We often hear how divided we are as a country. Yet, Americans agree about many important issues. Polls show that most of us want to reduce mass shootings through better gun safety laws and increased mental-health funding. We want government to stop subsidizing the fossil-fuel industry. We want everyone to have health care. And we want government to help stop climate change. So why don’t our elected officials do what most Americans want? Because opponents of these changes spend big money to keep them from happening.
In our elections, every voter gets one equal vote. But with money, our influence on elections is far from equal. In 2018, 0.5% of donors gave 71% of the money spent on elections. That’s as if, among 200 donors, one person gave 2½ times as much as the other 199 combined. The biggest-spending candidate usually wins an election. So we can see why elected officials often do what a few wealthy donors want, even if it means ignoring the rest of us.
This way of funding political campaigns is corrupting our government. It also hurts our economy. A 2014 study revealed that for every dollar corporations spend on lobbying and political contributions, they get back $760 in tax breaks, government subsidies and contracts, loan guarantees and special regulatory treatment. Our economy thrives when businesses compete to deliver the best goods and services at the lowest price. But if corporations can prosper by buying political influence, their motivation to compete on price and quality decreases and economic prosperity declines.
Congress and state legislatures have passed many laws to reduce the corrupting influence of big money on our government. But since the 1970s, the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly weakened these laws. Most significantly, the court has equated political spending with speech. Because the first amendment guarantees the right of free speech, the court has ruled that limits on campaign spending act as a limit on speech and, therefore, are not constitutional. The result is that wealthy individuals and corporations can spend at will on political campaigns, giving them control of our elections and our elected officials.
To get big money out of politics and restore equal representation, we need a constitutional amendment, one that says money spent on elections is not the same as speech. And it needs to allow Congress and the states to pass and enforce laws that prevent the excessive influence of large donations and spending by individuals, corporations and unions.
Americans have amended the Constitution 12 times in the 20th century and 27 times in total. For an amendment to pass, the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives must propose it, each by a two-thirds majority. Then the legislatures of 38 states must ratify it. Currently, 20 states and more than 800 cities and towns have called on Congress to pass a campaign-finance amendment.
A large majority of Americans, including Republicans, Democrats and independents, support such an amendment. But wanting it isn’t enough. We have to wake up to our political power and insist on it. When we convince our members of Congress and our state legislators that this amendment is a high priority for us and will affect how we vote, they will support it, too.
You can join a national, cross-partisan network of citizens working to make this happen. To learn more, visit the national American Promise website at americanpromise.net.
