There is no question that money has a significant influence on our government. I’d argue the amount of money behind a bill has the most influence on what legislation makes it through Congress.
Lobbying and big money are endemic to the political system, and there is no sign of this trend slowing down anytime soon.
Money Runs in Every Aspect of Politics
The government works when there’s money involved, it’s when the well-being of its citizenry is concerned that government degenerates into the bureaucratic, hyper-partisan disaster we all know and hate.
More money is being spent on US politics than ever before, and it’s for a reason.
Examples of Big Money Abuse
When legalized bribery is allowed, it threatens democratic processes and public trust.
Big money abuse runs rampant in government and politics. Examples of this are everywhere; from corporate-speaking politicians taking millions in political fundraising to billionaires using their money to buy influence on issues that would not benefit the majority of the population.
Obamacare
Money had an outsized effect on the creation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare. The ACA was heavily influenced by healthcare lobbyists, who spent millions of dollars trying to shape the legislation to their advantage.
The final bill included many provisions that favored the interests of the healthcare industry, without much in the way of mechanisms to bring down costs.
For example, the ACA did little to address the high cost of prescription drugs, which is a major issue for many Americans. The pharmaceutical industry spent millions of dollars lobbying Congress to ensure that the final bill did not include any measures to reduce drug prices.
The ACA did not include a public option, which would have allowed Americans to purchase health insurance directly from the government, instead of through private insurers.
And before you think it’s all the Democrats, corruption is the only bipartisan issue in Washington.
It Was The Same Thing With Trump’S Tax Cuts
The Trump tax cuts, officially known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, were heavily criticized by many as a giveaway to the wealthy and corporations at the expense of the middle class and working Americans.
Like the ACA, the tax cuts were all but written by corporate lobbyists.
One of the most controversial aspects of the tax cuts was the reduction in the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, which was seen by many as a windfall for large corporations and wealthy investors.
The tax cuts also included significant reductions in the estate tax, which primarily benefits the very wealthy, and a cap on the state and local tax deduction, which disproportionately affects residents of high-tax states.
The benefits of the tax cuts were largely skewed towards the wealthiest Americans. Meanwhile, the deficit ballooned as a result of the revenue loss.
And don’t think there aren’t millions being made off Biden’s legislation.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act: This $1.2 trillion bill was signed into law in November 2021. It invests in roads, bridges, public transit, broadband internet, clean energy, and other infrastructure projects. It will provide at least $110 billion for roads, bridges, and other surface transportation projects.
I’d argue investing in infrastructure is a good thing – although I don’t know enough about the specifics of this bill. But just don’t think this money won’t be making a lot of rich people richer.
The Party Doesn’t Matter, All That Matter Is The Money
Both Democrats and Republicans have been heavily influenced by money in the legislative process. They are in cahoots, conspiring to make sure their corporate backers get what they want. It doesn’t matter who you vote for – there’s only one party in Washington D.C., and it’s the party of money. Political divisions are fiction; it is only corrupt politicians lining their pockets that remain consistent among both sides.
Special interests use their influence to perpetuate a system of corruption where the wealthy few can control the direction of policy and lawmaking.
Why Do Corporations Spend On Political Campaigns And Lobbying?
Only so many laws are going to be passed each year. It stands to reason that the ones that were paid for would go through first, right? Is there any reason for laws that help people to be crafted, debated, and passed before the ones some lobbying group wrote on behalf of some business?
No. No there isn’t.
If we want to move forward in terms of making the country better, we have got to get the money of out Washington. I mean at least some of it. Make it Less Bad.
Money Spent Lobbying in Money Well Spent
Supporting political campaigns is money well spent
Supporting political campaigns can have a profound impact on profitability. Researchers at Purdue University found that the more candidates a corporation supports, the more its stock increases. They write “our results also suggest an extremely high rate of return for firms participating in the political contribution process” (emphasis mine). They found:
“a strong correlation between the number of candidates that a firm supports and the firm’s future abnormal return.”
The researchers did some fancy math to get the correlation right; to make sure it was just that successful companies do everything well, including lobbying, or that the money spent on lobbying specifically caused increased stock price. They found the number of candidates a company contributed directly affected the stock price.
“our results are consistent with the idea that firms may participate in the political system not from the standpoint of consuming a patriotic consumption good… but rather from the standpoint of creating positive net present value investments. “
Corporations don’t have a choice but to lobby
Real, honest companies don’t want to give their money to politicians, but the system requires them to.
Because regulation can have such an outsized effect on profitability, corporate managers don’t really have a choice in terms of getting involved with lobbying. They have a responsibility to shareholders to be profitable, and if influencing the law-making process affects profits, they have to do it. If they need to grease a few palms to ensure their questionable acquisition goes through, they have no choice but to play ball.
