"I used to work as a bartender in a restaurant, and I called people I knew, and I probably couldn't raise two payments a day. So I had to find a lot of people to make enough money. Thinking back to the "arduous journey" of the campaign, said U.S. Congressman Cortez.
Money - the necessary "fuel" for American elections. The venue, the venue set-up, the balloons falling from the sky... Burn money everywhere all the time. "Running for Congress can cost millions. So if you want support, a frequently asked question is: 'How much can you raise?' Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig said.
The US midterm elections kicked off on November 8, and the results are now being released. On the Federal Campaign Commission's website, the bipartisan race for campaign funding is as fierce as the election. As of the 8th, the Democratic Party had raised about $1.74 billion, and the Republican Party had raised $1.58 billion. In the fundraising ranking of House candidates, Republican and current House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy topped the list — raising $26.4 million and using it to help his party colleagues campaign. If Republicans win the House, McCarthy will become Speaker of the House.
On the Federal Campaign Commission's website, McCarthy ranked first in the House candidate funding ranking
In the face of Republican fists, Democrats acknowledged that McCarthy's fundraising ability was a big reason why he exerted "so much influence" within the party. According to the US nonpartisan advertising tracking agency "Ad Influence", the midterm election could burn $16.7 billion, even surpassing the last presidential election and becoming the most expensive ever.
Why are elections getting more expensive in the United States? In addition to competing for seats in both houses and making the stakes higher, the US legal system has also opened the way for money in disguise. For example, as long as the money is not donated directly to the candidate, but secretly used for various peripheral activities (such as advertising), it can be uncapped. In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court removed donation restrictions on corporations and outside interest groups in its United Citizens v. Federal Election Commission ruling.
Since then, various "independent groups" have sprung up. According to Open Secrets, a U.S. political research firm, these independent groups contributed $4.5 billion in election-related spending in the 10 years since the Supreme Court's ruling, six times as much as in the previous 20 years combined.
Donors are often low-key, even donating through anonymous or shell companies. The source of this money is not transparent, the purpose is not disclosed, and the amount is not limited, which in essence becomes "black money". At present, the amount of fundraising recorded in the midterm elections in the United States is far from the forecast, precisely because of the "inconspicuous mountain" of the financial main army.
"The donor would donate money to an opaque nonprofit, give it an innocent-sounding name, like 'American Health Change,' and spend a million dollars on advertising in support of the candidate." Cortez said.
"Money is the milk of politics." According to the grassroots anti-corruption website "On Our Behalf," every U.S. senator spends two-thirds of his term raising money, raising an average of $45,000 a day.
In August this year, the exposure of a huge donation of $1.65 billion caused a sensation in American political circles.
According to the New York Times, an unknown electronics manufacturing tycoon, Barry Seider, has donated $1.65 billion in the past two years in the form of stock donations to the Marble Freedom Trust, a right-wing group led by conservative American political activist Leonardo Leo. This is the largest known "black gold" in the United States and is a "milestone" donation.
Screenshot of the title of the New York Times article
Meaningfully, Barry Said did not transfer money directly, but engaged in a series of unusual operations. He first donated his entire stake in the company to the Marble Freedom Trust and then sold the company to an Irish business. After the twists and turns, the Marble Freedom Trust received all the proceeds of the sale - $1.65 billion, and Side and related institutions were able to avoid nearly $400 million in taxes.
Leo, who received a huge donation, runs a huge network of black gold and gold right-wing organizations, and has advised former President Trump on his appointment to the Supreme Court, and is the real "behind-the-scenes boss". Robert Maguire, director of research at Civic Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said the donation was "jaw-dropping" and cemented Leo's "absolute heavyweight" position among conservatives.
Rankings of individual donors are registered on the "Open Secret" website. Democratic donor George Soros topped the list, donating about $130 million. In second place is Republican donor, business tycoon Richard Uylein, who donated about $80.71 million.
In addition, there are some familiar names: Michael Bloomberg behind the Democratic Party, Sheldon Adelson behind the Republican Party... The website shows that their sides are often "either/or" and distinct. Shen Yi, a professor at the Department of International Politics at Fudan University, believes that their purpose is to choose a spokesperson with the same position and interests to take office. For example, financial capital tends to be more open and international, which is somewhat in line with the policies of the Democratic Party; Industrial capital is more exposed to shocks and challenges from new technologies, tends to be conservative, and tends to favor the Republican Party.
