The law professor Larry Lessig is running for president on the premise that money has distorted American politics beyond all recognition of a democracy, and he has promised to make campaign finance reform his utmost (indeed, his only) political goal. This is an opinion that is widely shared by liberals, and examples of big money’s sinister effects on the electoral system are among the first things which Democrats will point to as proof that the country is headed down the path of decay. If only we could overturn Citizens United, if only we could muzzle the Koch brothers, if only we could stop members of Congress from eating every meal with lobbyists—then our political system would finally start working for the people instead of against it.
I don’t disagree—but, at the same time, I think this baleful story of a republic corrupted is actually too optimistic. Those who see money as the original sin of American politics must also believe that voters and representatives want the right things in their hearts, but are forced to vote and legislate in regressive ways by a moneyed class which manipulates their choices with a marionette-like control. Is it really so? Well, there’s no doubt that the policy preferences of the rich are far more likely to be enacted into law than those of the poor. And much of what passes for “sensible centrism” in Washington is really just the economic libertarianism of the business class.
If only there were some other countries whose political systems were similar to ours, but whose campaign finance systems were much different … that would allow us to make a comparison …
Well, as luck would have it, such countries exist! In fact, they make up most of the rest of the democratic world, where, by and large, elections are tightly regulated or even publicly financed, and where parliamentary systems make it much more difficult for lobbyists to insert themselves into the policy-making apparatus. What do we find there—do we find wonderful political enlightenment of the kind that surely Americans are capable of when they are not being tricked by the rich?
No, sadly, we do not. Look at the United Kingdom, where the Conservatives just swept back into power in a surprise victory, with a platform based on making London even more friendly to foreign financiers and drastically cutting social services. Look at Finland, where the second-largest party is now the right-wing True Finns, and where the Social Democrats are in political freefall. Look at Germany, where both the center-left and center-right parties have joined in lockstep to enforce an austerity program which has devastated Greece. Look at Japan, where militant nationalism is making a comeback.
Some American commentators have looked at the rise of Donald Trump and correctly suggested that his ascent parallels the appeal of many of Europe’s right-wing parties. But this poses a great problem for those, like Lessig, who think that regressive politics in the United States are primarily the fault of a vast system of corruption. If the same regressive yearnings are manifesting themselves in Europe—and even in Scandinavia, which is about as anti-corrupt as anywhere on the planet—then perhaps money is not, here, the root of all evil.
Unfortunately, I think there is no tenable conclusion other than to realize that the problem with our politics is not primarily a problem with voters being up for sale. It is a problem with a sickness in the human heart. Political programs which appeal either surreptitiously or obviously to division, greed, selfishness, and fear have not become ascendant because they have the force of money power behind them (though this certainly helps them along). They become ascendant because we have become divided, greedy, selfish, and fearful people. Correcting that will, sadly, take much longer and harder work than Larry Lessig’s campaign promises.
http://viewshed.matinic.us/2015/08/28/917/