Dollarocracy: How the Money and Media Election Complex is Destroying America

RJ Eskow
Saturday, July 13, 2013

Corruption: Impairment of integrity, virtue, or moral principle: depravity … a departure from the original or from what is pure or correct.  -Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

The word “corruption” does not appear in the title or subtitle of the latest book by John Nichols and Robert W. McChesney, which is called Dollarocracy: How the Money and Media Election Complex is Destroying America. But the word resonates on every page. American democracy has been profoundly corrupted by the – usually legal – infusion of billions of dollars into the political process, and this jeremiad against corruption comes at a critical historical moment.

Nichols and McChesney wisely interweave the degeneration of independent American media with the growing dominance of big-money interests in political campaign, noting that “The moneyed interests are confident, even in the face of temporary setbacks, that they will be able to continue in their initiative because they are well served by the rapid decline in the news media as a checking and balancing force on our politics.”

This is a vital connection that too often goes unrecognized in discussions of money in politics. The concept of an “informed electorate” has become a truism in American politics, but it’s no cliché. Information is the lifeblood of democracy, and the authors have wisely recognized that the loss of an independent, truth-seeking media is half of our political problem.

There’s a reason why revolutionaries always seized the broadcasting stations first in an uprising.

Dollarocracy tells the story of the Fourth Estate’s decline over the last several decades, as big-money interests acquired press outlets while politicians took steps to weaken government requirements for accuracy and fairness in journalism. That laid the groundwork for the creation of Fox News which, as Eric Boehlert says in a trenchant quote, “altered the game by unchaining itself from the moral groundings of U.S. journalism.”

The story of media decline is interwoven with the growing influence of large donors on the political process, including some important data:

    * The 2012 election cost $10 billion.

    * That’s twice the cost of the 2008 election.

    * It’s ten times what was spent a generation ago.

    * Despite the massive generic unpopularity of Congress, 90 percent of Congressional districts have been gerrymandered to be “safe seats” for the incumbents.

    * Small donors are a small part of the campaign finance system.

The authors remind us that the exclusion of third-party candidates Jill Stein and Gary Johnson from Presidential debates, despite the fact that both clearly qualified for them under most reasonable measures, helped ensure that the 2012 political debate was limited to relatively innocuous differences of opinion between the two major party candidates. (That’s when they did differ: As Barack Obama said in one such debate, “I suspect that on Social Security, we’ve got a somewhat similar position.”)

Nichols and McChesney offer a clear set of possible solutions for this crisis of democracy which include publicly-funded elections, free airtime for candidates, transparency in advertising, and a repeal of the artificial “corporate personhood” doctrine granting “rights” to corporations.

The idea that money is destroying democracy seems to be obvious on its face, so it’s tempting to assume that a book on the topic would be an exercise in stating the obvious. Far from it: Dollarocracy is engaging and enlightening, regularly providing the reader with new information while reorganizing what she or he may know in helpful ways.

If we have any quarrel with the authors, it’s a minor one: They say in the preface that “This is a radical book in the best sense of the term,” reminding us of Martin Luther King Jr’s words: “When you are right you cannot be too radical.”

But while we are great fans of the best kinds of American radicalism, polling suggests that the views in Dollarocracy are squarely in the American mainstream. A Gallup poll conducted last month found that half of those polled supported publicly funded elections, while a “vast majority supports limiting campaign spending and contributions.”

Nichols and McChesney have performed a valuable public service in writing Dollarocracy. They’ve also produced an eminently readable book.

“With this book, John Nichols and Bob McChesney invite Americans to examine the challenges facing America in new ways, and to fully recognize the threat that the combination of big money and big media poses to the promise of self-government. They paint a daunting picture, rich in detail based on intense reporting and groundbreaking research. But they do not offer us a pessimistic take. Rather, they call us, as Tom Paine did more than two centuries ago, to turn knowledge into power. And they tell us that we can and must respond to our contemporary challenges as a nation by rejecting the Dollarocracy and renewing our commitment to democracy.”
United States Senator Bernie Sanders

"Incisive.... [A] fervent call to all citizens."
Publishers Weekly

"An alarming, not-incorrect diagnosis."
Kirkus Reviews

"John Nichols and Bob McChesney make a compelling, and terrifying, case that American democracy is becoming American dollarocracy. Even more compelling, and hopeful, is their case for a radical reform agenda to take power back from the corporations and give it to the people."
Naomi Klein

"This is the black book of politics-as-industry, an encyclopedic account of money's crimes against democracy. The billionaires have hijacked our government, and anyone feeling complacent after the 2012 election should take sober note of Nichols' and McChesney's astonishing finding: It's only going to get worse. Dollarocracy is an impressive achievement."
Thomas Frank

"Dollarocracy gets at what's ailing America better than any other diagnosis I've encountered. Plus it prescribes a cure. What else could a reader--or a citizen--ask? To me, it's the book of the year."
Michael J. Copps
FCC Commisioner, 2001-2011

