Davis Jackson
Special to In Motion
Asked about politics or government, most people treat it with shallow disgust. We all agree that many politicians are corrupt in some form or another, but few know just how deep it’s ingrained into our system. Even fewer can pinpoint conditions that allow such corruption to exist.
Campaign finance is an issue that is rarely treated as a priority on the national level, but it is destroying the very fabric of democracy as we know it. In his book, “Citizens Divided,” Yale Law School Professor Robert Post talks about the issue of campaign finance, calling it “among the most vexing” constitutional issues of our time.
On one side, reformers advocate restructuring the current system in a way that provides more transparency and equality between political candidates. On the other side, opponents argue that donating money to political candidates is an extension of free speech and therefore laws inhibiting the donation of funds to a candidate abridge the right to free speech. To grasp the depth and importance of campaign finance laws, we need to understand fundamental problems the current system produces.
Let’s start with the basics of political corruption. Money in politics has always existed in some form or another. Even in ancient Rome, rich people were trying to persuade Caesar to do things that would benefit them. As governments evolved and became more democratic, people started to notice this, and imposed regulations on just how far wealthy groups and individuals could reach into politics.
In the 1920s before labor laws existed and common people were still working 70 hours a week in sweatshops, companies tried to influence politicians to prevent labor restrictions from being passed. They did this through campaign contributions, wining and dining, and occasionally, good old-fashioned bribery. For the companies, it was good business to prevent the government from setting rules that would hurt their profits. Businesses didn’t want a world in which they couldn’t milk every ounce of productivity from their employees.
After labor laws were passed, we saw a tremendous improvement in the quality of life for the average worker, despite big businesses fighting the very labor laws that allowed such improvement. While corporate interests don’t always conflict with regular people’s, when they do, corporations historically try to use their money to influence government against the interests of the people.
It is also important to note that the current plight of our campaign finance system is not due to a lack of regulation. In America, we actually have some of the tightest restrictions on campaign finance in the world. Our current system looks like a set of haphazardly arranged political Lego blocks stacked on top of each other, instead of a smooth, fair and working system.
The U.S. Supreme Court has modified the current system each time it’s ruled on it, but the system has never been carefully overhauled and rebuilt completely.
In an article in the Arizona Law Review, Andrew Spencer talks about the dreadful conditions of the system, concluding that traditional reform is no longer an option. Spencer, an attorney who has written extensively on the topic, says a complete overhaul of the system is necessary to rescue the integrity of American democracy. No Supreme Court rulings address the root of the problem, which is that the entire system is broken, he writes.
Current regulations are bad regulations, which complicate the system even further to the point where only people who can hire attorneys can fully understand it. This fact stacks the hands of wealthy Americans and corporations, which have more leverage than almost everyone else.
It is important to remember that campaign finance affects all other political issues. Foreign policy, healthcare, the economy, even education — all are directly impacted by campaign finance. If a corporation wants a politician to vote a certain way on a bill in Congress, or to influence other aspects of government they will be sure to make their desires known.
That’s been alluded to most recently in the case of Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who accepted a $25,000 “donation” from Donald Trump, then did not pursue an investigation into allegations that Trump University ripped off thousands of college students.
It’s s given that if a politician votes against the will of the campaign donor, the campaign donor is much less likely to contribute.
Perhaps the most important point is that change will not come unless it comes from us, the electorate. Politicians will be reluctant to change campaign finance laws until we, the people, make it a national priority. That means calling your senators, sharing campaign finance articles on social media, and generally informing people about the poor shape of our campaign finance system.
According to the 2014 corruption rating index designed by Transparency International, the United States ranks 17th in the world in corruption. We can sit back and ignore that sorry ranking or we can strive to be a better, more fair, corruption-free country.