Democracy — a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.
In the U.S. we pride ourselves on having a fair and equal democracy where everyone's voice may be heard. However, I am here to tell you that we may not have nearly as much say as many believe. In 2010, the United States Supreme Court closed an extremely controversial case: Citizens United v. FEC. Many people have heard of this case in the recent election cycle, but few truly know the implications of the decisions made in said case. Basically, the Citizens United case ended with the Supreme court asserting that any restrictions on campaign finance was an infringement on the first amendment right of those donating. The Citizens United corporation made the argument that they should be treated as people who have the right to support any politician they see fit. This argument would be all well and good, except for the fact that the entire nature and reason for corporation's existence is to be separate from people. Effectively this meant that any massive corporation could funnel as much money as they see fit into any election to protect their special interests.
Why is this a problem for the average American? The reason this is troubling is that politicians no longer must fight to please the people, but instead look to major corporations to set their agendas. If a major oil company is willing to pour millions of dollars into a congressman's campaign, then why would they ever fight to place environmental restrictions on said oil companies? The short answer is they wouldn't and are not currently. Manufacturers can get politicians elected that can push through trade deals, such as the Trans Pacific Partnership, allowing them to move jobs into other countries and out of the United States. Major insurance providers now have complete control over any healthcare reform in this country, which is why bills such as the Affordable Care Act are shredded in Congress and replaced by unrecognizable laws that do not seek to help the average American.
Lastly, huge corporations can get bailouts and subsidies from the government leading to financial crisis like in the recession of 2008. The United States is quickly become an oligarchic nation where a few wealthy contributors at the top are allowed to make all the decisions for the rest of us. That is the opposite of what our founding fathers intended when building our great nation. The only way to rescue our dying democracy is to overturn the horrendous Citizens United decision either by revisiting the issue in the courts or passing a constitutional amendment to keep corporations out of our democracy. Until one of these steps is taken, there can be no true democracy in the United States.
