Politics for Sale | Brennan Middle for Justice

The Guardian reported this week on the efforts of tech billionaire Peter Thiel to influence U.S. politics. It’s an vital piece about extra than simply this election cycle. Thiel’s energy exhibits what Citizens United has performed to our democracy.

With three weeks to go till Election Day, exterior teams have already spent some $1.3 billion to affect the end result of the midterms. Thiel’s practically $30 million in donations account for under a fraction of that almost unbelievable complete, however he represents a really particular type of influencer. As my colleague Chisun Lee informed the Guardian, “Since Residents United, simply 12 mega-donors, eight of them billionaires, have paid one greenback out of each 13 spent in federal elections.” 

Billionaires are sponsoring candidates like prized racehorses. The state of affairs is worrying — exceedingly worrying — however not unprecedented. Throughout the Gilded Age, moneyed company pursuits held unimaginable sway over our authorities. Senators who represented the copper-rich state of Montana, for instance, have been known as “representing copper” moderately than representing their constituents or the state itself.  Copper magnate William A. Clark purchased himself a seat within the Senate by plying the state’s legislators — who, on the time, elected U.S. senators — with huge monetary items. As soon as Clark’s corrupt practices have been revealed, his 1889 opponent (additionally, revealingly, a copper magnate) labored to have him faraway from Congress. Clark got here again in 1901, defeating — you guessed it — one other rich mine proprietor to win a Senate seat.

The residents of Montana lastly took their authorities again in 1912, enacting a regulation that barred firms from intervening financially in elections. That regulation stood for a century, till the Supreme Court docket struck it down as inconsistent with Residents United, determined in 2010.

Shortly after the Residents United ruling, President Obama requested Individuals to “think about the ability this can give particular pursuits over politicians.”

We don’t should think about any extra — we’re residing it. Thiel is a very alarming instance. By huge donations to tremendous PACs, which Residents United delivered to the fore, he’s utilizing his riches to drive his fringe views into mainstream political discourse. He’s supporting candidates who unfold the false declare that fraud determined the 2020 election. And his cash doesn’t simply drive a sure kind of candidate into the general public eye — it additionally silences Thiel’s ideological opponents. By working to defeat the ten Republicans who voted to question Donald Trump, for instance, Thiel has deterred others from talking out in opposition to the previous president. Few politicians can afford to disregard Thiel and the menace his cash holds.

We don’t should proceed down this street. Many teams, together with the Brennan Middle, have proposed laws to restrict billionaires’ affect over our elections with out operating afoul of Residents United. We don’t want a billionaire’s approval. Just like the individuals of Montana did in 1912, we are able to train the ability we’ve as residents and take again our authorities.