Hillary Clinton: The cure for Citizens United
is more democracy
In an article that has been
published in CNN, Hillary Clinton writes as follows:
In 2008, Republicans faced a choice. America had just elected a Democratic president. The Senate was majority-Democratic. The House of Representatives had more Democrats than at any time since 1992.
The
Republicans could either change themselves -- by embracing the young, diverse
and tolerant America of the 21st century -- or they could try to change whose
voices count in our democracy.
We all know
the cynical path they chose. Six years ago Thursday, the Supreme Court's
decision in Citizens United transformed our politics by allowing corporations
to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections.
The effect
was immediate. In the 2010 midterms, outside groups spent nearly 60% more than
in 2006. In 2014, the top 100 donors spent nearly as much as all 4.75 million
small donors combined. National networks of big-money donors funnelled
mountains of cash into targeted state races. By 2014, one party controlled both
the governor's mansion and the state legislature in 36 states -- the most since
the 1950s.
Restricting voting
rights
Meanwhile,
Republicans launched an aggressive campaign to restrict voting rights across
the country. After the 2010 election, lawmakers in 41 states introduced at
least 180 measures designed to make it harder for people to vote. This ugly
effort got a boost in 2013 when the Supreme Court made another disastrous
ruling, striking down hard-won Voting Rights Act protections. Today, 21 states
have new laws restricting voting rights.
And some of
the greatest damage to voting rights has come in states with single-party
control -- like North Carolina, which eliminated same-day voter registration
and slashed early voting; Florida, which instituted such heavy restrictions on
voter registration drives that the League of Women Voters had to shut down
operations; and Alabama, which passed a strict photo ID requirement and then
closed dozens of driver's license offices across the state, making it much
harder for citizens to get the IDs they now need to vote.
Put it all
together -- the flood of corporate money in our elections, the rise of
single-party control of state governments, the sharp increase in voting-rights
restrictions -- and the result is unmistakable. Our democracy is being hollowed
out. And that should offend every American, no matter what party you belong to.
Reclaim our democracy
We can't let
this continue. It's time to reclaim our democracy, reform our distorted
campaign finance system and restore access to the ballot box in all 50 states.
That starts
with reversing Citizens United. And that's where my comprehensive plan to
restore common sense to campaign finance begins. As president, I'll appoint
Supreme Court justices who recognize that Citizens United is bad for America.
And if necessary, I'll fight for a constitutional amendment that overturns it.
Meanwhile,
we need more transparency in our politics. In the last three elections, more than $600 million in
donations came from unknown, untraceable sources. That's a lot of
secret, unaccountable money. As president, I'll require federal contractors to
fully disclose their political spending. I'll call on the Securities and
Exchange Commission to require that publicly traded companies do the same. And I'll fight for legislation
requiring the disclosure of all significant political donations, no matter
where they come from or who they benefit. Whether you're a Democrat or a
Republican, you should have to identify your donors.
We should
also make it easier for Americans to run for elected office. You shouldn't have
to be rich or well-connected to serve. I'll fight to create a robust
small-donor matching system, so people with good ideas and a passion for public
service know that they can run without having to court big donors and special
interests.
Make it easier to vote
Finally, we
have to do a much better job of protecting Americans' voting rights. Nothing is
more vital to our democracy. I'll
fight to restore the full protections of the Voting Rights Act. And I'll
go further, because we should be making it easier to vote, not harder.
All
Americans should be automatically registered to vote on their 18th birthdays,
unless they opt out. Every state should have at least 20 days of early
in-person voting. And no one should ever have to wait more than 30 minutes to
cast a ballot.
Citizens
United and its aftermath have twisted and perverted our democratic system. Now
the deck is stacked even more in favour of those at the top. But as Al Smith,
another Democrat from New York, once said, "All the ills of democracy can
be cured by more democracy." So that's what we need now: more
transparency, more accountability, and above all, more citizens exercising
their right to vote.
This November, we can show Republicans that they
made the wrong choice eight years ago. Let's restore people's voices and
people's votes to their rightful place -- at the centre of our democracy.
Courtesy : CNN
