As you may have heard, the Supreme Court ruled last week to lift the limits on for-profit companies' spending on independent political broadcasts. The conservative justices all voted for it, and the liberals did not, resulting in a 5-4 vote. The issue prompting this decision was whether a full-length film critical of Hillary Clinton could be produced and advertised with money from corporations. The court cited the First Amendment - freedom of speech and of the press.
As you may not have heard, this isn't an entirely good thing.
First off, it's my opinion that politics is like diet soda. Both are quite artificial. Mixing money and politics is like mixing Mentos and Diet Coke. It makes a lot of noise, a huge mess, and brings complaints from the neighbors. (Noise: Attack ads [and now, attack films], anyone? Huge mess: Financial scandals and ethics concerns - both fixtures of election season as it is. Complaints from the neighbors: Lots of people get disgusted by the mud-slinging at election time, and aren't afraid to complain loudly about it.)
Why Money Shouldn't Matter: A Spectator's View
(I'm not a capitol hill insider, so don't take this like I'm pretending to be an expert. These are just my observations.) I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Politics should not be about money! If you think about it, our vicious cycle of infusing dueling political campaigns (at any level) with a truckload of money isn't really a good thing for America. No matter which side of the aisle you're on, it just doesn't make sense. In a lot of local races, it gives whoever raises the most money an unfair advantage. This can also be noticed on a national level, especially during primaries - even presidential primaries.
Money spoils the plot every time it's introduced. Why? Money buys brand, or in this case, name recognition (as in marketing). Name recognition gets votes. There's nothing wrong with either of those concepts. But when they're used in tandem, problems arise.
Judging By History, Money Shouldn't Matter
I'm not saying companies can't endorse a candidate. I am saying, though, that they ought to do so in the light of day, plainly, and not with attack films. Attack ads are bad enough. If such films must be produced, can't the company in question just give money to the candidate's committee, and let them produce it? That would keep things slightly more balanced, instead of having a slant towards a certain company, industry, or organization.
Back in the good old days, when the founding fathers and those like them lived, candidates had to run based what was known about them. There was no TV or radio or Internet or anything else to advertise on, save printed matter and signs, which can only reach so many people. If you had a bad reputation, you didn't get elected. If you had a good one, you did. It wasn't easy to change public opinion fast, like it is today. If people were undecided, they listened to debates between the candidates themselves, and maybe the rare newspaper, as opposed to the multitude of spin artists, cable hosts, and shock jocks whose constant jabber surrounds us today.
And guess what? The candidates didn't have multi-million-dollar advertising budgets!
Why Money is Important Anyway
In today's elections, the dollar amounts raised and spent per voter are hugely important statistics. What does this tell us? It seems like votes are being bought, and in a bigger way then ever before. In the 2008 Presidential election, Barack Obama spent $7.58 for every vote he received. John McCain, his Republican challenger, who lost, spent $5.78 for each vote.
Why This Decision Matters
So with that in mind, what we can most likely expect to see from this Supreme Court decision is even more influence by big business (not small business), more money being spent on advertising (sadly, in the form of attack ads and now, attack films), and a jump in the unofficial dollar amount spent per voter.
I'd love to hear your perspective in the comments.
Image by Landon Brands for SEAH, using Creative Commons content from Bjoerdtvedt and dropdeadchris.
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