On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court hammered a new nail into the coffin of American democracy with its ruling in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission. In a 5-to-4 decision, the Supreme Court eliminated restrictions on the total amount of money individual donors can give to political parties and candidates in a given election cycle.
Before the ruling in McCutcheon, wealthy donors such as the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson had to conduct most of their political activity through super PACs. These organizations could spend unlimited amounts on political advertising, as long as they did not coordinate directly with any political candidate.
Now, as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision, “elected politicians are able to request the contributions directly from the high-net-worth donor,” according to a memo by corporate lobbying firm Covington & Burling quoted in The New York Times.
The Supreme Court ruled that these massive campaign contributions do not have the potential to facilitate political corruption or even the “appearance of corruption.”
This opinion is further evidence that the conservative majority of the Supreme Court is completely out of touch with the interests and values of the American people.
A 2013 Gallup poll showed 79 percent of Americans in its sample supported restrictions on campaign contributions to House and Senate candidates. The same poll showed that 50 percent would support a publicly funded campaign finance system with private contributions completely eliminated.
These polls clearly indicate that the majority of the American people understand that unlimited campaign contributions by wealthy donors have a severe and corrosive effect on our political institutions and our democracy.
The McCutcheon ruling expands and institutionalizes the American campaign finance system of legalized bribery. Our elected officials and political parties are now for sale to the highest bidder.
The end result of the unraveling of these campaign finance restrictions is obvious: Elected officials and political candidates will direct their efforts toward serving their wealthy donors who will ultimately determine which candidates succeed and which fail. Although it is true that both Democrats and Republicans depend on wealthy donors to ensure their political survival, the GOP has expressed far greater enthusiasm for the opportunity to be bribed by these moneyed interests.
The Republican National Committee was listed as a plaintiff in the McCutcheon case, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., filed an amicus brief in the case encouraging the Supreme Court to eliminate the campaign finance restrictions.
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, one of the four liberal justices who dissented from the Supreme Court’s ruling, explained the effect of money on politics in a clear and succinct way: “Where enough money calls the tune, the general public will not be heard.”
Although the Supreme Court upheld the $2,600 limit for a donation to an individual candidate and has yet to address the ban on direct contributions by corporations and unions, future cases could result in these restrictions being struck down as well.
Campaign finance should not be a liberal or a conservative issue. All Americans who care about having their voices heard should be outraged at the purchasing of our democracy by wealthy interests.
The policies enacted by the federal government should not be determined by the whims of billionaires or by multinational corporations. Laws should be passed based on their levels of public support and their benefits to the American people, not on massive amounts of campaign donations.
Until a constitutional amendment is passed to institute public financing of elections, our politicians will continue to ignore the needs and desires of the American people in favor of the interest of their wealthy donors.
[Elliot Levy is a UF political science and public relations junior. His column appears on Wednesdays. A version of this column ran on page 6 on 4/9/2014 under the headline "McCutcheon ruling hurts US democracy"]
