It is no secret that in this country nearly all politicians fund their campaigns by receiving money from enormous and incredibly wealthy corporations and individuals. It also a matter of both common sense and well-confirmed science that this leads to political corruption.
Psychologist Robert Cialdini points out that when people are given anything, they feel like they owe something to the giver. Casinos (and other businesses, too) exploit this principle of human psychology by offering free sodas to the customers. The casinos know what they’re doing, and it works: it causes these customers to spend much more on average than they would have without the free drinks. It’s like the customers feel they owe the casino for its “kindness.” I suspect most people aren’t even aware that this happens to them: it goes on at a subconscious level.
Politicians are people like you and me, they have the same flaws and irrational behaviors like the rest of us. When they receive money from enormous corporations and billionaires, we should expect they will also feel the need to “pay them back for their kindness” if only subconsciously. Politicians also end up in moral dilemmas: now they must pick between doing the right thing for the people and pleasing their donors, and without the donors, they can’t fund their campaigns and won’t be re-elected [Here’s a real world example of a politican who lost donor support for supporting legislation that her donors did not like]. Faced with that decision, many of them make the wrong choices.
Don’t believe me? Senator John McCain recently addressed Congress about the corrupt system that is the U.S. government. We’re paying for Navy ships that the Navy does not need or even want, because somebody makes a buck off it, and that somebody has enough influence to get Congress to do it. It’s stupid alright, but it is what we’re doing. Researchers from Stanford and Princeton University have concluded:
“Not only do ordinary citizens not have uniquely substantial power over policy decisions; they have little or no independent influence on policy at all,” the researchers write in the article titled, “Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens.”
Affluent Americans, however, “have a quite substantial, highly significant, independent impact on policy,” Gilens and Page write. Organized interest groups also “have a large, positive, highly significant impact upon public policy.”
The research supports the theories of Economic Elite Domination, which says policy outcomes are influenced by those with wealth who often own businesses, and Biased Pluralism, which says policy outcomes “tend to tilt towards the wishes of corporations and business and professional associations.”
Its hard to be sure how deep this corruption runs. Does corporate greed eat up a few crumbs of the federal budget or the whole pie? Is corporate greed responsible for laws that make it hard for people to start small businesses? Only one thing is for sure: we won’t know until we stop it.
Who can stop it? Clinton, Cruz, Rubio and the rest of them are all receiving these types of contributions, they cannot be trusted to stop a system that they have benefited from. Donald Trump brags about how he hasn’t taken any of these contributions, but admits that as a businessman he used to buy off politicians all the time. Please watch the interview where he plainly admits that he has done this. We can’t trust him either.
Bernie Sanders is the last remaining candidate who speaks out against money in politics, and makes it a central part of his campaign. Can we trust him? I’ve been open minded but careful in my approach to this question. Here are my thoughts. Bernie has funded his current campaign through regular people, no corporation money, no Super Pacs. All around the country people, including me, went to their local bar and donated money for a special event called “Bands for Bernie.” That’s how he raises money: small contributions from regular citizens.
But, you might ask, has Sanders ever taken money from big companies and such before to this election season? Does he live by his own principles when he condemns campaign financing? His money for past campaigns came from the Democratic Party and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign committee, and nobody else. In a debate, Clinton weakly tried to claim that Sanders was just as corrupt as she is, but FactCheck, a site that I trust for its objectivity and source citation, rightly pointed out that she was wrong and that Sanders has in fact lived up to his principles.
Some folks are scared of Bernie Sanders because he is a Democratic Socialist. Democratic Socialism is a view that boils down to this: our economy should be more democratic. There are lots of ways to make it more democratic, like:
(a) Worker Owned Enterprises. These are businesses that are owned and operated by the employees themselves.
(b) Unions.
(c) Laws that ensure fair wages and working conditions for all people.
(d) Smart government policies and programs that are designed to save people money and make it easier to get ahead in life and make more money (free college is an example of this).
Unions offer workers a voice in the workplace by negotiating working conditions, wages, benefits, etc. It is a way of having democracy in the workplace. Worker owned enterprises, where the workers themselves own the companies they work for and vote together on the decisions the company makes, are another way to put democracy in the economy. Universal free health care, which gives everyone the healthcare they need while at the same being cheaper for the average person, is another way to put democracy in the economy because if the government did that, they would be doing what polls show most people want and also arranging the part of the economy (healthcare) to suit the needs of the 99% instead of the 1%. That’s the idea. Democratic Socialists of America has a Frequently Asked Questions page that offers even more useful info on this.
And it’s an idea that works. Countries that do the things I outlined above objectively have a better quality of life than the United States. People laugh off Bernie Sanders’ promise of free college, but don’t realize that American students are going to Germany to get free college. If Germany does it for immigrants, we can at least do it for citizens. It would help people raise their incomes. It would provide more skilled workers for companies that need them. Higher incomes for individuals and companies both would pull in more taxes and allow us to fund all kinds of good things. Its an upward spiral that I want America to ride.
Sanders opposed the war in Iraq back when few other senators had the courage. He protested for Civil rights during the 1960’s and was even arrested for it. This demonstrates that he has the wisdom and the vision to lead this country. The choice is in our hands, and I know that it is abundantly clear for all of the above reasons (plus some other reasons that I cut for space!!) who the right guy for the job is. Please vote for him this November.
