Reply #5: That has been the problem all along. [View All]

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

It's been the problem for years. We will never get legislation that consistently benefits ordinary people until the campaign finance system is fixed. And that won't happen because of Buckley v. Valeo, which was decided in 1976 and which basically says that the First Amendment protects the rights of corporations to donate money to politicians. McCain-Feingold tried to get around that by mandating that only individuals can give directly to candidates for office, but there are a thousand loopholes, such as PACs, by which corporations can shower politicians with money. And now we are waiting for another Supreme Court decision, Citizens United v. FEC, which might invalidate McCain-Feingold, and restore the ability of corporations to contribute unlimited amounts directly to candidates. So the campaign finance system will probably become even more corrupt (and corrupting) than it ever was.

Politicians require huge sums of money to finance their campaigns, so they'll never turn down corporate contributions. This is true of both parties, and this is why the Democrats are just as beholden to their corporate contributors as Republicans.

And it's also why we little people can't do a damn thing to change it.