Corruption runs rampant and deep in America’s elections. A weekly note by Fred Wertheimer published by Democracy 21 examines how to purge it. Here is an excerpt:

The top 100 donors to Super PACs in the 2020 elections, for example, gave more than $2 billion. And that’s just one example of the big money that is flooding our elections.

These are contributions with a purpose: to influence government decisions on the great policy issues facing the country – healthcare and drug prices, financial and investment policies, climate change, guns, and energy, to name just a few.

A product of the Supreme Court decisions in Citizens United and McCutcheon, the current campaign finance system traps federal officeholders in a system that makes them heavily dependent on, and obligated to, influence-seeking big money funders.

Read the full story note. Also, visit the main Democracy Chronicles section on American Democracy or our articles on Money Politics.