Current Events #2 Campaign Finance
28 September 2012
The Citizen’s United Decision
The
Citizens United decision’s history begins with the famous Nixon Watergate
scenario which was the reason that campaign finance laws were established.
While it is not my intention to go into the finance laws after Watergate the
main reason for them was due to the enormous amount of money some of it in fact
quite dirty that went into campaigns at the time of Nixon’s reign.
The
2010 Supreme Court however utterly destroyed the campaign finance reforms that
made only a certain amount of money be contributed and the donor not being
allowed to be anonymous. The Supreme Court has said that “the government cannot
restrict the spending of corporations, unions and other groups for political
campaigns maintaining that it’s their First Amendment right to support candidates
as they choose” ( Rowen,
Beth). This monumental decision puts in place that money is speech a
truth that has been alluded to for some time. The way that these forms of money
can be brought to campaigns is through what is known as Super PAC’s which has
been shown to be quite a force by The Colbert Report correspondent Stephen
Colbert and his lawyer Trevor Potter, a Republican opponent of Super Pac’s and
“former commissioner and chairman of the Federal Election Commission (Trevor
Potter | Brookings Institution. The $1 million that Colbert raised through
donations to his Super Pac were mainly used as South Carolina adds against
Republican nominee Mitt Romney (Rowen, Beth).
The effect of Super Pac’s so far has been to raise
enormous amounts of money for both sides. This first used by the Republican
Party allowed them to gain a majority in the House of Representatives. This
caused an outcry in the Democratic Party but answered to no avail that then saw
the advantage of Super Pac’s and have also been using them for political gain.
The more recent impact that Super Pac’s have been playing on our 2012 election,
have been through republican nominee Mitt Romney taking full use of Super Pac’s
to raise extremely high amounts of money for his campaign, mainly through two
Pac’s by Karl Rove. Although President Obama has been critical about the use of
Super Pac’s and how “I don't think American elections
should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests.” (ibid), he has
taken advantage of them making Super Pac’s now fully part of our American
election system.
My Views
The
decision that money can buy speech is not an unjustified one but it is one that
makes one see the clear problems in our American election system. Allowing
corporations and money to give such large amounts of money to an election
anonymously is clearly going to influence the decisions a candidate makes if he
becomes president. Having no restrictions on money makes it easier for
candidates to pay less attention to the people who do not have enough money to
donate to a campaign but still want as their voices to be heard; thereby this
system is derailing the American ideal that everyone should have a voice in
politics. I do not doubt that this election has been corrupted by money however
I do expect with the large outcry that this Supreme Court decision has made
that this decision will be overturned in the near future and we will go back to
the pre 2010 election finance laws.
Vocabulary
Lexicon: “The vocabulary of a person, language, or branch
of knowledge”
Embroiled:
“to bring into discord or conflict; involve in contention or strife.”
Transcript: “a written, typewritten, or printed copy; something transcribed or made by transcribing.”
Corporation: “an association of individuals, created by law or under authority of law, having a continuous exience independent of the existences of its members, and powers and liabilities distinct from those of its members.”
Magnate: a person of great influence, importance, or standing in a particular enterprise, field of business”
Works Cited
- " Trevor Potter |
Brookings Institution." Brookings - Quality. Independence.
Impact.. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2012.
<http://www.brookings.edu/experts/pottert>.
"Dictionary." Dictionary.
N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2012. <dictionary.com>.
"Post-Watergate campaign finance limits
undercut by changes - The Washington Post." Washington Post:
Breaking News, World, US, DC News & Analysis. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept.
2012. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/post-watergate-campaign-finance-limits-undercut-by-changes/2012/06/16/gJQAinRrhV_story.html>.
Rowen, Beth. "Super PACs Explained —
Infoplease.com." Infoplease — Free Online Encyclopedia, Almanac,
Atlas, and more — Infoplease.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2012.
<http://www.infoplease.com/us/government/super-pacs.html>.
"Watergate: The Scandal That Brought Down
Richard Nixon." Watergate: The Scandal That Brought Down Richard
Nixon. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2012. <http://watergate.info/>.
