However, these days the two parties have come together to
form a de facto duopoly under the direction and control of a relatively handful
of deep pocket investors. For instance, did you know that in 2024, just 1.05%
of U,S, population made 78.45% of all political contributions?
Most of that money isn’t coming from individuals like Koch, Soros, or even Musk. It’s coming from people with names like Yass, Adelson, Uihlien, Mellon, and Griffin. People that most of us have never heard of but with very deep pockets and all of whom having a very specific agenda. It's also coming from well financed political
action committees, professional associations, financial fund managers, and
corporate donors. Nevertheless, despite being literally “owned” by Wall Street,
both parties receive taxpayer subsidies.
Yelp, you read that right. Despite receiving billions from
Wall Street, both parties also receive money from taxpayers, irrespective of
their political registration, in order to support their primaries. Can you
imagine that? If you’re an Independent, like the majority of American voters, or
a member of a third party like the Greens, Libertarians, or Constitutionalists,
you still are compelled to pay for the Republican and Democrat partisan
primary!
So, if you aren’t a member of either party, what do you
care about who wins their primary? Well, the fact of the matter is that you
likely don’t, and yet your tax dollars are involuntarily taken from you and
given to them. To add insult to injury, none of the third parties (and certainly
none of the Independent candidates) get a penny in taxpayer subsidies. In fact,
they receive little or no money of any consequence from deep pocket corporate
donors.
As I said, Citizens United occurred in 2010 (Citizens United
vs. FEC). Before that, corporations and their political action committees (“PACs”)
had to go through a series of Byzantine steps to donate to candidates and parties,
and even then, they were restricted in what they could donate. In fact,
unions could keep up with most corporations. It was still possible of the
average citizen to make a difference financially in elections, especially at
the local and state levels.
Of course, the federal level was another matter. Even then, in pre-2010, Congress was largely a “Millionaire’s Club”, and if your weren’t going in, there was a pretty good chance you would be long before you retired. In 2008 for instance, the average cost of running for a seat in the House of Representatives was $1.73 million dollars while a Senate seat might cost you $8.53 million. Fast forward to 2012, just two years after Citizens United went into effect, that House seat would cost you an average of $1.57 million dollars, and that Senate seat would set you back a hefty $11.47 million.
By 2018, you were going to pay over $2 million for a seat in
the House and $15.75 million for that Senate seat. In 2022, you’d pay an
average of $2.79 million dollars for a job that paid about 170,000 a year. That
Senate seat, which paid the same as the House, would cost you $26.53 million
dollars. Prior to 2010, corporations and unions gave almost the same amount.
Nowadays, it’s a 10:1 ratio in favor of Wall Street.
By the end of the 2022 election cycle, the average winner (which
were nearly all incumbents) spent $26.5 million for the Senate seat and $2.8
million for their House seat. As an aside, the average loser for a House seat
spent $803,773 while in the Senate, the average loser dropped $13,518,918.
So, if both parties---the Democrats and Republicans---are
private corporations, and if they are funded by Wall Street, why are taxpayers
required to help underwrite their primaries through their tax dollars? Lets
look at this question another way. Taxpayer funding of primaries are the result
of legislation at the state level. Who makes up state legislatures? Despite,
being minority parties, most legislatures are comprised of Democrats and
Republicans.
How is it then, with both parties being the minority
(Democrats make up about 27% of all registered voters nationally while
Republicans make up about 26%). Independents, however, comprise about 43%. In
addition, the number of registered Democrats and Republicans has been dropping
for years while the number of “Indies” has been booming.
Thanks to having a rigged electoral system (which if freely admitted
by both parties), they are about to make it very difficult for any third party or
non-partisan candidate to get on the ballot. First, partisan candidates typically
need only three to five signatures to get on the ballot whereas third party
candidates may need ten times that amount for the same office.
In some cases, they may be required to hundreds or thousands
of signatures by petition, and you can bet that both parties will work together
to eliminate as many of those signatures as being “invalid” as possible (often
waiting as close to the filing deadline as possible to prevent them from
getting additional signatures).
Partisan gerrymandering of districts (which the Supreme
Court has refused to rule on) is another way to keep voters from being
represented. Districts are aligned to ensure that the presiding party will keep
registered voters from that party in the majority in that district. The result
is that 97% of incumbents are automatically reelected.
Lastly, money. No campaign can be run without money, and
lots of it. Since both parties are in bed with Wall Street and some very
wealthy donors, very little money goes to anyone else aside from the pre-approved
partisan candidates. Of course, the corporate owned media does its party to
ignore or belittle any third party or Indie candidate, treating them as if they
were a sideshow amid claims of “wasting your vote” or “throwing away your vote”.
In addition, both state parties ensure that their party’s
primary remains closed. That is, unless you’re a member of their clique, you
can’t play in their sandbox. However, since the legislation doesn’t allow for
any distinction between being a partisan voter or not, everyone is taxed
equally to fund their sandbox.
So, that means that in the 13 states and the District of
Columbia with closed primaries (which includes Kentucky, Florida, Delaware, New
York, and Pennsylvania), some 23.5 million Independents voters and
approximately 5.3 million third party voters were not just denied the
opportunity to vote, they were forced to pay for those closed partisan primaries
thanks to partisan legislation. Sound fair? Remember, that the American
Revolution came about over the issue of “taxation without representation”.
It would be like two cliques from high school throwing a
party that you’re not invited to, but you have to pay for it! I think this would qualify as “taxation
without representation” just as well, don’t you? Our Founding Fathers (who
frowned on political parties to begin with) would be up in arms. As an aside,
the pre-revolutionary “Sons of Liberty” were well known for tar and feathering
tax collectors and others for doing less, not to mention hanging many an official
of the Crown in effigy from Boston Common’s “Liberty Tree”.
So, where does that leave us? Interestingly, this demonstrates
that we have a duopoly which does not represent the majority of Americans. Not
even close. In order to maintain control, it’s necessary to rig the system to
ensure that they and only they retain power. That means that each party caters
to the extreme wings of their party, which is responsible, at least in part, to
the great divide we are experiencing in this country while at the same time brainwashing
us into believing they’re trying bridge that divide.
They force, through legislation, citizens to financially support them, giving the impression of popular support. They gerrymander districts to give themselves a near perpetual hold on districts. The absence of term limits allows them to hold office for as long as they want while corporate control over campaign finances virtually guarantees that there’s no serious challenge to the status quo while the media, pretending to be unbiased, ignores or ridicules anyone who has the audacity to resist or demand choice. Kool-Aide anyone?
Nether the Republican Party or the Democratic Party are the “official” parties of the United States. They are merely two of many, and they’re both minority parties at that! They do not have the right to prohibit people from voting or ballot access any more than they have the right to mandate support of their primary unless all primaries are equally supported, at least in my opinion.
Campaign finance reform, term limits, rank choice voting, equal ballot access, non-partisan gerrymandering and nationwide citizen referendums are seriously required if we’re to have a mediocrem
of freedom left for ourselves and future generations. If America is to reclaim the title of "Beacon of Freedom", wouldn't you think we should start with our own electoral process first?
Thank you for reading
"Another Opinion", the Op/Ed blog page for the "militant
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along. Below you will find links to the sources we used in writing this
article. Thank you.
Taxpayer Funding: The Cost of Closed Primaries
Research Brief: Growing Cohort of Independent Voters BecomesCritical Segment of Electorate
Voters Who Identify As Independent Skyrockets As Democrats
and Republicans Dwindle
How US states make it tough for third parties in elections
10 Ways to Fight the Corporatocracy
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