Getting elected to office takes money. This is a truth that isn’t likely to change anytime soon but how much money and from what sources is certainly up for discussion. A core principle of our country is a fair representation, at least that is the message to us citizens. I freely acknowledge that the wealthy have always had a disproportionate amount of influence in our government and that their interests are much more reliably served. This is actually by design since the architects of our nation were the wealthy minority of their time. They wanted to prevent the impoverished majority from oppressing the wealthy minority.
our government ought to secure the permanent interests of the country against innovation. Landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests, and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority. The senate, therefore, ought to be this body; and to answer these purposes, they ought to have permanency and stability. -James Madison
I can’t really blame them for wanting those safeguards and I don’t think that the wealthy should be oppressed (Asking them to pay more in taxes is not oppression). However, it does seem that the consequences of this system are quite the opposite of Madison’s fears. The opulent minority have used their influence and their money to mold our government into a tool for increasing their wealth at the expense of all others. Most anyone can see that the majority of our elected officials often work for the interests of industry and the wealthy, even as they wedge the population on certain social issues that have little economic implications. It isn’t that the social issues in question aren’t important, but they do serve as a strong distraction from the economic issues.
The majority of us are at a disadvantage when it comes to getting our will executed. We can’t afford to pay the kinds of prices the wealthy can to buy legislation. It takes almost unmanageable grassroots effort to exert political influence when people don’t have the money to throw around. So what can we do to level the playing field?
- Place strong restrictions on campaign investments, especially those from wealthy interest.
- Refine the law to make it clear that Corporations are not people and that money is not speech. Corporations should not have a say in our elections.
- Close the revolving door to limit incentives for legislators to serve the interests of big money.
- Limit the amount of money that can be spent by independent groups to influence campaigns.
- Publicly fund elections and require television to donate coverage.