Congress and state legislatures have passed many laws to reduce the corrupting influence of big money on our government. But since the 1970s, the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly weakened these laws. Most significantly, the court has equated political spending with speech. Because the first amendment guarantees the right of free speech, the court has ruled that limits on campaign spending act as a limit on speech and, therefore, are not constitutional. The result is that wealthy individuals and corporations can spend at will on political campaigns, giving them control of our elections and our elected officials.
To get big money out of politics and restore equal representation, we need a constitutional amendment, one that says money spent on elections is not the same as speech. And it needs to allow Congress and the states to pass and enforce laws that prevent the excessive influence of large donations and spending by individuals, corporations and unions.
Americans have amended the…
