Campaign Finance

Creeping Plutocracy after ‘Citizens United’: How US Election Spending skyrocketed to the GDP of some whole Countries

By William C.R. Horncastle | – The amount of money spent on US elections eclipses the annual total economic output of some small countries. The total spending by candidates, political parties and independent campaign groups in the 2016 race was US$6.5 billion – comparable to the GDP that year of Monaco, Kosovo or Liechtenstein, and […]

Campaign Finance

Election 2020 sees record $11 billion in campaign spending, mostly from a handful of super-rich donors

The Conversation

By Richard Briffault | – Total spending in the 2020 federal elections is projected to set a new record of almost US$11 billion by November. When adjusted for inflation, that’s over 50% higher than 2016 election spending. This year’s federal election spending – for the presidency, the Senate and the House of Representatives – is […]

Campaign Finance

A Civil Rights Issue: Less than 1% of Americans Provide most Money for Political Campaigns

OtherWords

By By Chiraag Bains | – ( Otherwords.org) – Less than 1 percent of the population provides most of America’s campaign funds. It looks nothing like the rest of us. By Chiraag Bains | March 17, 2020 Ten years after Citizens United, our elections are awash with money from mega-donors and corporations. They drown out […]

Campaign Finance

Trump’s Ukraine Ask was Criminal; but it Was SCOTUS’ Citizens United that Invited Foreign Interference in US Elections

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump is accused of soliciting the help of a foreign government to dig dirt on, essentially to do opposition research for him, on his Democratic rival, Joe Biden. It should be underlined, though, that the possibilities for foreign interference in US elections is a much bigger phenomenon than simply this […]

Campaign Finance

New Survey Finding: Trump Likely owed his 2016 victory to ‘fake news’

contributors

Democratic defectors to Trump believed Hillary was ill or sold weapons to ISIS

Campaign Finance

Gerrymandering is about Race even when it seems just “Partisan”

Juan Cole

By Olga Pierce and Kate Rabinowitz | ( ProPublica) | – – The Wisconsin case before the Supreme Court claims to be about partisanship. But race is a factor in this case and many others nationwide. The Wisconsin voting rights case before the Supreme Court has been cast as the definitive test of whether partisan […]

Authoritarianism

The White House Wouldn’t Post Trump Staffers’ Financial Disclosures. So We Did

contributors

by Ariana Tobin and Derek Kravitz | (ProPublica) | – – In a remarkable Friday night news dump, the Trump administration made dozens of White House staffers’ financial disclosure forms available. But they did it with an extra dose of opacity. These are important disclosures from the people who have the president’s ear and shape […]

Campaign Finance

Gorsuch Refuses Chance to Condemn ‘Dark Money’ Lobbying on His Behalf

contributors

By Lauren McCauley, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) | – – Judge Neil Gorsuch claims he ‘speaks for’ himself, but secretive sources have spent millions to get him confirmed for a reason During Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) questioned Judge Neil Gorsuch on the conservative “front groups” supporting his nomination. (Photo: Alex […]

Bill of Rights

Can Americans get back their Democracy from the Oligarchy?

contributors

By John Scales Avery | (Inter Press Service) | – – COPENHAGEN, (IPS) – As many observers around the world have pointed out, the United States is no longer a true democracy. It is an oligarchy. The US government ignores the safety, wishes and needs of the majority of its citizens, and instead makes decisions […]