Opinions

Trouble with Trump boils down to election system drowned in dollars

Donald Trump is sometimes accused of being a "RINO" (Republican In Name Only). Not true, but he certainly resembles a famous rhinoceros. In 1959, the citizens of Sao Paulo, Brazil, elected Cacareco to their city council. Cacareco, a rhinoceros living in the city zoo at the time, won with more than 100,000 votes.

Casareco's election expressed the profound dissatisfaction of the electorate with municipal corruption believed to be endemic and beyond the reach of ordinary electoral reform.

Surely Americans, who increased their approval of "The Donald" after he snorted, stomped and swung his horn around the stage of Fox's debate, were demonstrating their disapproval of a system for picking presidents more than endorsing "Donreco" for the top job.

Whether you approve or disapprove of Donreco's performance, his appearance on the stage, a large, heavy-footed but small brained, horny megafauna, expresses a truth about American politics. At the state and local level, the advertising trills of toads and the snorts of boars reveal symptoms of the same malaise: an exclusive diet of monetary contribution.

Donreco is a billionaire. That's the system. National candidates are either super-rich on their own or their key backing is in millions from one or more billionaires. Even while the ordinary voter may support a candidate, it is common knowledge that the political system is almost always about money, serious money.

Billionaires do not control the Alaska Legislature (though we can "boast" that billionaire contributions have dabbled in our politics and feed the legislative process) but "serious money" does weigh heavily. In next year's campaign, secret money sifted through corporations will play an even greater role. In no other country calling itself a democracy is "dollarocracy" so deeply entrenched. We support billionaires or their surrogates for president because that's the way it is? That's pathetic. Vote for a rhinoceros.

Five of the nine-member Supreme Court of the United States have said that the constitutional principle of free speech protects most of this system of control. Though Citizens United gets most of the credit, in its 2003 opinion, Buckley v. Valeo, the court said that the principal of free speech prohibited Congress from limiting what a campaign could spend to get any person elected or what an "independent person" could spend to get another person elected. The Citizens United case just extended these rights to corporations.

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Interestingly, the court allowed requirements that the sources of money be disclosed, even hinting that requiring shareholder approval for contributions passes constitutional muster. So partial cures are available.

But unfortunately we are asking every legislature to heal itself. Almost everyone now sitting in an elected position is a beneficiary of the money system. Their interest in change, regardless of rhetoric, is thus unremarkably low or worse.

As recently reported by Dermot Cole in Alaska Dispatch News, Alaska's legislative leadership is actually busy reducing checks on the dollar-based system by slashing the budget of the Alaska Public Offices Commission. Why do Alaskans return that "leadership" to office unless the legislator's constituents think the current system is fine? Discouraging.

Voters have succumbed to TV advertising as the main source of election information, but reporting systems and enforcement capability can be jacked up. To offer just one example: Require reporting of sources of payment for television advertising in the same size print and pace of delivery as the ad itself and no hiding of real donors behind lovely organizational names.

Particularly in a small place with strong community connections like Alaska, every social organization, whatever its main purpose, can call political aspirants to task at question forums or debates where the public and membership can test opinion and qualification.

Other methods are also available in Alaska to support the democratic base to our representative system. Fix our politicized legislative apportionment system. As once approved by the voters in an advisory initiative, go unicameral with smaller districts.

By acting, Alaska can be the vital leader, following the "test tube" role of the states, stirring national policy reform trumping Trump. Turn down the television and commit to candidates willing to renovate our political system.

John Havelock is a former Alaska attorney general and former White House Fellow. He practices law and lives in Anchorage.

The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com

John Havelock

John Havelock is an Anchorage attorney and university scholar.

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