Rutherford B. Hayes believed the US was a corporatocracy.
Larry Lessig has been arguing since before the internet that the ownership class (including corporations and their lobbyists) get their legislature passed where the public does not. Representatives do not change how they vote according to the demands of the voters.
Reagan opened up Washington to lobbies and special interest groups. Before that, paying off your representative to pass legislation (or block it) was considered bribery and was an imprisonable offense.
So by Citizens United the federal and state governments were intrinsically corrupt.
What the citizens united decision did was open the door to unfettered foreign influence. The local oligarchs at least had to pretend not to hate people so it wouldn’t effect their quarterly earnings. Now anyone can own a piece of our government anonymously.
This is why Election Reform, with the objective of taking money out of politics, is essential. Right now, it takes massive money to win a campaign, so politicians have no choice but to beg for more, and make promises in exchange. That leaves the workers on the outside.
But if money is taken out completely, everyone becomes electorally equal, and the only election currency is every American Citizen’s single vote. That makes the rich guy’s vote no more powerful than anyone else’s, and politicians will be forced to work for the people who have the most votes, and the wealthy will be the smallest voting demographic, whose needs are less important to candidates.
Rutherford B. Hayes believed the US was a corporatocracy.
Larry Lessig has been arguing since before the internet that the ownership class (including corporations and their lobbyists) get their legislature passed where the public does not. Representatives do not change how they vote according to the demands of the voters.
Reagan opened up Washington to lobbies and special interest groups. Before that, paying off your representative to pass legislation (or block it) was considered bribery and was an imprisonable offense.
So by Citizens United the federal and state governments were intrinsically corrupt.
What the citizens united decision did was open the door to unfettered foreign influence. The local oligarchs at least had to pretend not to hate people so it wouldn’t effect their quarterly earnings. Now anyone can own a piece of our government anonymously.
This is why Election Reform, with the objective of taking money out of politics, is essential. Right now, it takes massive money to win a campaign, so politicians have no choice but to beg for more, and make promises in exchange. That leaves the workers on the outside.
But if money is taken out completely, everyone becomes electorally equal, and the only election currency is every American Citizen’s single vote. That makes the rich guy’s vote no more powerful than anyone else’s, and politicians will be forced to work for the people who have the most votes, and the wealthy will be the smallest voting demographic, whose needs are less important to candidates.