Context: Many Americans are concerned about the role that independent groups and campaign donations play in politics. Their fear is that money gives independent groups and donors the ability to influence electoral outcomes and policy. Additionally, people concerned about money in politics claim that independent groups and donors diminish the voice of the American people. In this way, economic inequality creates political inequality. Citizens United v. FEC (2010) increased concern about money and politics because the Supreme Court ruled that independent groups (527s and 501) can spend unlimited amounts of money on electioneering communication at any time during an election as long as they do not coordinate with the candidates campaign.
Topics
Campaign Finance LawCitizens United v. FEC (2010)
PACs
Super PACS, Independent Expenditure Groups, Dark Money
Interest Groups
Lobbying, grass roots and astro turf
Democracy and Liberalism. You will be evaluated on the strength of your argument and your ability to think critically.
Parenthetical citation (Evers-Hillstom 2020) (Hacker and Pierson 2020, 66)
Complete citation:
Evers-Hillstrom, Karl 2020 (Jan. 21). More money, less transparency: A decade under Citizens United. Open Secrets.
Hacker, Jacob S. and Paul Pierson. 2020. Let Them Eat Tweets. New York: Liveright Publishing Company
Required Reading
On Big Money and Politics
Hacker, Jacob S. and Paul Pierson. 2020. Let Them Eat Tweets. New York: Liveright Publishing Company. Reading will be available on Monday and posted on blackboard.
Evers-Hillstrom, Karl 2020 (Jan. 21). More money, less transparency: A decade under Citizens United. Open Secrets
We the People, Chapter 10, Section on Money and Politics
Center for Responsive Politics/Opensecrets.org, Money-in-Politics Timeline
https://www.opensecrets.org/resources/learn/timeline. Not required but helpful
On Lobbying and Interest Groups
We the People, Chapter 11, Interest Groups
Hiroko Tabuchi. 2020 (Nov. 11) How One Firm Drove Influence Campaigns Nationwide for Big Oil. New York Times (Blackboard)
Dan Auble. 2021 (Feb. 25) Capitalizing on Conflict: How Defense Contractors and foreign Nations Lobby for Arms Sales. OpenSecrets. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/reports/capitalizing-on-conflict
Capitalizing on conflict: How defense contractors and foreign nations lobby for arms sales
