is something close to “Why doesn’t government work?” This is a blanket question for a frustration with politicians, broken campaign promises, the economy, our debt levels, current wars, and probably a dozen other things. We see so many things wrong– things that could be done better or that just don’t make sense, and it’s not evident why we can’t fix them immediately.
I believe that a major reason we have ended up in such a troubling spot as a nation is because of our inability to confront our challenges head on, and have honest debates about them. There are wide swaths of topics that are considered the “third rail” of politics, meaning that to even broach them risks political suicide. Health care has long been one such topic and it is increasingly clear why.
Why are major topics and subjects off limits? I’ll cite three quick reasons:
1) Partisan politics. One side will demonize the other by exaggerating positions and making hard choices. (gasp!)
2) Money. Politicians are afraid to offend the very people they depend on to fund their campaigns.
3) Getting smeared. Politicians are afraid that the interest group with something to lose will wage a nasty PR battle that could end up hurting their career and even losing their seat.
#1 is pretty simple. Most big problems require some kind of sacrifice or hard tradeoff and the party taking initiative can be made demonized for even bringing up the subject. This is just playing politics.
#2 is widely understood. Most politicians depend on money from the very special interests they hold legislative power over to win re-election. It’s no shocker then that we’re in the current sorry state that we’re in. The recent Court ruling only widens the role and influence that money plays in elections.
#3 prevents major topics from ever coming up. They will use their full force of advertising, lobbying, and media connections to destroy anyone who dares to threaten their cash cows. As the years go by, there are more and more of these special interests who have a lot to lose with a change of the status quo and they are willing to fight to preserve it.
For now let’s focus on #2. There is a current bipartisan bill in Congress from Durbin, Specter, Larson, and Jones that would help this problem. It seeks to provide an alternative financing of congressional elections. It provides a new directions for candidates to go in (voluntary) that would allow them to raise small dollar donations (up to $100) that are matched 4:1 once a candidate proves his viability by clearing a certain level. This decreases the influence of special interests (PAC’s, etc) and allows candidates to spend more time with ordinary constituents. This is obviously not a magical pill that will solve all our problems, but it is a step in the right direction. We are still left to fight political cowardice and opportunism along with the problem of special interests who will seek to manipulate public opinion to their ends. But this would be a good start.