From Vox:

Who really matters in our democracy — the general public, or wealthy elites? That’s the topic of a new study by political scientists Martin Gilens of Princeton and Benjamin Page of Northwestern. The study’s been getting lots of attention, because the authors conclude, basically, that the U.S. is a corrupt oligarchy where ordinary voters barely matter. Or as they put it, “economic elites and organized interest groups play a substantial part in affecting public policy, but the general public has little or no independent influence.”

Read an explainer of the study from Vox.

Read the full-text study from Princeton.

From the Green Party of the United States:

This morning the Supreme Court released its decision in the McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission case, striking down current limits on the amount an individual donor may contribute to a political campaign.

The majority of the justices decided that the right to free speech includes the right to spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns.

Although reasonable campaign finance rules had already been gutted by the 2010 Citizens United decision, today’s decision reinforces the idea that money is speech and the richest 1% of Americans should have the right to buy and sell limitless political influence.

In contrast, the Green Party continues to work for a truly democratic electoral system including public financing of federal, state, and local elections. We support a Constitutional amendment delaring that corporations are NOT persons and money is NOT speech. Finally, it is important to have a vigorous, well-funded government watchdog empowered to enforce federal campaign laws.

The Green Party is working to overturn the new regime of corporate elections. Citizens United allowed unlimited spending on independent campaigning, and now McCutcheon will allow unlimited contributions to candidates and elected officials.

Read more about Grassroots Democracy, one of the Green Party’s 10 Key Values.