Americans Have Never Accepted Corruption And Will Not Now
The Robber Baron era of the late 19th century. The Watergate scandals of the 1970s. The soft money influence-buying scandals of the 1990s. All horrendous stains on our nation’s history. And all pale in comparison to the political corruption in America today.
I have worked for 54 years on corruption and democracy issues, starting with the Watergate scandals and the reforms that resulted. I can confidently say that our country has never seen the likes of the influence-buying, abuse of public office for private gain, self-dealing, and greed that are embedded in Washington today.
Today’s campaign finance system is corrupt to the core. President Donald Trump is the undisputed king of abusing his public office to enrich himself. And the Supreme Court majority has eviscerated anti-corruption campaign finance and bribery laws.
The Corrupt Campaign Finance System
Following Watergate, Congress and the Supreme Court recognized the danger of campaign contributions being used to corrupt government decisions.
Congress placed limits on contributions to candidates and political committees in 1974 and the Supreme Court in 1976 upheld these limits in Buckley v. Valeo.
Beginning in 2010, however, the Supreme Court, through its Citizens United and McCutcheon decisions, allowed unlimited contributions to return to our elections. This resulted in massive unlimited contributions to Super PACs to pay for political expenditures that directly benefit federal officeholders and candidates.
The mega-rich have only been too willing to take advantage of this. The top 10 political donors gave a combined $1.2 billion in the last election – most of that to Super PACs that supported Republicans.
Elon Musk’s $250 million to a Super PAC supporting Trump’s election led to Musk helming projects that have torn apart vital government functions. Musk is the starkest illustration of how billionaires can buy their way into Washington.
Trump’s Abuse of Office
Trump has amassed a long list of abuses of office during these early months of his second term.
Abusing the executive order process. Abusing presidential powers to threaten, harass, extort, and demand criminal charges against his perceived enemies. Ignoring the Constitution and the laws of the land. Obsessively abusing the presidency to enrich himself.
Trump’s profiteering from crypto is perhaps the greatest conflict of interest in presidential history. He is both a major financial investor in crypto and the nation’s most powerful crypto policymaker.
Since the start of his second term, Trump has issued orders supporting the industry, appointed crypto-friendly supporters to his Administration, and promoted its growth, setting a goal of making the United States “the crypto capital of the world.”
Meanwhile he reportedly has made about $1 billion from crypto during the last nine months, a period starting just before his election. Forbes believes Trump’s crypto empire will bring “hundreds of millions, perhaps billions, more.”
Solution: Public Financing of Elections
The only comprehensive solution to the nation’s corrupt campaign finance system is public financing of federal elections. The reform worked well for the presidential system when it was enacted after Watergate. The Supreme Court upheld the reform as constitutional because it served to further the general welfare.
Every President elected from 1976 to 2004 participated in the public financing system.
Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne wrote in 2006 that “public financing of presidential campaigns, instituted in response to the Watergate scandals of the early 1970s, was that rare reform that accomplished exactly what it was supposed to achieve.”
The system became outmoded in the 2000s. Congress never updated it.
Corruption via political money in Washington will never be stopped until, and unless, candidates can run their campaigns on an alternative system of public financing to avoid the trap of being dependent on and obligated to influence-seeking funders.
Solution: Curbing Presidential Abuse
For decades, there was an unwritten compact between our Presidents and the American people that the President would not misuse the office to enrich himself. Trump has destroyed that compact.
We need to overhaul our anti-corruption laws to ensure they apply fully to the presidency. Current rules exempt Presidents and Vice Presidents from conflict-of-interest standards that apply to the executive branch. It’s time to close that loophole and implement new laws that hold Presidents accountable. That’s one solution. A better solution, however, is to elect honest Presidents with personal integrity and moral values.
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The fight for democracy reform is always hard. But that doesn’t mean we give up. On the contrary, it means we fight and continue to fight until we win. We fight because our democracy, our country, and the American people depend on it.
Repairing the damage to our democracy will take time, persistence, and political will. But, in the words of the late civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, we must never give up and never give in.
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With Congress leaving town for August and Washington pretty much empty, we are going to take a break from the newsletter for August and will be back in September.
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Fred’s Weekly Note appears on Thursdays in Wertheimer’s Political Report, a Democracy 21 newsletter. Read this week’s and other recent newsletters here. And, subscribe for free here and receive your copy each week via email.
