An 1887 critic of Britain’s government rightly proclaimed that “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” For today’s American government, though, that adage needs a small but significant amendment: Money corrupts, and absolute money corrupts absolutely.”
Washington’s pay-to-play game has long been used by corporate powers to buy particular government favors, but now the money corruption “game” is so routine, so massive, and so flagrant that it has become the government. The likes of Big Oil, Elon Musk, Wall Street lords, and high-tech hucksters buy politicians in bulk, literally usurping the people’s authority to over public policy.
But what can we do about it, especially since Democratic Party officials also plays this plutocratic game? Well, Zohran Mamdani showed us one solution last week with his grassroots populist victory over New York’s Big Money establishment to become the city’s mayor.
He ran a true people’s campaign on progressive issues and values – which he was able to do because of a populist campaign funding option the city initiated years ago called small donor public financing. This alternative provides matching dollars from a public fund for candidates who rely on small donations from regular citizens, rather than begging for big bucks from billionaires.
In Mamdani’s case, his unabashed progressivism excited long-ignored working-class voters, who contributed a few dollars each. Then, the public match added up to $13 million – enough to get his message out and organize turnout. Though he was still outspent four to one, the small donor fund provided the margin he needed to be competitive in a big race.
So far, public financing options have been adopted in 17 jurisdictions, from Arizona to Maine, Seattle to Baltimore. Why not where you live? For guidance, go to CommonCause.org.
