Since trump
stepped into the electoral arena, campaign
spending has been on steroids. The Wisconsin
race for state Supreme Court is being called
the “bonanza of billionaires.” The two
candidates have raised $81 million (of traceable
monies), breaking the record for the most
expensive judicial race in U.S. history. The
race could top $100 million by the April 1
election date. The winner of this race will
tip the ideological scales in this important
state.
Elon Musk, the
leading donor, has already dropped nearly $20
million. He’s also paying $100 a pop for
signatures railing on
‘activist” judges. Musk definitely has some
skin in the game beyond the MAGA agenda of
keeping women pregnant and redistricting to
expand GOP power. The co-president will need a
favorable court when and if the Tesla case
comes before Wisconsin’s High Court. Musk has
sued the state over a decision preventing his
company from opening dealerships in the
state.
We’ve seen the
floodgates open wide in contentious races that
favor the conservative agenda and the business
interests of trump and his buddies. These
corrupt, corporate bloodsuckers intend to capture the courts and
the legislatures, thereby consolidating their
power in the executive, legislative and
judicial branches. All checks and balances
would be neutralized, making it easier for the
dictator and his oligarchy to do their damage.
You may recall
that the 2024 U.S.
presidential campaign shattered all
records when it hit the billion-dollar mark.
In fact, with another $15 billion going
towards congressional races, 2024 was the most
expensive federal election cycle ever. These
folks drop a million bucks like we drop a $20
bill.
Buying and
owning judicial seats predicts the legal
outcomes of your issues and lawsuits. It’s all
about protecting your assets. The 2010
Citizens United ruling was a sea change
because it reversed a long-standing decision
on campaign finance restrictions. The U.S.
Supreme Court sided with big corporations and
other special interest groups that they had
the right to spend unlimited amounts of money
on elections. Then comes the double whammy:
Super PACs which raise and spend massive
amounts of money and the so-called dark money
groups which don’t have to disclose their
donors.
Where is this
taking the country? And what course-correction
is needed? This is a show-down between the
oligarchs and the democrats (with a small
‘d’). We can win this because it’s numerically
more of us than them, but we must be smart.
It seems like
the really, super-rich are Republican
supporters. Like Timothy Mellon, heir to the
Mellon robber barons, who dumped $125 million
in a super PAC supporting the convicted
felon’s bid to the White House.
I don’t think
Democrats can compete on this level. The social
movement is certainly not in this high roller
league. The Republicans are also more
strategic than us in how they target specific
states, ballot initiatives and candidates.
The Democrats
need to use their money not to buy elections
but to move their base to a higher level of
sophistication. Between AI trickery, social
media distractions and outright lies, it is
getting harder and harder to know what’s real
about a candidate or ballot issue. It should
be easier to show our people how important it
is to be engaged in the electoral arena where
decisions are made daily that affect our lives
and our future.
The
responsibility of movement organizers is to
continually educate our people about the
systems of oppression. They should know why they have to
go to a pantry to supplement their family’s
food, or why they have to work two scrappy
jobs to make ends meet. If we aren’t schooling
them on the features of racial and gendered
capitalism and organizing them into
resistance, they will become pawns or
collateral damage.
Our troops must
be battle-ready for the fights
ahead—physically and mentally. Our battle cry
has to be, if you can’t out spend ‘em, you got
to out organize them. Getting our butts kicked
in both those arenas is not an option.
