Claire Gibbs

If you’ve lost faith in our electoral system because of the ballooning contributions of special interest PACs and dark money groups, you’re not alone.

Reducing the influence of money in politics ranks as the third-highest policy priority for Americans. In every presidential election in the past several years, the U.S. has broken the record in total election spending, more than doubling from $6.5 billion to $14.4 billion between 2016 and 2020. Perhaps surprising to some, after years of overwhelmingly boosting Republicans, 2020 dark money favored Democrats for the first time. If you really want to know who has the greatest influence on how we are governed and where the money comes from, visit the nonpartisan website www.opensecrets.org.

How did we get here? Although the problem began in the 1970s, the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. FEC opened the floodgates to unlimited election spending by wealthy special interests, including corporations, unions, trade groups, and the like. These special interests soon realized they could keep voters in the dark about their activities by funneling money through generic-sounding front groups whose names would appear on TV, radio, and digital ads, sometimes with the tagline “Ad paid for by the Americans for Freedom PAC,” or some other patriotic-sounding name. This phenomenon gave rise to the term “dark money.”

The advent of Artificial Intelligence as well the threat of foreign influence is only compounding the problem.

Potential candidates for office are often challenged to balance their principles with the need to raise enough cash to run competitive races. For the most part, their constituents feel their voices are being drowned out by floods of cash. Of course anybody can volunteer for candidates, attend town halls and campaign events, write letters to the editor, even email their legislators. But such efforts can seem pointless in the face of the torrent of big money from special interests.

Legislation has been proposed at both the state and federal level to address the issue. But the truth is, it’s not possible for state legislatures or Congress to enact meaningful laws to reduce the influence of money in elections when the Supreme Court considers such laws unconstitutional.

As an example, in Maine 86% of voters supported to end foreign government spending on state referendum races. But media outlets, among others, sued in court to block it. They contend the law would require them to police advertisements and “substantially burdens core political speech and the freedom of the press.”

Even so, Republicans and Democrats in other states continue to take action. Wyoming state lawmakers are warning voters about the influence of hard-to-trace outside spending. According to the president of the Senate and speaker of the House: “The influx of D.C.-style politics, with alarmist language designed to incite fear and anger, seeks to influence public opinion by appealing to our worst instincts, and often has nothing to do with real life in Wyoming.”

The good news is there is a viable solution to this mess. The proposed For Our Freedom Amendment to the U.S. Constitution would allow the states and the Congress to set reasonable guardrails on money in campaigns and elections. It would give Texans (and Arizonans, and Michiganders, etc.), the power to decide what to do in their respective jurisdictions. This is a hallmark of the Federalism that’s enshrined in our country’s founding document. Texas laws for Texas citizens.

A heavy lift? Maybe. Impossible? Absolutely not. In our nation’s history, seven amendments have overturned bad Supreme Court decisions. The 13th and 14th amendments overturned Dred Scott vs Sanford, allowing African Americans to become citizens, and the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote.

And 23 state legislatures already have called for the Congress to consider the For Our Freedom amendment. Momentum is growing — across the political spectrum — in places as diverse as Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Instead of building our politics on a foundation of money, it’s time for lawmakers across the country to prioritize the voices and interests of their constituents. Want to help? Go to AmericanPromise.net and sign the citizen pledge. Contact your elected officials and candidates for office. And speak out for the right to regain the power the states once had a century ago to control their elections.