In her opening remarks at Kirkwood Community College in Iowa today, Hillary Clinton offered the game-changing idea that she will champion: taking corrupt money out of politics, even if it means promoting a constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case. As Iowa voters, American voters and the political media focus on this over time, the notion of a grand national battle led by Clinton to reform our politics is the kind of futuristic reforming politics that is fervently desired by the Democratic base and mainstream America.
{mosads}Ladies and gentlemen, this is a huge game-changer, presaging a long overdue national debate about the corruptions of money in politics after the Citizens United decision, which essentially gave the super-wealthy the power to buy elections by destroying bipartisan congressional efforts to limit the corrupting power of political money.
This is big news: Clinton supporting a constitutional amendment will make the corruption caused by money in politics one of the major issues in the campaign, and align Clinton with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and the large majority of Americans who have expressed their disapproval of Citizens United in polls.
I will have much more to say about this topic in an upcoming column. For today, take note: Hillary Clinton’s support for a national campaign against the corruption of big money in politics is a game-changer and an important moment in the 2016 campaign.
Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and former Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), who was then chief deputy majority whip of the House. He holds an LL.M. degree in international financial law from the London School of Economics. Contact him at brentbbi@webtv.net.