Thursday, December 10, 2015
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
PACs and Super-PACs are Challenging the Political Process of Democracy
In the United States of America, there are groups that can provide money to either another specific group, a candidate, or a committee. These groups are known as PACs, or Political Action Committees. These groups can give up to $5,000 to a candidate committee, up to $15,000 to a national committee party, or up to $5,000 to another PAC. There are also things called Super-PACs. These are committees that cannot give money to a candidate or party, but also have no maximum amount of money they can use. Since they can't give the money to others, they use it for creating ads or commercials for a certain candidate or party instead.
Not surprisingly, there are usually two sides when viewing Super-PACs and PACs. To quote usnews.com on Super-PACs, "Proponents of super PACs argue that free speech is protected under the First Amendment, and they contend that it’s a fair system since candidates are not allowed to coordinate with them. Opponents disagree, and many are disturbed by predictions of upwards of $2 billion being spent by super PACs on the upcoming presidential election." In my opinion, PACs and Super-PACs are challenging the view of democracy in the United States. Yes, the (Super) PACs have no coordination with candidates, but it is very apparent in this world that the person with the most money tends to win. Because of the amount money earned and given by these committees, it looks like anyone who doesn't have enough money will definitely not win. According to cnbc.com and a research done by sunlightfoundation.com, "almost half of the contributions to the nine largest Super PACs have come from just 22 donors, who each gave more than $500,000." This political system is supposed to be about freedom and everyone having an equal chance at voting, not having the most rich person win every single time. Once again, PACs and Super-PACs are challenging the political process of democracy in the united states, and it needs to stop.
https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacfaq.php
http://www.usnews.com/debate-club/are-super-pacs-harming-us-politics
http://www.cnbc.com/id/46341236
http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2012/02/01/superpac-takeaways/
Not surprisingly, there are usually two sides when viewing Super-PACs and PACs. To quote usnews.com on Super-PACs, "Proponents of super PACs argue that free speech is protected under the First Amendment, and they contend that it’s a fair system since candidates are not allowed to coordinate with them. Opponents disagree, and many are disturbed by predictions of upwards of $2 billion being spent by super PACs on the upcoming presidential election." In my opinion, PACs and Super-PACs are challenging the view of democracy in the United States. Yes, the (Super) PACs have no coordination with candidates, but it is very apparent in this world that the person with the most money tends to win. Because of the amount money earned and given by these committees, it looks like anyone who doesn't have enough money will definitely not win. According to cnbc.com and a research done by sunlightfoundation.com, "almost half of the contributions to the nine largest Super PACs have come from just 22 donors, who each gave more than $500,000." This political system is supposed to be about freedom and everyone having an equal chance at voting, not having the most rich person win every single time. Once again, PACs and Super-PACs are challenging the political process of democracy in the united states, and it needs to stop.
https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacfaq.php
http://www.usnews.com/debate-club/are-super-pacs-harming-us-politics
http://www.cnbc.com/id/46341236
http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2012/02/01/superpac-takeaways/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)