Campaign contributions don’t buy elections, but liberals have clung to that myth and established a dangerous argument that could harm free speech for everyone, regardless of political orientation.
“Liberals want to empower the government to silence those who advance political ideas come election time,” John O. McGinnis wrote for the Los Angeles Times.
The growth in opposition to Citizens United, the 2010 ruling which allowed corporations and unions to engage in political speech in line with the First Amendment, threatens the basis of free speech for everyone in the United States.
Despite the uproar that equated the decision with selling American democracy to the highest bidder, political scientists have found little evidence that money subverts the preference of voters. Political donations don’t make winners — they chase them.
The 2016 election has made that clear, even if that fact has been ignored. The self-funded and small-funded campaigns of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have outlived the big-donor campaigns of Scott Walker, Jeb Bush, and Marco Rubio, among others.
Get the Exclusive
05.09.2025