If it Didn’t Pay They Wouldn’t Do It
This is all to tell us something very obvious. If political contributions weren’t good for business, they wouldn’t do it.
CEOs are legally bound to act in the best interest of shareholders.
If they were spending money unnecessarily, they could get sued by shareholders.
Therefore, the fact that all successful companies spend money lobbying tells us that it’s a good, if not required, investment.
Only Things that Make Money Get Done
In good conscience, you could never make the claim that the laws passed by Congress, and the way are interpreted and enforced, reflect the collective will of the people.
Money is the center of everything that happens in the country – we only do things that make money. Behind the scenes of the daily back-and-forth nonsense, we see from our elected representatives on Twitter, political ads, and on cable news, everything that happens in Washington is dictated by money.
That is a problem because the only laws that are passed are those that someone paid for. If you don’t have money, you can’t buy the congressmen to care about your issues. Every day people don’t have the money to go up against the wealthy. Many groups advocate for normal citizens (some are covered below), but they are incredibly overmatched. They’re using a knife in a gunfight, or perhaps a banana in a nuclear war.
Every last law passed in the past two decades has been the result of huge sums of money.
This is not because politicians are evil – it’s because of the incentives that have been designed into the system. Although a few politicians have to be scum, at the very least their motives can be called into question. But they are probably in the minority.
Government is Broken
I’m going out on a limb here and assuming you agree with me that the government is broken. Political gridlock is the way of Washington.
And I’m not the first to point to the extreme division, the media, and our current election system generally (specifically the primary system, campaign finance, and gerrymandering), as the biggest causes of that dysfunction.
So because of that dysfunction, elected officials aren’t responding to us, but instead need to rely on the lobbying culture to push anything through Congress.
What Does Lobbying Mean?
Lobbying is the act of trying to influence someone to get them to change their opinion or take a certain action. This can be done through persuasion, argumentation, or even bribery.
In terms of the interception of corporations and government, lobbying is a common practice in both the private and public sectors. It’s how groups attempting to influence legislation make their case.
Campaign Contributions vs. “Lobbying” Generally
Lobbying is a wider field, and campaign contributions are just one aspect of the larger lobbying phenomenon. Lobbyists are people who try to persuade government officials to adopt certain policies or pass certain legislation. They may do this through campaign contributions, but they also may do it through this broader concept of “lobbying.”
- Campaign contributions are straightforward – But the “catch” is that corporations aren’t allowed to donate directly from corporate accounts to the candidate. Instead, they have to go through the added process of creating Political Action Committees (or partnering with existing ones) to donate on their behalf.
- Lobbying generally is a legal way for corporations to influence government – but it often happens in the shadows and without much public scrutiny. This means that we don’t always know how or why certain decisions are made, and whether or not they’re in the best interest of the people. There’s no limit to how much a firm can spend on lobbying.
Either way the best way to get a favorable policy is to pay the most.
Money and Elections
The United States has survived and thrived due to the laws built into the Constitution. The Constitution’s defining trait was that it represented the will of the people. Elections should help us hold officials accountable. We’d like to believe we have a system that can address elected officials that aren’t doing their job. That the interests of the country are defined by those of its informed citizenry.
But that is not how it works now.
Today, you need big money to run for political office.
As a consequence, elected officials spend an inordinate amount of time raising money for not only their political campaigns but for their party and other affiliated groups. Politicians amas power not by delivering good results for their constituents but rather good results for their party, which is largely determined by how much money they raise.
The Election System in Broken >>
Time Spent Raising Money is Time Not Spent on Doing Stuff
It’s just a question of hours in a day. They spend the bulk of their time raising money. That is their job, NOT contributing to progress. There is only so much time for a politician to read the bills or introduce legislation.
Money Shouldn’t Guarantee Influence
Just because you have a lot of money shouldn’t mean you get to call the shots. Access to the well-connected in Washington shouldn’t be limited to the wealthiest people.
Get Big Money Out of the Government
We need to get big money out of the government so that our representatives are accountable to us, not their donors.
If we reduce the influence of money in Washington, we can begin to fix some of the issues that are plaguing our democracy. Our government should be run by and for the people, not corporations and special interests.
Getting Money Out of Government
How Can We Get Money Out of Washington?
Is there a way to fix the corruption going on at the top levels?
If there’s any good news in all this depressing stuff is that there are ways to reduce the influence of money in government. But the bad news is that it’s going to be pretty hard.
Normally in an article like this, at this point, you’d hear about how we need to demand accountability from elected officials, work together and vote.
But when we’re talking about a system as dysfunctional as the one we’re dealing with, that’s not gonna cut it.
