Can you buy a US election? | America, Are You OK? Part 5

The 2024 election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will be the most expensive race for President ever. We visit Philadelphia in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, the market being bombarded with more political advertising than anywhere else, to see how big money affects politics.

00:00 What's the most important thing in politics?
02:22 Party faithful
03:39 Montgomery and Chester county
04:56 J.J. Balaban
06:30 Campaign funding
06:56 Malcolm Kenyatta
10:03 Harrisburg
11:23 Political donations
12:07 First Amendment
12:40 Federal Election Campaign Act 1974
13:30 Hard money vs soft money
13:45 Citizens United vs FEC
14:40 Anna Massoglia, OpenSecrets
18:40 Christopher Nicholas, Eagle Consulting Group
21:26 Michael Pollack, March on Harrisburg

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[rozaganser]

As an American who has lived in Australia for the last 34 years: I thought this was an excellent series. It reminded me how broken the US system is and how hopeless I felt there.

[infinee]

Imagine if the money spent on elections and politics in general in the States, was spent directly on the people and their needs? I've never been more grateful to be Australian than after watching what's been happening this election cycle. Thank goodness we don't have to go through this. Wishing all Americans the strength to make it through this scary election.

[jeviosoorishas]

I think the problem with U.S. politics is we've had two parties dominate for about 150 years. We're so used to them, that we literally think reality or being objective is about appealing to both sides.

This kind of makes us think that in order to change the system, the other side has to change first, or if one side does something, it's "fair" for the other side to do it too.

It's very similar to the fight between the Populares and the Optimates that ultimately led to the decline of the Roman Republic. Both sides kind of knew what the problems were, but the hesitation to change issues because of the fear that it might corrupt the government just led to greater and greater procrastination.

[emceeunderdogrising]

Money is too powerful a form of speech. I can pay anyone to listen to me. It drowns out the voices of anyone who can't pay. It's a corrupting factor.

[thomi.k]

Please don’t let this be the last episode of this series!😭😭 this is soo entertaining and informative to watch, I don’t want this show to end :(

[dreadlord]

The election cycle is ridiculously long. It is a phenomenal waste of money that does little more than de-sensitise the public to politics. With modern communication methods there is no reason the whole Campaign can't be wrapped up in 6 weeks.
That would massively reduce the amount of money that even COULD be spent, which would in turn lessen Special Interest groups influence, and just maybe afford the Politicians the time to actually do their jobs instead of continuously fund-raising.

[htopherollem]

" its not really a quid pro quo, but "... yes it is. A country where we treat corporations as people, and people as disposable.

[lady_peace_rose]

Watched the whole series. Great job, Casey & crew. You are all a credit to Australia. Keep up the good work ❤

[BdManus]

All elections should be fair for everyone who wants to run. The federal government should put a cap on how much money can be raised and donations from companies and organizations should be prohibited. It should be fair for everyone. Great series.

[fed-yum]

The greater the divide between rich and poor, the unhappier the people are. Here we have the exemplar, the United States of America.

[SergioLopez-bdgt]

You can buy elections, congressmen, presidents, governors. You name it.

[angelaoliver]

The Electoral College system has to go.

[johnwright]

There is always a conflict between capitalism and democracy. Unlike in the US there strict limits in the UK and Australia on election spending, but wealthy individuals and corporations can and do make large donations to political parties. The biggest problem is media owned by right wing media barons who virtually decide elections. Murdoch's Newscorp owns Fox News, the NY Post and many local radio stations and newspapers. Newscorp owns 65% of newspapers in Australia and one third of the UK's. Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has called Rupert Murdoch a cancer on democracy.

[colinfewell]

"It's always been this way" will never be an acceptable answer.

[EddieFye]

It ain’t enough! The injustices perpetrated by the American political system on its own people and the rest of the world cannot be dismissed from this any analysis.

[TimothyDevinney]

As someone who is a citizen of three countries (including Australia and the US), I found this quite a balanced and even nuanced series. So very good job. I teach a series of university lectures on American populism and one things I emphasize is how it has always been there and evolved. The current environment is a bit of the same historically and a bit difference contemporarily. The series fits nicely into that (so I may use it in class).

[TheAutisticBurnoutProject]

This really validates the exhaustion around political messaging we feel living in Philadelphia.

[paulcarroll]

How do Americans get the balls to lecture the rest of the world on democracy?! 😂

[shenhurst]

It’s just weird to think of money as speech. So I just got a new job and now I have more speech! Oh my grandmother died and I inherited some of her speech. Wait a sec the IRS is taking some of my speech? But I earned that speech! Hey how do taxes work if money is speech?

[skipmullen]

If anyone makes an ad that tells lies and can not validate the claims made in the ad, they should be sued.