Jamie Raskin: Plutocracy Billionaires Cabinet
on Sunday, January 29, 2017Jamie Raskin Money Quote saying that seven years after the Jan. 21, 2010 anniversary of Citizens United Supreme Court decision that resulting political dark money in elections has resulted in plutocracy. Jamie Raskin said:
“Seven years ago, five justices overturned two centuries of jurisprudence to determine that private business corporations enjoy the political free speech rights of the people. Today after hundreds of millions of dollars in dark money have been spent by CEOs in the name of their unwitting shareholders and billionaires act as our new political bosses and cabinet secretaries, we can see what plutocracy looks like” — Jamie Raskin
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In this quote, Jamie Raskin appears to be criticizing the impact of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which allowed for unlimited political spending by corporations and unions. He argues this has led to “hundreds of millions of dollars in dark money” being spent in elections against the interests of ordinary shareholders.
By saying “billionaires act as our new political bosses”, Raskin also suggests wealthy donors have gained outsized influence over politicians and policymaking. The best interpretation is that Raskin believes Citizens United has undermined political equality by concentrating power in the hands of major companies and a small number of rich individuals, transitioning the U.S. closer to a “plutocracy” ruled by the wealthy rather than a true democracy.
Overall, the quote presents Raskin’s view that dark money in politics threatens representative government.