Money's role in politics criticized

By MARA McGINNIS
Reporter Assistant Editor

Renowned broadcast journalist Bill Moyers told a captivated audience in the Center for the Arts Nov. 3 that the "soul of democracy" has been lost in America to a corrupted political system in which private money holds power over public officials.

Moyers, who maintained that politics today has become "an arms race with money doing the work of missiles," made a convincing argument that the United States is becoming an oligarchy where elections are determined by a relative handful of the rich and privileged who decide with their money "who will run, who will win and how they will govern."

The second guest in the 13th annual Distinguished Speakers Series, Moyers joked about this year's lineup: "I see you have a conservative to tell you how he sees the world, a liberal to tell you how he sees the world, an artist to tell you how she sees the world. I'm glad you could have a journalist to come and tell you the truth."

To make his case about America's failing democracy, Moyers described several recent incidents that he said show how corporate America pays for congressional decisions made in its favor at the expense of taxpayers.

He outlined how a well-known clothing company took 17,000 jobs from Americans, moved the company out of the country to avoid U.S. taxes and has spent $500,000 in soft money to buy from Congress an advantage that it has been unable to achieve in the marketplace by asking that clothing produced in low-wage countries be allowed to enter the U.S. duty free.

He also talked about a recent defense bill passed by Congress that he said underhandedly added $5 million in subsidies, tax breaks and special favors for big corporations, and another bill passed in a hurry last month that allows certain corporate polluters not to fully disclose information about toxic chemicals as required by the Environmental Protection Agency.

"Low and behold," Moyers said, "the wording in the provision is virtually identical to language written by a lobbyist for Chemical Petroleum Manufacturing Association and the American Petroleum Institute." He added that the petroleum industry is one of the most generous contributors to congressional candidates in recent elections.

"Money and politics is an old story," said Moyers, citing William McKinley's presidential campaign as the first in which money played a significant part in the outcome of the election. But these days, he said, "the lid is off" in terms of the amount of money spent on campaigns, with a $2.2 billion pricetag attached to the 1996 federal elections. Even right here in Erie County, he added, this year's county executive race cost nearly $3 million.

About half of the money given to congressional candidates comes in checks of $1,000 or more, but it comes from less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the population, he pointed out, adding that in 1996, the average winner of a congressional seat raised $673,000, the average senator, $4.3 million.

"You have to start asking questions about the legitimacy of our political system," Moyers told the audience. "Let's face it. In a democracy based on the ideal of liberty and justice for all, it is wrong for this small handful of people to have such disproportionate power.

"People who have money are free to buy more cars, more vacations, more homes and more gizmos if they want, but they should not be able to buy more democracy. That is not a complex theory of political science. It is just a plain moral fact."