It must be Christmas already. The Supreme Court gave a present – in the form of campaign finance reform, to the super wealthy. Don’t pout, they didn’t forget the rest of us. We Ninety Nine per-centers – got a big ol’ wedgie!
The Supreme Court eliminated the limit for donations to political campaigns. Now wealthy Republicans and high-rollin’, wealthy Democrats can donate as much money as they want! But wait…Democrats are poor by definition – or as Susie says ‘Po’ – a slightly lower level than poor. If you doubt the conclusion about poor Democrats, then riddle me this – who are the Democratic Koch Brothers?
It’s good times for Scrooge McDuck and his 400 or so One Per-centers; Big Oil, Big Guns and the like. This crowd has never suffered for lack of influence, but now they have the full and complete assurance that policy makers hear them roar, and will be moved to carry out their whims with alacrity. Meanwhile, even if the vast majority of Americans could pool our voices in agreement, we could almost…But not quite be heard as a faint whisper – and easily dismissed. That’s Democracy?!
While some are gleefully rubbing their hands together in anticipation of having even more influence, some legislators warn that this could signal the end of campaign fairness, and the evisceration of our campaign finance laws. Those legislators happen to be Democrats…Surprised?
Washington (CNN) — If you’re rich and want to give money to a lot of political campaigns, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that you can. The 5-4 ruling eliminated limits on how much money people can donate in total in one election season. However, the decision left intact the current $5,200 limit on how much an individual can give to any single candidate during a two-year election cycle. Until now, an individual donor could give up to $123,200 per cycle.
The ruling means a wealthy liberal or conservative donor can give as much money as desired to federal election candidates across the country, as long as no candidate receives more than the $5,200 cap.
While most people lack the money to make such a large total donation to election campaigns, the ruling clears the way for more private money to enter the system.In effect, it expands the loosening of campaign finance laws that occurred with the high court’s Citizens United decision in 2010 that eased campaign spending by outside groups. More detail from CNN follows.