Democracy is founded on the principal of distributed participatory governance to create a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Dark Money in politics allows small groups of people to have excessive and unfair influence over politics and policies in cities, states, and the entire nation, typically for personal gain and sometimes harming citizens in the process. The PBS documentary “Dark Money” takes a look at this phenomenon.
Further Reading
- Columns of Democracy by Nicholas Johnson
- “Dark Money Groups Will Have To Disclose Their Donors In Time For The Midterms,” Huffington Post, Paul Blumenthal, 18 Sep 2018 at 6:20 PM ET
- “Follow the Dark Money,” Mother Jones, Andy Kroll, July/August 2012 Issue
- “Supreme Court Won’t Disturb Ruling Unmasking Dark Money Donors,” New York Times, Adam Liptak, 18 Sep 2018
- Wikipedia – Dark Money
Commentary
Investigative journalist Jane Mayer explains how the Koch brothers have used their billions to shift American policies to the far right. [Source: CBC News Canada, via YouTube, 26 Feb 2016]
In her fourth book Mayer draws on court records, extensive interviews, and many private archives to examine the growing political influence of extreme libertarians among the one percent, such as the Koch brothers, tracing their ideas about taxation and government regulation and their savvy use of lobbyists to further an agenda that advances their own interests at the expense of meaningful economic, environmental, and labor reform. Mayer is in conversation with James Bennet, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. [Source: Politics and Prose, via YouTube, 16 Feb 2016]
Below is a commentary from Elizabeth Warren speaking about Dark Money. The video is queued to 3m 52s. [Source: Elizabeth Warren, via YouTube, 25 Apr 2018]