Capitalism v. democracy : money in politics and the free market constitution / Timothy K. Kuhner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kuhner, Timothy K., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Campaign funds--Law and legislation--United States.

Campaign funds.

Campaign funds--Law and legislation.

United States.

Constitutional law--United States.

Constitutional law.

United States--Politics and government.

Politics and government.

United States. Supreme Court.

Capitalism--United States.

Capitalism.

Democracy--United States.

Democracy.

Physical Description:

xiii, 360 pages ; 23 cm

Other Title:

Capitalism versus democracy

Place of Publication:

Stanford, California : Stanford Law Books, an imprint of Stanford University Press, 2014.

Summary:

As of the latest national Elections, it costs approximately $1 billion to become President, $10 million to become a Senator, and $1 million to become a Member of the House. High-priced campaigns, superPACs, and increasing corporate political power are the new normal in American politics. In Capitalism v. Democracy, Timothy Kuhner explains how these conditions have corrupted American democracy, morphing it into a system of rule that favors the wealthy and marginalizes ordinary citizens. Kuhner demonstrates that money in politics has corrupted capitalism as well, routing economic competition through political channels and allowing politically powerful companies to evade market forces. The Supreme Court has brought about both forms of corruption by striking down campaign finance reforms. By exposing the extreme economic worldview polluting constitutional interpretation, Kuhner shows how the Court became the architect of American plutocracy. Capitalism v. Democracy offers the key to understanding why corporations are now citizens, limits on corporate spending are a form of censorship, democracy is a free market, and political equality and democratic integrity are unconstitutional constraints on money in politics. Supreme Court opinions have dictated these conditions in the name of the Constitution, as though the Constitution required the privatization of democracy. Kuhner argues that nothing short of a constitutional amendment can set the necessary boundaries between capitalism and democracy. Book jacket.

Contents:

The question raised by America's design

Free market democracy

Corporations speak

Consumer sovereignty

Why capitalism governs democracy

Plutocracy

Capitalism and democracy reconciled.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 341-349) and index.

ISBN:

0804780668

9780804780667

0804791562

9780804791564

OCLC:

865493624