Who is buying American Democracy?
To see this video directly on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7Amf7-SYNk
According to an investigation by the New York Times,
half of all the money contributed so far to Democratic and Republican
presidential candidates—$176 million—has come from just 158 families,
along with the companies they own or control.
Who are these people? They’re almost entirely
white, rich, older and male—even though America is becoming increasingly black
and brown, young, female, and with declining household incomes.
According to the report, most of these big
contributors live in exclusive neighborhoods where they have private security
guards instead of public police officers, private health facilities rather than
public parks and pools.
Most send their kids and grand kids to elite private
schools rather than public schools. They fly in private jets and get driven in
private limousines rather than rely on public transportation.
They don’t have to worry about whether
Social Security or Medicare will be there for them in their retirement because
they’ve put away huge fortunes. They don’t have to worry about
climate change because they don’t live in flimsy homes that might collapse in a
hurricane, or where water is scarce, or food supplies endangered.
It’s doubtful that most of these 158 are contributing to these campaigns out of the goodness of their hearts or a sense of public responsibility. They’re largely making investments, just the way they make other investments.
And the success of these investments depends on
whether their candidates get elected, and will lower their taxes even further,
expand tax loopholes, shred health and safety and environmental regulations so
their companies can make even more money, and cut Social Security and Medicare
and programs for the poor—and thereby allow these 158 and others like them to
secede even more from the rest of our society.
These people are, after all, are living in their own
separate society, and they want to elect people who will represent them, not
the rest of us.
How much more evidence do we need that our system is
in crisis? How long before we make it work for all of us instead of a handful
at the top? We must not let them buy our democracy.
We must get big money out
of politics. Publicly-finance political campaigns, disclose all sources of
campaign funds, and reverse “Citizens United.”
ROBERT B. REICH, Chancellor’s
Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and
Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies, was Secretary of
Labor in the Clinton administration. Time Magazine named him one of the ten
most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. He has written
fourteen books, including the best sellers “Aftershock, “The Work of
Nations," and"Beyond Outrage." He is also a founding editor of
the American Prospect magazine and chairman of Common Cause. His film,
INEQUALITY FOR ALL is available on Netflix, iTunes, Amazon. His new book,
"SAVING CAPITALISM: For the Many, Not the Few" is out 9/29.
