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Dear John,
By now it is no secret that our political system has become a playground dominated by big corporations and the super-rich.
But how exactly did it get this way?
In our latest video collaboration with Good Morning, Bad News, I examine one of the most destructive events in our recent political history: Citizens United v FEC.
The 2010 Citizens United decision was the final nail in the coffin for nearly a century of reforms that had been designed to curb the influence of corporations and the super-rich in our democracy.
You may be somewhat familiar with this notorious Supreme Court case, but it’s important to understand what happened in the lead up to this ruling in order to fully comprehend its nefarious impact on our country.
You see, during the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, corporations could contribute almost unlimited sums of money to politicians in exchange for legislative favors, and many Americans correctly saw this as a form of legalized bribery.
So, in 1907, Congress banned direct corporate contributions by passing the Tillman Act – beginning an era of campaign finance reform, during which Congress enacted strict limits on election spending, and eventually created an agency responsible for overseeing them: The Federal Election Commission.
But in the 1970s, the Supreme Court began a 40-plus-year-long effort to chip away at these reforms at the behest of corporate America – culminating in the 2010 Citizens United ruling. This decision led to the formation of the so-called “Super PACs” that have upended democracy as we know it.
Super PACs are essentially an "independent" outside arm of a political campaign with almost unlimited spending power. To give you an idea of how pervasive these organizations are: the 2008 election was, at the time, the most expensive in U.S. history – outside groups spent over $300 million that year. In 2020, after the Citizens United ruling, outside groups spent nearly $3 billion. That’s almost a 40-fold increase.
If you ever wonder why it seems like billionaires have suddenly become outrageously powerful, while the rights and needs of average Americans are, at best, ignored, and at worst eviscerated, Citizens United is a major reason why.
The good news is that we are not powerless to fight back.
Check out our video to learn more about how we can fight back against Citizens United, and build a representative democracy that meets the needs of ALL Americans – not just the wealthy and the powerful.
I sincerely believe we, the people, can win. The only way we lose is by giving up.
Thanks for watching,
Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action
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