The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the 2010 Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission case removed previously existing limits on campaign finance contributions from corporations. The court stated that corporations — just like individuals — have free speech, as protected by the 1st Amendment. Corporations (and wealthy individuals) may now donate as much money to candidates as they want to, as long as this money is channeled through Political Action Committees (PACs).
These PACs (or SuperPACs, as the large ones are called) are technically prohibited from working directly with candidates, but the rules on this are vague and difficult to enforce. Likewise, there are loopholes in funding disclosure laws that enable unlimited “dark money” to flow into the SuperPACs’ bank accounts.
These slush fund war-chests have led to citizens being bombarded by increasingly sophisticated and manipulative advertisements, robocalls and robotexts — and many people receive them from PACs on both ends of the political spectrum! Meanwhile party leaders and lawmakers, beholden to the SuperPACs as extensions of their own campaigns, are forced to take more extreme positions and compromise with the opposing party less. Because outrage drives donations, and donations win elections.
In the deafening din from moneyed megaphones, ordinary Americans’ voices are being ignored.
Intelligent Public is working to reduce the influence of big money in politics by making it easier for citizens to learn for themselves what their legislators are doing, and likewise for legislators to receive input directly from their constituents, in a concise form and at the right time during the legislative process.
We envision a modernized, informed, more direct democracy, where the people and their duly elected officials have the power—not anonymous corporations and unaccountable elites. Please help us work towards this ambitious goal by donating.
(For more on Citizens United, please see this excellent article by the Brennan Center.)