#5 Citizens United and Campaign spending

      After hearing about a Supreme Court ruling numerous times I decided to do some research. Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission is a U.S constitutional law case dealing with the regulation of campaign spending by organizations. It has been a very important aspects in the recent elections and many to come. The citizens united ruling was released in January of 2010. It did away with the ban on financing political expenditures. Now unlimited sums of money are able to to be spent on campaigns. It was a 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court to allow this outpouring of money to be spent to get a candidate elected. The many billionaires who continue to contribute to these campaigns have caused the formation of super PACs which act as shadow political parties. They accept unlimited donations from billionaires, corporations and unions and use it to buy advertising. Mostly slanderous. Though super PACs are still required to report who their donors are. Other groups such as nonprofits are similar and don't have to report their donors.

      This all started back in 1907 with the Tillman Act which first banned corporations from funding federal campaigns. Though these laws were tough to enforce. In 1971 congress passed the Federal Election Campaign Act which required full reporting of contributions. It limited media advertisements which was ruled unconstitutional and opened the door for Citizens United. 

    Though it's been around for a few years the influx of slander commercials is partially due to this increase in spending for elections. It's hard to argue but I believe it is crazy to treat corporations as such an entity with virtually limitless amounts of money that can sway a campaign. So I guess you can't win an election now adays without a giant backing from some billionaires. It leaves the power once again in the select few or the beyond 1% who actually have the money to change the results of a political elections. It takes the power out of the peoples hands and into a few rich people who don't always tend to side with the majority. It's a selfish act that signifies the selfish money driven means of representation in the U.S. What happened to picking the best man without being bombarded about how evil the other representative is everywhere you turn. It's a sad reality in our society today and will hopefully be changed in my lifetime so that politics don't get even more corrupt then they already are.