"Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."
--John Adams, 1814
Barack Obama knew what was coming.
During his first State of the Union Address in 2010, President Obama alerted the joint session of Congress of a Supreme Court decision a few days earlier that would in effect destroy democracy in our country.
That ruling, on January 21, Citizens United vs. the FCC, gave America's wealthiest citizens the right to own American elections.
The Supreme Court had just "reversed a century of law," Obaba said, "that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests -- including foreign corporations -- to spend without limit in our elections."
It was then that conservative Justice Samuel Alito noticeably shook his head and muttered what appeared to be "not true."
But President Obama was correct. What limited influence the average voter had disappeared in favor of the needs and desires of billionaires and big corporations.
Most Americans would be surprised to learn there is no limit on how much any one person can spend to support a presidential candidate. The Supreme Court decided that anyone can, in effect, spend unlimited amounts of money to help their favorite candidates. It's actually worse, as we will see shortly.
There is a nominal spending limit for giving to presidential candidates--the Federal Election Commission in 2024 set the individual limit at $3,300 per person. Most Americans would consider that amount to be fair and reasonable. The Supreme Court thought otherwise.
The Court, in its ultra-conservative wisdom, ruled that there shouldn't be any spending limit at all, as long as the money goes through Political Action Committees (PACs) and is not directly coordinated with candidates.
America's powerful right-wing plutocracy was now able to use their enormous monetary advantage to blast out enough misinformation, confusion, and conspiracy theories to help enable a mentally unstable, sex-abusing felon and career grifter to become president of the United States---twice.
The Democratic Party tried to take advantage of these new rules, of course, but couldn't compete with the Republicans. Democrats are a fair-minded, polite political party, hesitant to make major changes and upset political norms. The GOP has no such qualms. They are less interested in policies and compromise, and more concerned with ideology and greed. The key to attaining their goals was a Super PAC.
A variation of a political action committee, a Super PAC may raise and spend unlimited amounts of money from corporations, unions, individuals, and associations to influence the outcome of elections.
Most disturbing of all, supporters can easily avoid disclosure of their identity by reporting a non-disclosing nonprofit or shell company as the donor, what some call money laundering. Illegal foreign donations can also be covered up this way.
It is now obvious that unlimited and anonymous money has replaced American democracy in the 21st century. I t is why Donald Trump will enjoy another term as president.
Voters are inundated with pleas from candidates for $10 and $25 during election season, and feel good helping their office-seeker, while the world's richest person, Elon Musk, is probably laughing. He was able to give his preferred presidential choice, Donald Trump, more than $250 million, and he could have donated much more.
All this combined with an archaic Constitutional voting system with an electoral college that allows candidates with lesser popular votes to win the presidency. By any definition, this is not democracy.
The Democrats had the same opportunities as the GOP, but started from a position far behind their rival party. Starting in the 1970s, conservative, wealthy Republicans put in place strategies enabling them to drastically change the American political landscape to favor the right wing.
Tobacco lawyer and soon-to-be Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell was instrumental in planning this pro-business strategy with his 1971 "Powell Memo." In 1978 Justice Powell, writing the majority opinion in Bellotti, wrote that corporations had the same free speech rights as "people," i.e. no restrictions on campaign donations.
There began a concerted effort to solidify a pro-business, right-wing ideology in multiple institutions. Large amounts of wealth jump-started conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute. Even though it took years to see profits, wealthy idealogues gladly sponsored conservative media, from television (Fox News) and right wing hate radio talk shows (Rush Limbaugh) to right-wing internet and social media sites. Powerful organizations and lobbies, especially the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) were instrumental in pushing this pro-big business point of view in Congress.
Liberals watched helplessly, lacking wealthy patrons willing to spend money on unprofitable progressive causes. Air America talk radio folded when it couldn't make money, and left-leaning think tanks and social media didn't have the resources to compete with these powerful and motivated plutocrats.
Ronald Reagan became president in 1981 and conservatism became more fashionable. Between 1980 and 1986 the U.S. had 13 billionaires, That number surged to 99 by 1990, thanks to favorable laws and tax rates. Today the number of billionaires exceeds 800. The entire GOP and some Democratic lawmakers have been essentially bought off by billionaires and big corporations, and make sure their wealthy donors get exactly what they pay for.
Total spending on federal elections skyrocketed from millions to billions, much of it in "dark (untraceable) money." State elections helped put more Republicans in office, and the courts turned further to the right.
American democracy in the 21st century? For all practical purposes, it doesn't exist.
Will democracy ever return? It would be possible only if Americans were smart enough to allow public financing of elections. Private money corrupts elections, so public financing would be the best hope to restart democracy. Money should not affect elections. Public financing would be the last and only hope of regaining America's lost democracy.