Throughout the week, notifications have come up on my Facebook and Twitter about Democracy Spring, yet the media has given the movement very little attention. At first, I was unconvinced that it actually existed; this is the plight of social movements in the U.S. Many other countries will also heavily monitor movements on media but my cynicism of the movement’s existence is more revealing. In a country as physically large as the U.S. it is hard to actually comprehend what is occurring throughout the country — whether it is an armed protest in Oregon, protests against police brutality in Fergusson, protests against police in Albuquerque or a movement in D.C. protesting money in politics. None of the issues are unique to each place. They are simply microcosms of pervasive problems in the U.S.
First, what is Democracy Spring protesting? Democracy Spring is a mass nonviolent protest specifically addressing money in politics and the infamous Citizens United v. FEC 2010 decision. Citizens United is the Supreme Court decision that granted corporations and unions the ability to spend unlimited amounts of money on campaign-related expenditures. Afterwards, SpeechNow v. FEC used Citizens United as precedence and ruled contributions to groups making independent expenditures (contributions to a group supporting a politician or party but not representing a politician or party) unconstitutional. Public Integrity outlines the implications of the Citizens United decision well. This led to the birth of Super PACs and elections where money matters more than politics.
Not only do politicians spend far too much time acquiring donations, they are also obligated to their larger donors if they want those large donations in the future. For example, according to OpenSecrets.org, Big Oil gave Hillary Clinton $307,561 during the 2015-2016 year. Although a small amount compared to the $1 million Ted Cruz received, it will behoove Clinton to represent oil interests in her political platform. And the majority of organizations that represent environmental interests, as one example, simply cannot afford to donate $307,000. There is a huge disparity in who has political weight and a big corporation donating millions most likely will not represent the environment, or social justice issues and instead will want their own corporatist interests represented.
Over five days have passed since the protests started in D.C. and large media stations like MSNBC are now starting to cover Democracy Spring. The police have arrested well over 900 protestors including activists and actors such as Rosario Dawson. The movement also transcends the corporate versus individual dichotomy and also pleads for a more equal political system where all voices are represented. Not only are many voices obliterated as corporate interests become more powerful but also through gerrymandering, voter ID laws, and voter disenfranchisement. In a broken political system, systemic changes will only occur once decision makers feel more threatened by protesting individuals that makeup mass movements than they do not serving the interests of a particular corporation. Democracy Spring reminds of Occupy Wall Street but Occupy Wall Street lacked a clear set of attainable goals and a plan to achieve those goals. Hopefully, Democracy Spring can maintain momentum, gain media attention and pressure D.C. to finally address the issue of campaign finance and more broadly, political representation.
