Politics: How Political Campaign Spending Brought Down the Roman Republic

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Politics How Political Campaign Spending Brought Down the Roman Republic If Cato, Cicero, or Julius Caesar were here today, they would recognize the danger posed by Citizens United. By Rob Goodman Posted Monday, Nov 26, 2012, at 10:20 AM ET Two years after the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United, which allowed unlimited corporate and union money into American politics, there is one line that continues to echo: "The appearance of influence or access … will not cause the electorate to lose faith in our democracy." That line lasts because it's a testable prediction. It's not a question of precedent or constitutional interpretation, but of public opinion—and as such, we all feel competent to judge it. Loss of faith, the Supreme Court allowed, is itself an argument against our increasingly unregulated campaign spending regime. Of course, democratic faith is a slippery concept. But it is always on display in an election's aftermath. In the best case, the election's winners and losers have a shared, if grudging, agreement about the fairness of the process and its outcome. In the worst case, the winner's legitimacy is just one more "fact" to disagree about. Does massive campaign spending move us closer to the worst case? One view of the 2012 election holds that super PACs proved far less effective than feared. "But ultimately," argues Nicholas Confessore in the New York Times, "Mr. Obama did not beat the super PACs; he joined them." His re-election, therefore, doesn't settle the question raised by the Supreme Court; it simply postpones it. Rather than letting the Citizens United experiment in confidence play out over the next several elections, we can find evidence now, by looking to political history. How has ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate The Worst Argument Against Going Over the Fiscal Cliff Can Restoration Hardware Legally Knock Off the Navy Chair? Read Playboy … for the Interviews	Advertisement
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