China releases article critical of money's impact on US elections

The China Society for Human Rights Studies on Thursday published "Money Politics Exposes the Hypocrisy of 'US-Style Democracy'."

The article argued that money politics is the main reason for the severe divisions in politics and society in the United States.

"In recent years in the US, the wealthy class has exerted an increasingly important influence on politics while the common people's influence on politics has declined," said the article, adding that money politics exposes the hypocrisy of US democracy.

It noted that money has infused the entire US political system and has become a persistent in US society.

The article said that the money politics of the US has distorted public opinion and turned elections into a "one-man show" of the wealthy class.

In 2016, the US elections, including campaigning and events related to presidential and congressional elections, cost a total of $6.6 billion, making it the most expensive elections in US history, the article said.

Meanwhile, a large amount of secret funds and "dark money" have also been injected into the US elections, it added.

The article cited a 2018 report by NBC News as saying that as the US Treasury Department announced that it would no longer require most nonprofit organizations to report their sources of donations, the transparency of election funding would be significantly reduced.

Over 40 percent of TV commercials broadcast by these outside groups to influence congressional elections are funded by unknown donors, said the article.

Money politics brings serious consequences, the article said. Ordinary people are deprived of their political rights. Government posts have become the exclusive domain of rich people and the upper class. Money politics is blatantly delivering benefits to the rich, and makes it more difficult for the US to solve its pressing political and social problems, including gun violence.

"Money politics is an inevitable result of the US capitalist system," the article said.

US democracy is a political form through which the bourgeoisie rule. Given this, US democracy naturally reflects the will of capitalists and serves their interests, it said, adding that candidates of the country's two major political parties are merely representatives of different factions within the bourgeoisie.

Money politics exposes the nature of US society and its lies when it praises itself as the best example of democracy and the guardian of human rights for the world.

"In the US, where money governs politics, political participation and discussions can never be actualized without the help of money," it said.

Xinhua