"Dollarocracy is the most important political book of the year, maybe of our times. Nichols and McChesney provide an original and painstakingly researched account of how corporations and billionaires have come to dominate the political process, as well as the contours of what they term the 'money-and-media election complex.' Although I study politics for a living, I learned more about how political advertising works, the crucial role of media corporations and dreadful election journalism than I would have ever imagined possible. In the smartest treatment I have seen, Dollarocracy also details how the Internet is being incorporated into the system; its fantastic potential to empower citizens to battle big money has been effectively neutered. Most important, Nichols and McChesney provide a roadmap to a better and more just election system, built on the foundation of establishing the right to vote. It is an optimistic response to a disturbing analysis. This is exactly the book every concerned American needs to read, because the process of understanding what exactly is going on and taking America back from the corporations starts here."
Thom Hartmann

"I hope Dollarocracy reaches a large audience, not just among journalists but among the citizens who will produce the next journalism, so we can all move toward a more open, competent and trustworthy press."
Bill Kovach, former Washington Bureau Chief of the New York Times, and former editor of the Atlanta Journal Constitution

"As Nichols and McChesney’s new book shows, the robber barons of the late 19th century were pikers compared with today’s moneyed interests. They have hijacked our elections at all levels, and nothing short of the sweeping reforms called for in Dollarocracy can fix the problem. The book is a must read for anyone who cares about the integrity of our democratic system."
Thomas E. Patterson
Bradlee Professor of Government and the Press, Harvard University

“U.S. representative democracy is built on four pillars: independent journalists, informed and engaged citizens, fair and free elections, and responsive and responsible government. These pillars have been eroded by what Nichols and McChesney label ‘the money-and-media election complex,’ an incestuous and self-interested marriage of big media and big money. The result is a ‘dollarocracy’ resting on four new pillars: media corporations, disenchanted and manipulated citizens, elections that go to the highest bidder, and government that is only responsive to and responsible for the needs of the privileged class. Read this book, then go to your window and shout ‘I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!’”
Michael X. Delli Carpini
Dean, Annenberg School for Communication
University of Pennsylvania

"Dollarocracy tackles the most important problem in American public life today in a highly readable and truly insightful fashion. Americans know generally that they live in a money-driven political system, but the book is still likely to shock and dismay them. It's particularly good on how the press plays into money politics, making the whole far worse than the sum of the parts."
Thomas Ferguson, Professor of Political Science at University of Massachusetts, Boston
Senior Fellow, Roosevelt Institute

“Votes should matter more than dollars. Unfortunately, too many politicians and pundits forget this basic American value. John Nichols and Bob McChesney provide a vivid reminder of why we cannot allow our country to become a Dollarocracy. And they inspire us to make the reforms that are needed to realize the full promise of democracy.”
Congressman Mark Pocan, D-Wisconsin
Sponsor, “Right to Vote Amendment”

"The billionaires are buying our media and our elections. They're spinning our democracy into a dollarocracy. John Nichols and Bob McChesney expose the culprits who steered America into the quagmire of big money and provide us with the tools to free ourselves and our republic from the corporate kleptocrats."
Lisa Graves
Executive Director, Center for Media and Democracy

"If we want America to be a democracy — and we do — we must guarantee the right of all Americans to vote. John Nichols and Bob McChesney recognize this and their groundbreaking book makes a compelling for placing the right to vote at the center of our urgent struggle to protect and extend democracy."
Rob Richie
Executive Director, FairVote: The Center for Voting and Democracy

"Those of us who have been fighting at the grassroots against the corporate influence on both major parties have for years been waiting for an uncompromising, unrelenting expose of how big money shouts down the voices of citizens. This is it! Nichols and McChesney reveal how billionaires and corporations are buying our media, buying our elections. But Nichols and McChesney don't stop there. They outline an agenda that is bold enough to make this country a real democracy. If you want to build a movement that gives power to the people, you must read this book."
Tim Carpenter
Executive Director, Progressive Democrats of America

"John Nichols and Bob McChesney reveal that the 2012 election cycle had a price tag of $10 billion. They show us who the money came from and how it was spent. But, most important, they explain why this cannot go on if we are to have fair elections and honest government. With its breakthrough reporting and incisive analysis, Dollarocracy give us the foundation we need to make the case for fundamental change like a constitutional amendment to overturn our system of unlimited campaign spending and restore democracy to the people."
John Bonifaz
Co-Founder and Executive Director, Free Speech For People
Founder, National Voting Rights Institute

"Nichols and McChesney strike again! And, as usual, these two experienced and effective fighters for common sense and the common good are right on target with Dollarocracy. The truth might not 'make you free,' but it can make you move into action to free our great nation from the political strangle hold of big money. So read…and let's get moving!"
Jim Hightower, best selling author, nationally syndicated columnist and radio commentator, and editor of the Hightower Lowdown

“This is the book that says it all: It gets right at everything that we know is wrong with politics in America.”
Lila Garrett
Host, “Connect the Dots with Lila Garrett,” KPFK-FM (Los Angeles)

ENJOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

And Blessed Are The Ones Who Care For Their Fellow Men!