Earlier this month, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted favorably on an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to give Congress and state legislatures a renewed ability to limit the flood of money into elections.
Members of the House followed suit, introducing a companion amendment last week with over 100 original co-sponsors. The full Senate will vote on the amendment later this summer.
Opponents of the amendment have been quick to accuse its supporters of trying to "repeal the First Amendment." Nothing could be further from the truth. Such a hyperbolic claim requires at best a naïve and at worst a cynical interpretation of the First Amendment that equates freedom of speech with spending money, and that fails to recognize the corrupting influence a huge flood of money in elections has on representative democracy.
Sen. Ted Cruz, one of the most vocal opponents, illustrated this twisted interpretation well at the Judiciary Committee vote when he accused Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy of "limiting" debate by requiring each senator to hold their comments to five minutes. But since each senator was free to as many five-minute slots as desired, the rule was not limiting in the least. Instead, it created a level playing field where each senator had the right to be heard and where no one individual could monopolize the debate.
The same should be true when it comes to political debate in our elections. But by wrongly conflating money and speech, the Supreme Court in Citizens United, McCutcheon and other cases has created the most uneven of playing fields where the country's wealthiest individuals yield a megaphone and everyday Americans a mere whisper.
The result doesn't resemble anything close to a fair debate, but looks more like Senator Cruz talking over the rest of the committee for the entire meeting.
In truth, I believe the Democracy for All Amendment would bring much-needed balance back to the First Amendment.
It would ensure that one's right to be heard in the political process is not determined by the size of one's bank account but the merit and popularity of one's ideas. It would end the Citizens United era where billionaires and corporations have greater First Amendment protection than the teacher, police officer, and bus driver. It would make "We the People" the rightful focus of our republic, not "We the Donors" or "We the Corporations."
A political system that makes our elected officials dependent on a handful of wealthy individuals and corporations to keep their jobs means public policy is heavily skewed to the benefit of those few donors, not the benefit of all Americans.
For example, a 2014 report by the Sierra Club and Oil Change International found that for every $1 the fossil-fuel industry spent on campaign contributions and lobbying, it got back $59 in subsidies. And yet, large majorities of the public support greater investment in clean energy and eliminating subsidies for fossil fuels. In short, "the very people responsible for polluting our air, our water, and our climate with toxic contamination are many of the same ones responsible for polluting our democracy with hundreds of millions of dollars in toxic money."
The dynamic is all too familiar in coal-dependent Arkansas where Entergy, SWEPCO/AEP and the Arkansas Electric Cooperatives wield tremendous influence with our state and federal representatives. Recently our congressional delegation signed a letter to the EPA opposing new rules to limit CO2 emissions from power plants in our state despite the immense public benefits to our environment, health and economic development.
A constitutional amendment to limit money in elections is needed to sever elected officials' reliance on money from industry and billionaires and restore government of, by and for the people.
There are many issues we as a country must address, including a catastrophic climate crisis, but until we address our democracy crisis all others will remain out of reach.
Arkansas' Sen. Mark Pryor and Sen. John Boozman should stand with "We the People" and join 47 of their colleagues in co-sponsoring the Democracy for All Amendment.
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Glen Hooks is the Arkansas Sierra Club's chapter director.
Editorial on 07/24/2014