In 1998 Bill Cosby hosted a television show called “Kids Say the Darndest Things.” Throughout, he would ask children a question, and they would invariably respond with something cute or funny. I remember thinking that show was both insulting and dismissive of children as their refreshingly honest responses were quickly dismissed as humor.
It reminded me of when I was a child and I was told how perfectly legal it was for wealthy people to give large amounts of money to politicians, and my response was “Isn’t that bribery?” Naturally, my reaction was brushed off as funny and filed away under the “kids say the darndest things” category.
This past week, envelopes were sent out at the behest of the City Council with a ballot called “We the People Amendment,” which people can vote on. This amendment, backed by an organization called Move To Amend, asks voters if they would support amending the Constitution in two specific ways.
First, it states that a person is indeed just that and doesn’t qualify as a corporation. Secondly, it claims money spent by individuals with the purpose of influencing an election or a politician does not qualify as free speech, and as such can be regulated without violating the First Amendment. The ballot being sent out is just an advisory question, and even if voters support this amendment, it will not affect the current law, but it’s the first step toward building mass political pressure to push it through Congress.
This ballot should be important to all of us because the public opinion question is a legitimate way to change the biggest problem in politics: money. If there is any credibility to the proverb “money is the root of all evil,” then there is plenty of reason to be concerned about the fact that almost 7 billion dollars were spent in the 2012 election, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Charles Baudelaire once said, “The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world he did not exist.” The second greatest trick the devil played was convincing the American public that money doesn’t influence politicians, and what should be called bribery is known as a ‘contribution’ in politics. No matter how honest we might think a politician is, the fact that money is involved taints everything and affects our opinions.
When Gov. Herbert awarded Provo Rivers Construction the winning bid for the 1.1 billion I-15 construction project in 2010, many people assumed they were the best choice for the job. However, the validity of the winning bid was put into question when it came to light that Provo Rivers Construction had ‘contributed’ $87,500 to Gov. Herbert’s campaign fund, as well as having private meetings with the Governor weeks before the winning bid was announced.
As a result, the losing bidders (Flatiron, Skanska and Zachry) disputed the decision by UDOT, arguing the bid was awarded inappropriately. Rather than have this claim go to court, UDOT settled with FSZ by giving them 13 million dollars of taxpayer money to keep them quiet. This is an example of why having money in politics not only influences every decision a politician makes, but in this case, it cost Utah valuable taxpayer dollars that could have been used for our underfunded education system.
Examples like this are why we need to take the city opinion question seriously and not dismiss it as junk mail or some sort of hippie initiative. Corporations as well as special interest money have completely taken over our political system and have managed to convince society that it’s acceptable. This ballot is about educating the public and asking the people who know the system is broken to have their voices heard and force Congress to put people back into the political process.
As college students, we should be the most motivated in supporting such an amendment. Students are facing a future that looks devastating. There is a high unemployment rate, and student debts continue to rise. The 13 million dollars Gov. Herbert and UDOT paid to keep quiet the fact he accepted $87,500 in contributions from the winning bidder would have satisfied a lot of student debts.
When Gov. Herbert was asked about that issue, he said, “I’m just disengaged. That’s not my responsibility. I don’t always know who’s given money to the campaign. That’s the campaign’s responsibility. The quid pro quo, the connection, is something I’m virtually unaware of.” Seems to me it’s the politicians that say the darndest things.