Eliza Newlin Carney's Six Myths About Campaign Money

In the article “Six Myths about Campaign Money”, Eliza Newlin Carney argues that there are six myths regarding money’s real role in politics, each with a hint of truth. Newlin argues that it is a myth that corporate money will now overwhelm elections because neither unions nor corporations will put vast new resources into campaigns because they could spend their money on politics, through issue advertising with limited constraints, before the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling, which ruled that unions and corporations could spend money from their vast treasuries on campaigns. Carney proceeds to argue that the argument that the Citizens United ruling will not affect the campaign finance system is also a myth, because the Court’s decision sets legal precedents which threaten other long-standing aspects of campaign finance and sets a narrow definition of corruption regarding campaign finance, jeopardizing the constitutionality of …show more content…
Federal Election Commission ruling, “the post-Citizens United landscape is so uncertain that its real impact may not be felt until 2012”. Adam Gabbatt, in his September 24th, 2012, article titled “Citizens United accounts for 78% of 2012 election spending, study shows”, reports that almost $365 million of the $465 million of outside money spent on the United States presidential election campaign thus far could be attributed to the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling. Of that, $272 million came from Super PACs, while $93 million was spent by corporations, trade associations, and non-profits, which are “able to spend unlimited amounts on political campaigning” without disclosing their funds’ source. Although corporate money is not single-handed controlling elections, organizations and non-profits began to take advantage of their economic situations to control