“CITIZENS-UNITED” COULD EVENTUALLY DOOM OUR DEMOCRACY

…Postal worker Doug Hughes' Gyrocopter on the Capital lawn.

Hughes and his gyrocopter were protesting the right subject for keeping our democracy.

You may recall that the super activist Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia had spoken his campaign finance idea in 2010.  At that time, Scalia said the following about American political donations: “Let anyone give as much as he wants to whomever he wants — but out in the open.”

But Scalia then went against his own words when the 5 to 4 conservative court decided the Citizens-United case.  This same justice and 4 other conservatives decided that anyone can now give their large donations — but this time millions can all be donated deep in the shadows.

This is what the postal worker Doug Hughes was protesting when he landed his small gyrocopter on the West Lawn of the US Capitol.

What Mr. Hughes was protesting was today’s political adage that: “Behind every successful politician is a billionaire — or maybe several.” 

We now know that the billionaire Koch Brothers are planning on spending a total of $900 million for the 2016 elections.  And that’s not just for national elections.  They have been very up front that they plan on buying as many national, state, county, and district elections that their money can buy.

Ever since the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, known as “McCain-Feingold” campaign reform, too many wealthy people were donating large sums to candidates, but at least we usually knew who the donators were.  Due to the “Citizens” case, billions will now be donated, but nobody will know from whom or how much was donated.

As the scientist in the first Jurassic Park movie said, “Life will always find a way.”  A philanthropist recently stated, “Money will always find a way.”  And the conservatives in the US Supreme Court made the Citizens-United case, the way!

What these conservative on the Supreme Court do not seem to realize is that they may have single handedly began the dismantling of the largest and most successful democracy in the world. 

By allowing unlimited political donations in secrecy, they are nullifying all democratic elections.  These political mega-donors are robbing all political candidates of their control over their own campaigns, regardless of their party affiliations.

 

In effect, this Citizens-United campaign finance reform took the message away from the messenger and gave to their financer’s.  Now, whoever is calling the shots, nobody will know for sure.  At least we do know that the Koch’s are financing various Republicans in 2016, but it’s definitely not just the Koch’s that are doing this.  They are just one pebble in the nation's pond.

As the conservative columnist Kathleen Parker wrote in the Washington Post about the gyrocopter pilot:  “Hughes may have been irresponsible and “off” when he flew his crazy bird into restricted airspace, and he’s lucky to be alive. But he was also exercising his right to free speech — transparent to within an inch of his life.”

Yes, in reality, Hughes probably should have been shot down by the Secret Service.  Instead of being an American protestor, he could have been a suicide terrorist bomber carrying a dirty bomb. 

Instead, he is just making an impression by protesting campaign financing money and was only charged for violating restricted air space around the Capital.

But the reality of his protest is that as outside groups gain financial dominance, our political parties will wither. This could seriously spell doom for American politics long-term.  These mega-campaign Super PACS are operating in the shadows today, and they tend to form around their extreme ideas while their donors remain anonymous and are accountable to no one.

This could seriously be the beginning of the death of our very large, small “d”, democracy.

Copyright G.Ater  2015