An Unprecedented Wave of Money in US Midterm Elections

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There is something paradoxical and rotten in the kingdom of America: Citizens are increasingly disgusted with politics, skeptical about their elected leaders and less inclined to go to the polls. But a tsunami of ever larger amounts of money hits the country with every election to disseminate simplistic messages and shake [the people] out of their apathy — generating in turn more disgust and disaffection …

From this point of view, the 2014 midterm elections, which will take place in a somewhat depressed atmosphere on Tuesday, Nov. 4 with the aim of replacing the House of Representatives and a third of the Senate, will mark the height of this deleterious trend.

Four billion dollars have been thrown into the battle, making this midterm election the most expensive in the history of the United States. “It’s 10 times more than the government has committed to fighting Ebola,” notes CNN. Out of that $4 billion, $3 billion has been spent to finance grassroots campaign staffers, with their buses, their leaflets, their T-shirts and their activist troops who canvass voters house by house. But what is most worrying to the research institutes that track the incestuous link between money and politics is the remaining billion. This last billion is the product of sumptuous gifts dispensed by “special interests” outside the campaigns via private super PACs, where the goal is to buy influence by electing politicians who work in favor of their interests. “These interests want to have their guys in place” to pass laws favorable to them, explains Ian Vanderwalter of the Brennan Center for Justice.*

“Black” Money

This “black” money has been flowing particularly vigorously after the Supreme Court’s decision, Citizens United vs. FEC (Federal Election Commission) in 2010, which allows groups and private individuals to spend an unlimited amount of money as long as they are not directly linked to the candidate’s campaign. It has given a disproportionate place to some billionaires, who dominate campaigns with their millions and who coordinate their plans hand-in-hand with the parties. At the top of the list are the very secretive brothers David and Charles Koch, who everyone talks about but no one ever sees. These billionaire libertarian oilmen, staunch enemies of raising taxes and of all the regulations that the Obama administration has tried to impose on the energy sector, have spent some $290 million this fall to promote “acceptable” candidates, via the super PAC Freedom Partners and the NGO Americans for Prosperity. They have funded the campaign of Republican Tom Cotton in Arkansas, in the hope of seeing him take the seat of retiring Democrat Mark Pryor. A second figure, newer to the scene, is Tom Steyer, a new billionaire who has launched $74 million into the fray to support candidates concerned with the environment. A third heavyweight, former New York Mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg, has spent $20 million to support candidates in favor of restricting firearms, a goal that has triggered the concern of the National Rifle Association, another key donor, which is trying to outbid him.

This year, it’s North Carolina, a pivotal state where the race is tight, that carries the dubious title of most campaign expenditures, with $90 million — a new record. The advertisements there have a violent malice to them, with Republicans showing images of Obama interspersed with the Islamic State’s masked murderers, to illustrate his impotence in carrying out his responsibilities. Democrats haven’t been left out; their ads accuse their opponents of “hating women.” According to George Washington University, the impact on voter behavior of these aggressive and expensive campaigns remains poorly established.

*Editor’s Note: Though accurately translated, this quote could not be verified.