How did American representative democracy become so undermined by the overwhelming power of big money interests, that our congress went up for auction in 2014? The main reason is over the last seven years the poorly reasoned decisions handed down by a doctrinaire radical clique on our Supreme Court have systematically dismantled our campaign finance laws on the national and state levels.
This comes from the Brennan Center for Justice:
The Pro-Money Court: How the Roberts Supreme Court Dismantled Campaign Finance Law
By David Earley, Avram Billig
2007: Federal Election Commission (FEC) v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc.
The SCOTUS Ruling: The Court struck down a law regulating sham issue ads — television advertisements that clearly target specific candidates, but avoid regulation by posing as "issue" ads. For example, an advertisement referring to a candidate by name close to the election, but instead of explicitly advocating voting for or against the candidate, tells the viewer to “call Rep. Smith and tell him to stop corporate polluters.”
The Majority Opinion: Chief Justice Roberts on the continued regulation of issue ads: “Enough is enough. Issue ads like WRTL’s are by no means equivalent to contributions, and the quid-pro-quo corruption interest cannot justify regulating them.”
The Result: By rejecting Congress’s decision to regulate political spending, the Court encouraged the creation of more and more political ads that circumvent campaign finance law by leaving out “magic words” such as “vote for” or “vote against.” As any voter who lives in a battleground state knows, these ads now dominate many elections, often funded by shadowy groups that do not reveal their donors.
2008: Davis v. FEC
The SCOTUS Ruling: The Court struck down the so-called “Millionaire’s Amendment,” which had permitted congressional candidates facing wealthy opponents who spent more than $350,000 of their own money on the race to raise larger contributions until they achieved parity with their wealthy opponents.
The Majority Opinion: Justice Alito: “While [the law] does not impose a cap on a candidate's expenditure of personal funds, it imposes an unprecedented penalty on any candidate who robustly exercises that First Amendment right.”
The Result: Opponents of extremely wealthy candidates are left without an effective way to overcome their significant financial disadvantage. By striking down the “Millionaire’s Amendment,” the Court helped to ensure that Congress would continue to be dominated by the very wealthy, a state of affairs recently described by the Center for Responsive Politics.
2010: Citizens United v. FEC
The SCOTUS Ruling: The Court opened the door to allow unions and corporations, including for-profit corporations, to spend unlimited amounts on elections, as long as that money is not given directly to or used in coordination with a candidate.
The Majority Opinion: Justice Kennedy: “Ingratiation and access, in any event, are not corruption. . . .” “The appearance of influence or access, furthermore, will not cause the electorate to lose faith in our democracy.”
What was he thinking?
Sorry I couldn't help myself.
2011: Arizona Free Enterprise Club v. Bennett
The SCOTUS Ruling: The Court struck down part of an Arizona program that provided public funds to candidates who agreed to only raise very small contributions from the public and to abide by campaign expenditure limits. Specifically, the program could no longer provide additional money to these candidates if they faced big-spending opponents.
The Majority Opinion: Chief Justice Roberts: “Laws like Arizona’s matching funds provision that inhibit robust and wide-open political debate without sufficient justification cannot stand.”
The Result: By doubling down on its conclusion that corporate election spending may not be limited, the Court blocked future efforts to regulate outside money at the state level.
2014: McCutcheon v. FEC
SCOTUS Ruling: The Court struck down aggregate contribution limits — the amount one contributor can give in federal elections to all candidates, political parties, and PACs, combined. This marks the first time the Supreme Court has ever declared a federal contribution limit unconstitutional. The Court also defended giving access and influence to donors as a key democratic right, and ruled that donors have the same right to influence officials as do the constituents those officials are elected to represent.
The Controlling Opinion: Chief Justice Roberts: “[G]overnment regulation may not target the general gratitude a candidate may feel toward those who support him or his allies, or the political access such support may afford. ‘Ingratiation and access . . . are not corruption.’ They embody a central feature of democracy—that constituents support candidates who share their beliefs and interests, and candidates who are elected can be expected to be responsive to those concerns.”
The Result: The decision allows candidates and parties to collect substantially larger sums from individual donors. A single politician may now use a joint fundraising committee to directly solicit more than $3.6 million from one donor in an election cycle. That’s about 70 times the median annual family income in America. The decision will embolden political spenders to wield their influence more freely and directly. And by striking down a federal contribution limit, the Court has endangered other contribution limits that remain on the books.
How can the US cope with a nakedly Plutocratic Supreme Court enhancing the power of obscenely wealthy cranks like the Koch Brothers? The Court's refusal to take common sense into account in arriving at their decisions was deliberate, beyond a shadow of a doubt.