Five years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. F.E.C. unleashed a torrent of outrage about the dirty influence of corporate money in politics. Despite activist efforts, legislative bills and court battles, today there is more unregulated money in politics than ever.
President Barack Obama issued a strong statement Wednesday in opposition to the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizen's United decision, a ruling he believes "has caused real harm to our democracy." The president released a statement condemning the court's decision:
Our democracy works best when everyone’s voice is heard, and no one’s voice is drowned out. But five years ago, a Supreme Court ruling allowed big companies – including foreign corporations – to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence our elections. The Citizens United decision was wrong, and it has caused real harm to our democracy. With each new campaign season, this dark money floods our airwaves with more and more political ads that pull our politics into the gutter. It’s time to reverse this trend. Rather than bolster the power of lobbyists and special interests, Washington should lift up the voices of ordinary Americans and protect their democratic right to determine the direction of the country that we love.
Campaign finance reform will not happen anytime soon at the federal or state level.
The original backlash against Citizens United was magnified by the recession, which made the expansion of corporate rights particularly unseemly. This gave activists a narrow window to make Citizens United a bigger deal than previous campaign finance debates, but the window slammed shut the day every Republican in the U.S. Senate filibustered the "Disclose Act." From then on, campaign finance was cast as just another partisan issue, and we know how those turn out.
Reform efforts have done even worse in the courts. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts has been on a veritable warpath, as Citizens United sister cases McComish v. Bennett and McCutcheon v. F.E.C have made regulating money in politics even harder. With five conservatives on the Court for the foreseeable future, Citizens United isn’t going anywhere.
In New York, the Moreland Commission demonstrated a year ago, the state’s existing campaign finance rules are poorly enforced and riddled with loopholes. And the Legislature have spent four years rejecting efforts to improve it.
New York City’s public matching system, increasingly held up as a national model, should use this off election year for real introspection. Even under its vaunted system, incumbents not tied to scandal rarely lose, newcomers struggle with compliance requirements and rule-breakers get off with small fines. Despite the public matching program, leading candidates spend far more energy on big donors.
The same big spenders dominate most city and state elections: real estate, municipal unions, telecoms, the health industry, and super wealthy individuals who want to be political players.
Money in politics might be a problem, but the voters checking out is a crisis.
But instead of fixating on money in politics, reformers should turn to the more alarming issue of the plummeting voter participation rate. The United States has some of the lowest turnouts of any world democracy. New York is among the worst states, with participation in free fall for decades, dropping from 75 percent in 1982 to 31 percent in 2014.
New York City turnout is even lower, sputtering out at 24 percent during the 2013 mayoral election, the worst in its history.
For perspective, six losing candidates between 1950 and 1993 received more actual votes than Mayor de Blasio did in 2013.
There are no easy fixes to this collapse in voter interest, but these ideas might help.
First, voting must be simplified. In past years, advocates have introduced comprehensive legislation that would, among other things, simplify the process to switch parties, extend voting hours, and unify a confusing voting calendar.
There is no persuasive argument against these reforms. The costs range from minimal to money-saving. They should be introduced again, and supported across the ideological spectrum.
Second, voters need a reason to care; many no longer see the point of voting in uncompetitive elections. There is an opportunity here for minor parties and independent organizations.
Third, elected officials of all parties should make a stronger effort to connect to their communities than they have in recent years. Potential challengers should scrutinize the paltry voting numbers in their districts and recognize that many City Council members and state legislators are much weaker than they appear, having coasted on the same few thousand voters. Perhaps we need a “primary everyone” campaign to reinvigorate local politics.
Two days after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, it is worth thinking about why we so celebrate winning the right to vote, and so carelessly squander this inalienable right.
VOTES ARE MORE POWERFUL THAN MONEY!
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
Technorati Tag in Del.icio.us 
No comments:
Post a Comment