By Robert Dean
Guest Columnist
Last week, the United States turned 250 years old. Most people I know didn’t really do much this year. Most folks don’t have the money for fireworks. The cost of beef is up, so there are fewer burgers to go around. But as the smoke from the Fourth of July sparklers clears, some news happened that you might have missed while they expected you to be out at the lake: The Supreme Court struck down limits on coordinated spending between candidates and political parties. This move changes how billions of dollars are dropped into elections like bombs on your attention span.
Junk mail, non-stop commercials, phone calls, and texts—we get more of them. The decision will have an immediate impact on the midterms. Removing the spending limit gives political parties and candidates far more freedom to coordinate how they spend campaign funds. The folks who claim they “fight for the working class” are really peddling their wares to the donor class. Now it’s open season.
The 6-3 decision, which divided the court along its usual ideological lines, held that the limits violate the First Amendment. Now, when wealthy donors and party leaders decide who they want in office, they have even more freedom to coordinate spending and flood your mailbox, television, and phone until Their Guy feels inevitable.
Trump stoolie Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote about the ruling, “To uphold the political-party coordinated-expenditure limits here could therefore help consign political parties to continued second-tier status as compared to outside groups. Weakened political parties distort the political system.”
This is a major win against the people. For the donor class, it’s a boon. They can line the pockets of more Do-Nothing politicians while you still wonder why you have no health care. Now, let’s say you really like the moxie of a working-class candidate and want to see some new blood challenge the status quo. Guess what? Doesn’t matter. If the Party doesn’t like them and wants the establishment candidate, they now have unlimited funding to make sure you see plenty of smear campaigns.
Supporters of the ruling argue that coordinated spending limits had become outdated in an era where super PACs and outside organizations already wield enormous financial influence. They contend the previous rules cut the knees out from under political parties while encouraging donors to funnel money into less accountable outside groups. By allowing parties to work more closely with their own candidates, backers say the decision restores the role of traditional party organizations and could make campaign spending more transparent.
Critics see something very different. They argue the ruling is another step in the Supreme Court’s decades-long dismantling of campaign finance laws and further opens the door for wealthy donors to strong-arm federal elections. The decision could reshape fundraising strategies for both major parties as they prepare for increasingly expensive congressional races. (We need more party options. These ones suck.)
Common sense says money needs to get out of politics. Common sense ain’t common these days. Every election costs more. Every election gives ordinary people a little less say.
Funny how democracy keeps getting more expensive for everyone except the people buying it.
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