Super PACs: This republic's real enemies keep getting stronger

Published: Sunday, February 5, 2012 at 4:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, February 3, 2012 at 4:37 p.m.

I am sure you have seen the incredible impact of spending by the so-called super PACs in the Republican primaries. Did you know that this term "super PAC" didn't even exist until the 2010 federal election campaign? Let me begin with a short primer that explains how they were created in the first place.


Tower lives in Hendersonville. He can be reached at

These types of political action committees are officially known as "independent-expenditure only" committees. They are allowed to raise unlimited sums of money from individuals, corporations, unions and other groups. These super PACs were made possible by two judicial decisions. The first was by the U.S. Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, which held that government may not prohibit unions and corporations from making independent expenditures about politics. Soon after, in v. FEC, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals held that contributions to groups that only made independent expenditures could not be limited.

Super PACs are not allowed to coordinate directly with candidates or political parties. However, that technicality has easily been overcome, as you will see later in this article. Can you even imagine the power that has been handed to these powerful special interest groups in influencing who actually gets elected to any federal office? How do we the people stand any chance of actually expecting those we elect to serve our best interests? They haven't been for several decades, and they clearly will have even less incentive to do so in the future.

Of course, why would they? We tell them we are deeply dissatisfied with their performance with approval ratings under 10 percent, but then we re-elect incumbents at a better than 90 percent clip. If you were one of our elected, would you pay any attention to our toothless threat?

As I watch the Republican primaries unfold, I am a little surprised at the mostly negative advertising unfolding against every candidate. Have you listened as candidates were asked if they supported these negative ads? Every time, the candidates would answer that they hadn't known about them in advance. Of course they hadn't! To have done so and then admit it would have placed them in jeopardy of violating campaign laws.

They also don't mention that the majority of these super Pacs are being led by former staffers for the candidate who would most benefit from the negative ads. No connection there, huh? Are you as bothered by this as I am?

We the people are already suffering through the aftermath of decades of leadership failures by our elected from both parties in Washington. We clearly see the evidence that our federally elected officials are increasingly working for the benefit of the powerful special interests of every sort. Now the third branch of our government has completed the cooking of our goose. It has turned over the election process to the same powerful forces that will, by their very nature, always place their own selfish interests ahead of our country's very survival.

What's even worse, as we sit today in desperate need of unified leadership that must find ways to truly address our many critical problems, we find this terribly divisive negative campaigning process widening the gulf even further between the two parties. We cannot afford even one more day of publicly pandering partisan politics while both parties' elected owe their complete allegiance to the powerful interests that fund their elections.

They are playing us for the fools that we are! They prime the pump to keep voters divided by party loyalty that we cannot seem to abandon because we so believe in our chosen party's values. What we seem to completely miss is that the folks we elect to represent us from both parties long ago transferred their loyalties to the puppet masters who pay to keep them in power.

The choices for our country are becoming steadily fewer and more critically time-sensitive. We can choose to do what we have traditionally done — just keep on re-electing the same folks who have led us to the very edge of failure — or we can find the courage to say enough is enough. Frankly, I'm not too hopeful for the latter.

After the Republican primaries are over, and if Romney wins, as is likely, the negative bashing between him and Barack Obama will begin in earnest. It won't seem like a battle between good and evil. Both sides will bash each other so badly that, to a neutral bystander, it will seem like a battle between two evils.

One will win, but it won't matter much which one because the real winners, the special interests who actually run our nation, have already assured themselves of victory. The losers have also been determined — we the people! I only wish I knew what it would take to get we the people to unite as Americans for America instead of the useless finger-pointing at each other that only pushes our nation closer and closer to such incredible harm.

As usual, these are my opinions. What are yours?

Mike Tower lives in Hendersonville. He can be reached at mike41tower


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