Money in Politics
The role of money in politics and government is corrupting, bending government’s will to that of capital itself, rather than to that of the citizenry. Because money is essential to campaigning, it has wrested control of government’s agenda and the details of legislation by offering itself up in exchange for favors that accrue to capital, but not necessarily the voting citizenry. We have a plutocracy at present, where money dictates the what, how and consequences of government policies. Our democracy is thus beholden to capital interests for the funds it needs to market candidates to voters and in effect buy their votes. And this enables capital to blackmail democratic leaders into serving capital’s agenda rather than that of flesh and blood citizens. Democracy since Athenian times has taken many forms, and from its Greek etymology, means rule by the people. But when money has influence with voters and in congress and legal justice is expensive, then to that extent we have rule by capital or money. When corporations are influential in Washington, the regulated are regulating themselves and the system fails to further the collective well-being of the citizenry.
Money talks in democracies across the globe, and societal progress requires a complete and diametric reorientation of governance toward serving the interests of voters exclusively. Capital is a raw force, and has to be tamed during societal adolescence much like a child has to learn in adolescence to gain control of hormonal, aggressive and other basic and physical drives. It is government’s and voter’s responsibility to slough off the yoke that capital holds over democracy, and redefine, enforce and adjudicate capital’s subservient place in society. Reversing this relationship between capital and the human spirit and reorienting the role of capital in government will be a distinguishing feature of societal adolescence. To align government with human spirit as opposed to capital, the voting public needs to awake to its power at the ballot box and find its voice in government, a central task in societal adolescence.
Six Marginal Improvements
A group of Harvard Business School alumni, ReformElectionsNow.org, suggests six marginal improvements to reduce partisanship, enfranchise independents, and increase voter participation. The electoral system we have now promotes polarization and works against candidates whose stated objective is to work across the aisle to address the nation’s major problems. Restricting campaign donations or enacting term limits, are unlikely to work, because politicians like money and keeping their jobs. However, a number of reforms are working now and can be expanded nationwide. They include:
- Non-Partisan Primaries
- Open Primaries
- Ranked Choice Voting
- Ending Gerrymandering
- Removing Obstacles to Voting
- Eliminating Sore Loser Laws