Thirteen years ago, the Supreme Court handed down a decision that would change the course of American politics forever. The Citizens United ruling gave corporations the same rights as individuals when it comes to campaign spending. It opened the floodgates for dark corporate money to pour into our elections, giving billionaires and corporate America an unprecedented level of influence and power in Washington.
And the situation is only getting worse. Each year, we see more and more dark money pouring into our elections. In the 2020 election cycle, outside groups spent a record-breaking $4.5 billion on federal elections, and the numbers are only expected to rise. Since the Citizens United decision in 2010, we have seen an alarming trend of increasing amounts of money pouring into elections for members of Congress. In the 2010 election cycle, outside groups spent $304 million. By 2016, that number had more than tripled to $969 million. And in the 2020 election cycle, outside groups spent a staggering $4.5 billion.
If this trend continues, it is estimated that spending in the next election, a presidential election year no less, in 2024, will surpass $6.5 billion. That's an unfathomable amount of money, and it's all being spent to influence our elections and undermine our democracy.
To put things into perspective, let's compare the amount of money spent on elections in the United States to other big democratic countries. In Canada, the total amount spent on elections in 2019 was just over $443 million. In the United Kingdom, the total amount spent on the 2019 general election was around $73 million. In Germany, the total amount spent on federal elections in 2017 was around $200 million. In France, the total amount spent on the 2017 presidential election was around $70 million. In Australia, the total amount spent on the 2019 general election was around $300 million.
When you compare these numbers to the billions of dollars being spent on elections in the United States, it's clear that we have a serious problem. We need to get big money out of politics and overturn the Citizens United decision. Our democracy depends on it. So what can we do? It's time to speak out and demand change. Contact your elected officials and demand they support legislation to overturn Citizens United and get big money out of politics. Support organizations that are fighting for campaign finance reform. And most importantly, get out and vote. We can't let billionaires and corporate America buy our elections and our democracy. The time for action is now.
