| The ultimate form of leverage is to be able to affect the outcome of an election. Campaign finance
reform is a big issue these days, but many people misunderstand the real reason why it is so necessary. Some people say that the biggest problem with our current system of campaign finance is that the rich can buy the votes of our politicians, but they are wrong. I'm sure this happens from time to time, but it is not the biggest problem. Some people say that the biggest problem with our current system of campaign finance is that the rich can buy access to our politicians. Their money doesn't buy them the politician's vote, but it does get them greater access to that politician than you or I would have, so they have a better chance of persuading that politician to vote their way. However, this is also not the biggest problem. You could wave a magic wand and eliminate both of these problems, and the biggest problem with our current system of campaign finance would still remain. Suppose I decide to run for president. And suppose I hold views that are extremely favorable to the common people, and extremely unfavorable to big corporate interests, the Wolves and Snakes. Suppose that, if I could just get my message out to the voters, I would stand a good chance of winning the election. Now suppose there's another guy out there who holds views extremely favorable to the big corporate interests. He doesn't hold these views because some corporation has bought him or unduly influenced him or anything like that; he honestly believes in them. The campaign begins and those with most of the money in this country look at my opponent and think, "We like this guy. His views match up pretty well with ours. Let's give him a bunch of money to support his campaign." Then they look at me and say, "I don't like what this guy says at all. No way am I giving him any money." Because wealth is so unequally divided in this country, my opponent ends up with tens of millions of dollars to spend, and I end up with just the few thousands of dollars that the few ordinary people who have heard my message could afford to give me. My opponent spends his money on dozens of commercials that run on all the networks in prime time. In these commercials, he presents himself as the friend of the middle class in the hope of gaining their votes, while also benefitting from the financial support of the very rich, who know exactly who's friend he really is. In the meantime, I have no way to get my message out, or to expose my opponent's deceptive advertising. When election day comes, my name is on all the ballots, but no one has ever heard of me, or heard what I have to say. My opponent wins in a landslide, and proceeds to govern the country in a way that increases the wealth and power of those who financed his campaign. He does this not because they've bought his vote, or because they bought unfair access to him, but because these are the things he's believed in all his life. The biggest problem with our campaign finance system is not that the rich can buy politicians, or buy access to them. The problem is that the rich can control which politicians even show up on the map. By the time we get to choose who to vote for, the choices are narrowed down to only those candidates whose views favor the big money interests. They're the only ones who were able to raise enough money for us to even have heard of them. |