Campaign Finance

"Follow the money" if you want to understand US politics. Most of the money in US politics flows through three separate channels: 1) Direct Candidate Contributions, 2) Super PACs (political action committees), and 3) non-profits. Understanding who funds US candidates and issues is critical to understanding what laws actually get passed. In 2010, the Supreme Court's "Citizens United" decision opened the floodgates for money in US politics when they ruled that corporations have the same free speech rights as individuals and thus should be allowed to give us much money as they wanted to Super PACs and that they should be able to fund privately, opening the door to "dark money" even from foreign entities into the US political system.