When it came time to do my “Rich Asshole of the Month” segment for Working Class Economist, the answer was a no-brainer. From Stephen Colbert to MoveOn.org, liberals have heard a lot about the horrific Supreme Court decision that allowed corporations and rich individuals to donate unlimited amounts of money into shadowy super-PACs, and even John McCain was on The Tonight Show bemoaning that our next congress will essentially be funded by “23 people.”
The Citizens United decision is a disaster for any free-thinking politician that isn’t totally bought and paid for by corporations. In other words: Democrats. Sure, there are a few free thinking Republicans still out there, but the totally bought and paid for Tea Party is making quick work out of them.
I wanted to draw attention to the rise of Super-PAC money by pointing out that the ONLY reason Newt Gingrich is still in this presidential race is because of his billionaire sugar-daddy Sheldon Adelson who has donated tens of millions of dollars to Gingrich. The ONLY reason Rick Santorum is still in this race is because his billionaire sugar-daddy Foster Fries has equally given him tens of millions of dollars. And the ONLY reason Ron Paul is still able to compete in every state is because his billionaire sugar-daddy Peter Thiel has given him ten million dollars as well.
Then you have Mitt Romney, who in some ways his own sugar-daddy, who has been able to give his own campaign huge infuses of cash, as well as being funded by most of the Republican establishment, including the former CEO of E-Bay, billionaire Meg Whitman (who famously launched an ill-fated campaign for California’s governorship where she spent a record amount of her own money). Thus letting him outspend Santorum in states like Ohio by a TWELVE to ONE margin.
Now I know plenty will say that Obama will get his own billionaire sugar-daddys but that isn’t so certain. George Soros has said he’s sitting this campaign cycle out, Progressive Insurance founder/CEO Peter Lewis is focusing more on legalizing pot in Colorado/Washington, and Steve Jobs is dead.
The only place Obama can go to for big money is Hollywood and that isn’t likely to be nearly as much as all the oil, health insurance, and general corporate money flooding into Romney’s coffers. Plus, there are, you know, OTHER races for senate, representative, and judgeships that require money, not just Obama’s campaign.
Any way you slice it, Super-PACS and the Citizens United decision are bad for the election system. Just consider this mind-boggling factoid: In 2008, Obama set a record for the most individual campaign donors and 69 million people (people like you and me that don’t make much at all to be giving) gave him anything from 50 bucks to a couple thousand. This year, Sheldon Adelson could single-handedly give the exact same amount those 69 million people did. That’s ONE person who’s capable of giving more than 23 percent of this country. How can anyone argue that that’s good for Democracy?