We know that because of gerrymandering and the primary system, elections don’t change much. There are a few competitive seats but not nearly enough to influence how Congress works.
And we can’t get laws passed to reform elections… Because the government is broken, in large part because of the money.
I suggest we go to the source of the money. To the actual corporations and individuals flooding the system with money and demanding some answers.
Hold Corporations Accountable for their Lobbying Dollars
At the end of the day, the money sloshing around in the political arena comes from corporations. We’re not getting any actual laws that would curtail the influence of money in Washington passed anytime soon.
Until the elected officials and regulators can get their act together, we need to demand more transparency and accountability from the corporations taking part in this mess. Corporations do need to disclose their spending, and there are great organizations with dedicated individuals working hard to shed more light on the issue (some of those are highlighted below).
But they are overmatched by the sheer size and power of the largest institutions. Not to mention a compromised media that is owned by the very people that benefit from the money-peddling system we have now.
But as consumers, we can leverage the power of our wallets to demand more from corporations.
Impact Consumerism
To affect corporate behavior, to discourage businesses from having undue influence on the political system, we need to impact their bottom line. Impact Consumerism is the idea of using our consumer dollars to reward corporations that are behaving honestly when it comes to lobbying the government. I’m not saying corporations can’t spend on lobbying. I’m saying they need to be accountable. They need to tell us clearly and honestly where and why they are spending on lobbying. If they feel a certain law should be passed, changed, or eliminated, they need to tell us why.
If corporate lobbying was out in the open, instead of taking place behind closed doors, we would feel better about the whole mess. You could choose between Coke or Pepsi based on what the company believes (in addition to all the other things that go into consumer choices).
So for my money, holding corporations accountable for their political spending is a more powerful way to reduce the influence of money in government. It doesn’t require new laws or regulations. It does require that consumers be a lot more discerning in their spending.
But in addition to Impact Consumerism, some laws can be passed to get money out of politics.
Enacting legislation to reduce the influence of money on government
As covered above, unless everyday citizens can band together to raise enough money and pay elected officials to do their job, reform at the government level is unlikely. Holding out hope for elected officials to get money out of Washington is not a good strategy. But hey you might as well contact your representatives and tell them this is important to you, it can’t hurt anyway.
If Congress were ever to address the issue, there are a few ways legislation could curb the influence of money on politics.
H.R.1 – For the People Act of 2021
In January 2019, Representative John Sarbanes (Democrat / Maryland) introduced the H.R.1 – For the People Act which includes some language addressing campaign finance, “including by expanding the prohibition on campaign spending by foreign nationals, requiring additional disclosure of campaign-related fundraising and spending, requiring additional disclaimers regarding certain political advertising, and establishing an alternative campaign funding system for certain federal offices.” But given that the government is broken and doesn’t do anything, nothing will come of this. But at least they are pretending to do something.
Pass Stricter Regulations on Lobbying
More effective regulation on lobbying includes things like more transparency, limits on political spending, overturning Citizen’s United, and closing the “revolving door” between federal employees and lobbying firms.
Expand disclosure behind fundraising and spending
The public has a right to know who is trying to influence our government and how much money is being spent to do so. We need full disclosure of fundraising and spending by candidates, political parties, and outside groups to make informed decisions about the policies and politicians we support.
Close the Revolving Door
Lobbying reform is an important step, but we also need to end the revolving door between government and industry. Too often, politicians cash in on their time in office by becoming lobbyists themselves. We must close this loophole and put an end to the culture of corruption in Washington.
Ban Super PACs and Dark Money
Super PACs and dark money are two of the biggest problems when it comes to the influence of money in government.
Super PACs are political action committees that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to support or oppose candidates or specific policies, but they are not allowed to coordinate with the candidates or campaigns they support. This means that they can essentially act as shadow campaigns, raising and spending money without any accountability.
Dark money is money that is spent by groups that do not have to disclose their donors, making it impossible to know who is behind the ads or how much they are spending.
Both of these problems need to be addressed to reduce the influence of money on the government. Banning Super PACs would level the playing field and reduce the amount of money in politics. Requiring disclosure of dark money would allow voters to make informed decisions about who they are voting for.
Limit Donations to PACs
If we can’t ban PACs altogether, we can at least try to limit their influence. Donations to PACs should be limited to reduce the amount of money that can be used to influence our government. By limiting donations, we can end corruption and get money out of politics.
Public Financing of Elections
One of the most effective ways to reduce the influence of money in government is by passing laws that provide public financing of elections. This would level the playing field and give everyday Americans a stronger voice in our democracy.
Public financing of elections means that the government provides funding for political campaigns, which ensures that all candidates have access to the same resources. This helps to reduce the influence of money in government, as it gives less-wealthy candidates a fair chance against those who are backed by wealthy interests. It also helps to reduce corruption, as it eliminates the need for candidates to solicit donations from special interests.
