Alexander Hamilton thought he (and the others who wrote the Constitution) had it all figured out.
He and his colleagues never imagined that a group of billionaires would spend 43 years and billions of dollars to seize the US Supreme Court, which would then legalize political bribery.
They never conceived of a foreign billionaire family coming to America and building a nationwide media ecosystem that was capable of convincing Americans that up was down, wrong was right, and a convicted fraudster and rapist would be a noble president.
They would’ve laughed at you if you told them that the richest man in the world would come from apartheid South Africa to hook up with a grifter billionaire to become co-president.
In Federalist 68, Hamilton wrote:
He also believed that good elected officials in Congress, dependent on the voters for their own political futures, would serve as a check against a corrupt president bent on exploiting his position for his own enrichment, the demands of special interest groups (like billionaires), or the interests of a hostile foreign government:
Without billionaire-controlled media (including billionaire-owned social media) and billions spent to carpet-bomb America with extraordinarily deceptive advertising, Donald Trump would never have had a chance.
By the late 19th century, we realized Hamilton was mistaken and put up guardrails to prevent this.
The Communications Act of 1934 established the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and gave it authority to regulate “broadcasting in the public interest.” It also established the Equal Time Rule, requiring broadcast stations to give major candidates for public office roughly equal exposure to the public.
In 1941, the FCC introduced the first specific limits on media ownership with its “Report on Chain Broadcasting,” which restricted ownership of multiple radio stations. In 1946, the FCC established the “duopoly” rule, prohibiting ownership of more than one television station in a market. No Fox or Sinclair, in other words, would be allowed a national footprint to corrupt our democratic system.
In 1949, the FCC formally adopted the Fairness Doctrine as a rule, and in 1959 Congress amended the Communications Act of 1934 to codify the Fairness Doctrine into law. Specifically, they rewrote Section 315(a) to read:
Similarly, we once had hard and fast rules against billionaires and giant corporations corrupting our political process.
After the Industrial Revolution of the late 1880s brought mind-boggling levels of wealth to a small number of men, those Robber Barons predictably reached out for control of the politicians, state and federal, who might regulate their behavior.
In response, states and the US Congress began passing serious laws to limit the corrupting power of money in politics.
He and his colleagues never imagined that a group of billionaires would spend 43 years and billions of dollars to seize the US Supreme Court, which would then legalize political bribery.
They never conceived of a foreign billionaire family coming to America and building a nationwide media ecosystem that was capable of convincing Americans that up was down, wrong was right, and a convicted fraudster and rapist would be a noble president.
They would’ve laughed at you if you told them that the richest man in the world would come from apartheid South Africa to hook up with a grifter billionaire to become co-president.
In Federalist 68, Hamilton wrote:
Indeed, while a knave or rogue or traitor may fool enough people to even ascend to the office of mayor of a major city or governor of a state, Hamilton told us, the people would ferret out such a con man or traitor and Congress and the Supreme Court would put a brake on such a man even if he were to slip past the voters and the Electoral College:
Hamilton’s pride in the system that he himself had helped create was hard for him to suppress.
He even bragged in Federalist 71 that presidents would be of such high character that they could easily avoid being seduced “by the wiles of parasites and sycophants, by the snares of the ambitious, the avaricious, the desperate, by the artifices of men who possess their confidence more than they deserve it, and of those who seek to possess rather than to deserve it.”
He also believed that good elected officials in Congress, dependent on the voters for their own political futures, would serve as a check against a corrupt president bent on exploiting his position for his own enrichment, the demands of special interest groups (like billionaires), or the interests of a hostile foreign government:
Turns out, Hamilton was wrong. His nightmare scenario tracks back to five corrupt Republicans on the Supreme Court, starting with Lewis Powell authoring the 1978 Bellotti decision that says money is “free speech” and corporations are “persons.” It reached its fetid bottom with John Roberts’ and Clarence Thomas’ Citizens United blowing up almost all campaign contribution limits.
Without billionaire-controlled media (including billionaire-owned social media) and billions spent to carpet-bomb America with extraordinarily deceptive advertising, Donald Trump would never have had a chance.
By the late 19th century, we realized Hamilton was mistaken and put up guardrails to prevent this.
The Communications Act of 1934 established the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and gave it authority to regulate “broadcasting in the public interest.” It also established the Equal Time Rule, requiring broadcast stations to give major candidates for public office roughly equal exposure to the public.
In 1941, the FCC introduced the first specific limits on media ownership with its “Report on Chain Broadcasting,” which restricted ownership of multiple radio stations. In 1946, the FCC established the “duopoly” rule, prohibiting ownership of more than one television station in a market. No Fox or Sinclair, in other words, would be allowed a national footprint to corrupt our democratic system.
In 1949, the FCC formally adopted the Fairness Doctrine as a rule, and in 1959 Congress amended the Communications Act of 1934 to codify the Fairness Doctrine into law. Specifically, they rewrote Section 315(a) to read:
The 1975 newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rule prohibited ownership of both a daily newspaper and a full-power broadcast station in the same market.
Similarly, we once had hard and fast rules against billionaires and giant corporations corrupting our political process.
After the Industrial Revolution of the late 1880s brought mind-boggling levels of wealth to a small number of men, those Robber Barons predictably reached out for control of the politicians, state and federal, who might regulate their behavior.
In response, states and the US Congress began passing serious laws to limit the corrupting power of money in politics.