Of course, there are also those who choose to bet on both sides and meet the source left and right. Diao Daming, a researcher at the National Institute of Development and Strategy at Chinese Minmin University, said: "The larger the capital and the more fields involved, the less eggs will be put in one basket." ”
How powerful are the gold lords? Take, for example, brothers Charles and David Koch behind the Republican Party. They operate Koch Industries as the second largest unlisted company in the United States. For years, the duo have advocated less taxation and less oversight in environmental protection. They are all behind the controversial environmental, tax and energy policies. They also funded organizations and think tanks to build a tentacled ideological apparatus known as the Koch octopus.
Eat people's mouths softly, take people's hands short.
When it comes to making important bills, U.S. politicians are clearly more likely to listen to donors. For example, in response to Obama's March 23, 2010, Affordable Care Act, a researcher found through a tracking process that those who had held fundraising events for the drafters of the bill were more than twice as likely to have their proposals adopted. Noam Chomsky, a political commentator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, argues that Americans' influence over policymaking is positively correlated with their level of wealth, with about 70 percent having little to no influence and "being deprived of political rights." ”
"It's hard to be equal to people with megaphones and whisperers." Former Montana governor Steve Bullock said.
In addition, some gold owners smash real money into an election, and maybe they can get a position to sit in, this phenomenon is called "reasonable fertilization". In the United States, the "political party fertilizer sharing system" has a long history, and behind it is the politics of money owners and the sharing of interests in the style of "retributing for the sake of retribution." According to reports, in the Trump administration, more than 40 officials are related to the Koch brothers. They are either former employees of the Koch brothers or have received funding from the Koch brothers.
It turns out that money is instilling ubiquitous influence in American society at its source—legislatively, funding the election of members of Congress; Politically, funding presidential campaigns; Judicially, it influences the appointment of some judges. Money is like a "tight curse" that tightens the operating system of the United States.
On July 14, in Austin, Texas, a pike-shaped convoy of 52 school buses stretched 1.6 kilometers to the home of Republican Senator Ted Cruz. This is a tribute to the victims of gun violence and a cry for the ineffective control of guns in the United States.
Cruz reportedly received more than $700,000 in funding from the National Rifle Association and is considered a spokesperson for the pro-grab group. CNN said more than half of members of Congress have been funded by the NRA and its affiliates or benefited from their advertising. These agencies have used their strong funding and lobbying power to block the advance of almost all major gun-related legislation since 1994.
Protest organizer Manuel Oliver lost his son in the shooting. He put his son's jersey on the first school bus, "The kids should be put before money, it's time." Diao Daming believes that US political parties and the interest groups behind them collude with each other, "both referees and goalkeepers", and it is difficult to come up with truly effective measures, and it is difficult to carry out self-revolution and "cut meat".
In the eyes of the American people, "owned by the people, ruled by the people, and enjoyed by the people" has long been gone, replaced by "legal bribery" under the sun. Under the manipulation of money, the "emperor's new clothes" of American-style democracy were stripped away, and elections became a game for the rich. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter lamented that "democracy is dead, replaced by an oligarchy." A poll released late October found that nearly eighty percent of Americans believe the country is out of control.
America's democratic functioning is not only disappointing its own people, but also worrying the world. According to the 2022 German Marshall Fund Transatlantic Trends survey, more than half believe that American democracy is in a dangerous or somewhat bad state.
Shen Yi believes that a core paradox of the US election is that the vast majority of voters have votes in their hands but are at the mercy of a small number of capitalists. The electoral game is when representatives of the interests of capital try to persuade voters to vote for a particular capital. In the process, voters become "extras" who come and go at the moment of the election.
Analysts believe that, in essence, the institutions of the United States were designed by wealthy elites in the early days of the United States. They hold political, economic, military and other dominant positions, exercise various privileges, and strive to exclude ordinary people, and of course it is impossible to achieve "democracy for the majority".
In Shen Yi's view, today's American political polarization, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party have become pure speculative and electoral machines, and even the basic governance ability required by capital has declined sharply. To a certain extent, this has triggered the anxiety of capital, prompting capital to move more and more to the front and carry out political intervention. This is "the true face of the superstructure of American-style capitalism."
Executive Producer丨Sheng Yuhong
Written by Ge Shimo
Responsible editor丨Liang Xinwen
Production丨Song Diya