A Constitutional Amendment
Perhaps the most comprehensive, if unlikely, way to get money out of Washington is to pass a constitutional amendment to get money out of politics. I haven’t found a great example of what that amendment would look like, the specific language that would get money out of politics. Nevertheless, there are groups out there that believe amending the Constitution is the best way forward.
Using Congress to Amend the Constitution
But amending the constitution is a huge undertaking. It would have to go through Congress, and we all know the difficulties involved with that. We’d need a huge grassroots campaign that elected officials couldn’t ignore. With the support of the people, our elected officials would be pressured to take action. We’d need elected representatives to put aside their differences and work together. Given the difficulties involved, some have proposed another way to amend the Constitution – having the states call for a convention.
A Convention for Proposing Amendments
I first heard of this idea in Lawrence Lessig’s Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress–and a Plan to Stop It *ad. It involves at least 34 states demanding a convention to propose an amendment, in effect going around Congress. Although it’s newer been invoked, Article V of the Constitution allows states (rather than Congress) to call a convention to propose amendments. Lessing wrote a pretty detailed explanation for The Atlantic that is worth a read.
Although drastic, this could be a major step in ensuring that our democracy is fair and impartial. Because it’s never happened, and how it would work isn’t clear, many fear we’d be opening a can of worms by going down this path. But any amendment would require 38 states to vote for it, which seems like a high number, and one that would require significant bipartisan support.
If you want to learn more about using the states to call for a constitutional convention, Wolf PAC and Convention of States are the main organization working toward that goal. Amending the Constitution is not an easy task, and while it’s unlikely it does present a reasonable way forward given Congress’ unwillingness to act.
So, while the current situation is pretty dire, there are ways to move forward, to make things Less Bad. The challenge is coming up with the political will and resources to mount an effective opposition to the powers protecting the status quo.
Organizations Helping to Get Money out of Washington
Several organizations are working hard to bring transparency and attention to the influence of money on government. These are vital because they are working to end the corruption that has taken root in our political system.
Some of these organizations include:
- OpenSecrets – OpenSecrets provides ” integrated federal, state and local data on campaign finance, lobbying and more, that is both unprecedented and easy to use.” It was officially launched in 2021 by a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP), two of the oldest money in politics advocacy groups. The OpenSecrets website provides information on campaign contributions, lobbying expenditures, and other data related to money in politics.
- LittleSis – LittleSis (as opposed to big brother) is a “free database detailing the connections between powerful people and organizations… bring transparency to influential social networks by tracking the key relationships of politicians, business leaders, lobbyists, financiers, and their affiliated institutions.” They offer some cool tools to explore the links between the powerful and their money. And also have a gallery of maps their community has created.
- Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) – Billing itself as a non-partisan nonprofit, but having been accused of having a left-leaning bias, CREW was founded in 2003. They work to hold government officials accountable with a focus on using the law to hold “who abuse the system to account, compelling the government to be more open and transparent, and driving secret money and influence into the light.”
- InfluenceWatch – Billing itself as a watchdog of watchdogs, the right-leaning InfluenceWatch is a subsidiary of Capital Research Center. According to their site, the organization “provides fact-based, accurate descriptions of all of the various influencers of public policy issues.”
- Common Cause – Common Cause is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that was founded in 1970. They work to promote ethics and accountability in government. From their website: “We side with no one but the people. Working together, we are building a democracy that works for all of us. Every aspect of our elections and representative self-government must be fair, open, accessible, and set up so we all have faith in the integrity of election outcomes and the people we elect to serve us.” According to their website they have more than 1 million members and supporters.
- Democracy 21 – Democracy 21 is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that works to “address the nation’s campaign finance problems through public education, litigation, and other efforts.” In 2019 Democracy 21 worked with CREW and Representative John Sarbanes (D-Md.) on the For the People Act of 2021 mentioned above.
- Public Citizen – Public Citizen positions itself as “a consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power.” Kind of a lobbyist for the rest of us. They say they have more than 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country. They keep an eye on what’s happening in Congress, track legislation, and watchdog the government in hopes of making it work for the people. Encouraging citizen participation in government is an important goal for the organization.
- ProPublica – ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that focuses on government accountability and transparency. From their website: “ProPublica is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force. We dig deep into important issues, shining a light on abuses of power and betrayals of public trust — and we stick with those issues as long as it takes to hold power to account.”
Many organizations are working to get money out of politics, and each one is playing a vital role in ending the corruption that has taken root in our political system. But they are up against powerful institutions that like the current system just fine.
By supporting these organizations, we can ensure that our democracy is fair and impartial.
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