People Trump

The first amendment of the United States constitution reads as follows:

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‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances’.

‘The language seems slightly archaic because it was written in 1789, but is clear enough for us to understand that freedom of speech cannot be curtailed. It can however be restricted, for example when related to threats of violence or pornography.

In 2010, the US Supreme Court eliminated restrictions on the funding of elections, interpreting this as a First Amendment free speech right. Corporations and wealthy individuals were free to influence elections, by creating political action committees that spend money on advertising. This was the outcome of the famous Citizens United case, which fatally damaged US democracy because both their major political parties are now permanently influenced by corporate interests. If the reason you won your seat is your donors, then it is likely that your actions in office will also be influenced by them. This seems to have become inescapable in US politics. However, there is another way of doing politics, and though its formula is simple, its execution is very hard.