M06 Discussion: Citizen Participation and Money
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"While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority
... [Show More] of this court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics.”
- U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, Dissenting Opinion
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, January 21, 2010
Interest groups are formed by corporations, industries, labor unions or single issue groups in order to influence politicians and policies. In 2013, interest groups used over 12,000 lobbyists to spend $3.21 billion in efforts to sway the government. Additionally, the 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC opened the door for unprecedented campaign spending by interest groups whose Super PACs spent $567,498,628 in the 2012 elections. So far in 2016, some 2,328 SuperPacs have raised $565,336,549 and spent $261,615,012 in support of a variety of candidates in national and state/local elections.
According to Opensecrets.org (Links to an external site.), Super PACs can "raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations and individuals, then spend unlimited sums to overtly advocate for or against political candidates". Review the article "The Top 10 Things Every Voter Should Know" (Links to an external site.) from the Center for Responsive Politics (pay special attention to #9 about "Citizens United v. FEC") and browse the history of by scrolling through the Money-in-Politics Timeline (Links to an external site.). Additionally, identify and research a Super PAC (Links to an external site.) of your choice to discuss in your post.
Please discuss the following questions:
• Overall, do you agree with the Supreme Court in Citizens' United v. FEC?
• Should all campaign spending be protected as free speech?
• Reflect on what, if any, role might the two-party system play in the extent of money in politics?
• Should corporations, unions and other groups be treated as individual citizens and therefore protected under the First Amendment?
• What is a PAC? (versus a Super PAC?)
• What Super PAC did you find on the OpenSecrets.org website? What information about it did you find interesting?
• Why do you think so much money is spent on presidential election season by Super PACs?
• Does the "Citizens' United v. FEC" decision and the resulting Super PACs increase your ability to influence elections or decrease it?
• Overall, what is your opinion about the increased amount of outside money in politics?
• What predictions do you have about how the increased amount of outside money in politics will affect future elections? How might it affect current office holders? [Show Less]