Since the Supreme Court struck down spending limits on Super
PACs in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010), liberals have predicted doomsday. Our
democratic system is threatened if wealthy individuals and corporations can
spend unlimited amounts of money airing political ads. And since most of these
people and groups are Republicans/Conservatives, we will be heading down a
right-wing dystopian Hell soon enough.
Two years removed from the decision may be too soon to
decide its impact on the nation, but I think liberals are acting like Chicken
Little, crying foul over nothing. I understand their argument and I do think
there should be some kind of limit. The Court ruled that money equals speech,
and by limiting donations and contributions, you are violating the First
Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech. But is it fair that some people have
more “speech” than others? Why should a small group of people have such a huge
influence over elections?
Well, I don’t want to get into the philosophy of this
issue, but I do want to say that the Supreme Court decision is NOT the end of
the world.
First, the decision applies to everyone. That means
liberals are allowed to create Super PACs and spend like hell as well. And I
have seen this. I have seen plenty of non-campaign affiliated groups run
liberal and Democratic ads.
Second, how much does money really influence an election?
You can’t blame the GOP takeover of Congress in 2010 on the Citizens United case. Democrats and
liberals stayed home in November, allowing Republicans to take the House. I know
I have complained about this many times. Democratic incompetence and liberals acting like babies did more to hurt Democrats than Karl Rove.
And what about now? Look at the polls. Romney and Obama may
be close in national polls, but Obama leads in the Electoral Vote. Romney’s
bump from his “strong” debate performance has withered and we are back to late
September numbers. And that’s just it. His numbers improved because of his debate performance, not on right-wing
ads. Obama has maintained a slight lead throughout most of the race despite the
amount raised by private groups against him.
What about over a century ago? The Populists and
Progressives had to fight against huge Trusts and Millionaires/Billionaires
(before an income tax) with no regulations on spending whatsoever! And they
managed to get a lot done.
So, let’s give the American people a little more credit, and
trust them to be not easily swayed by paid actors in corny political ads.
