The more I learn about the US political system the more it’s clear how money buys legislation and legislators. It‘s generally discussed in the abstract, but when you take a deep dive into it it’s even more alarming and has real consequences for organizing/advocacy. A thread.
Let’s start with ballot initiatives. 24 states let you put something on the ballot if you get enough signatures. There are signature gathering firms that get paid per signature to do this. And the amount they get paid is public - average $1 million per state ballot initiative.
A bunch of things (good & bad) can be put on the ballot that will probably pass. Good things (raise min wage) pass because voters agree with them. Bad things (making it harder to hold police accountable) pass if they word initiatives in a way that deceives voters. For example...
The police unions know how to play the game. So they put measures on the ballot that deceive people into thinking it’s about police accountability when it really gives police another way to avoid accountability. Either way, it passed in LA. latimes.com/opinion/endors…
So, at the end of the day, if you can pick the right issue or know how to word the right initiative and have $1 million it means you can most likely buy legislation in a state. Let me repeat: buy legislation. That’s ballot initiatives. Now let’s investigate political campaigns.
With Facebook Ads you can actually estimate the cost of registering people to vote or even turning them out on Election Day. When you approach a donor they’ll ask “what’s the cost per vote?” A standard question and a ridiculous one. Cost to buy a vote. Yet it can be calculated.
Facebook ads can convince someone who’s not registered to go register to vote for $5. Research shows (and you can confirm after election) the % of people who vote as a result. So you can estimate cost per vote and buy votes accordingly if you have the $$. Tends to be $10-20/vote.
Let me repeat: if you have enough money you can confidently buy legislation in a US state for ~$1 million and buy votes for a candidate for $10-20/vote. That’s the US political system. Anything, for a price. And if you have the money you get what you paid for.
We haven’t even gotten to lobbying and campaign contributions. But you get the point. Now imagine how differently mega wealthy donors like the Koch bros see how to make change vs the rest of us. It’s about money. Cost estimates and delivery. That’s it.
They’re simply playing a different game than us and honestly I don’t know how to deal with it. Pretending we live in a democracy where if we can just spread the right message and organize better we can win doesn’t always reflect the way this system works. But...
Buying into a system where money is decisive feels like giving up on the whole project of democracy. But not even competing on the same playing field as the system is designed to recognize also seems a losing strategy. Once you know the game, what do you do?
This is also a convo people are having re: the dissolution of democratic norms and how to deal with Republicans who don’t play by the rules. The bottom line is they’re playing by a different set of rules and winning. And the question is how to compete and stay true to our values?
It also challenges the approach we take to activism. *If* $1 million buys legislation in a state then why are we donating more than this to advocacy orgs that don’t produce the same results? Why are we funding advocacy orgs instead of direct legislation?
Why are we investing in getting people to call their representatives, assuming we live in an actual democracy where they’ll listen, when buying legislation and votes ends up being more cost effective in many cases?
During elections is volunteering and grassroots organizing more cost effective than just depositing money in a FB ads account? Under which circumstances is this the case and when does it get defied by people power?
This requires data to answer. Our understanding of the world as it should be and also how to get there in the current system. We’ve seen mass mobilization work on high-profile issues but what about things that don’t have this visibility? Will they get sold to the highest bidder?
