Hypocrisy of US democracy: A game of money politics

By Wang Ruoxin

On Dec. 5, 2021, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a report on democracy in the United States titled “The State of Democracy in the United States.” It pointed out that American-style democracy has become "a game of money politics".

As is shown in this video, the 2020 presidential election and Congressional elections cost some US$14 billion, which are known as the most expensive elections in American history. The cost of the presidential election reached another record high of US$6.6 billion, and the Congressional elections cost over US$7 billion.

The report indicated that money politics has penetrated the entire process of election, legislation and administration. Only people with enough capital can enjoy their democratic rights provided by the Constitution. According to statistics, winners of 91% of US Congressional elections are the candidates with greater financial support. Big companies, a small group of rich people, and interest groups are generous with their support and have become the main source of electoral funding. And those so-called representatives of the people, once elected, often serve the interests of their financial backers. They speak for vested interests rather than the ordinary people.

During the 2018 midterm elections, the huge political donations, mostly coming from the top 0.01% ultra-rich of the American population, accounted for over 40% of campaign finance. Money politics and lobby groups are restricting channels for ordinary Americans to speak out, whose voices expressing genuine concerns are overshadowed by a handful of interest groups. The oligarchs would enrich themselves with the power they have got while totally ignoring the interests of ordinary Americans.

(Image Source from Internet)