Republicans have enacted a new strategy for obtaining seats in the Senate: throw money at the campaigns and hope to buy their way to a win on Election Day.

Two years into President Barack Obama’s second term, the Democratic Party could be facing significant problems in the coming elections.  Valuable seats in the Senate are already being heavily disputed, but the main challenge facing Democrats is not the strength of the GOP candidates: it’s two brothers trying to bankroll their way to senatorial influence.

David and Charles Koch are the financiers of the Political Action Committee Americans for Prosperity (AFP).   They’ve dedicated huge chunks of their personal fortune in an attempt to buy “six to eight senators,” said Tim Phillips, the president of AFP, according to a Feb. 19 Washington Post article.

This strategy clearly displays exactly what is wrong with America’s election system.  When public servants are decided by who has the most money and not who’s best for the job, changes need to be made.

While announcing January’s fundraising haul for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), executive director Guy Cecil spoke about the Koch brothers at length.  The $6.5 million raised in January by the DSCC pales in comparison to the $27 million spent on ads alone by AFP.

Cecil’s goal was to frame the election as the Democrats facing off against the Koch brothers instead of the Republicans, and he was absolutely right to do so.

The numbers are impressive and the Kochs are spending in all the right places.  Potential swings states such as North Carolina, Louisiana and New Hampshire are among their targets and AFP is waging an aggressive ad campaign against Democratic incumbents.

Cecil’s statements regarding the Kochs were informative to an extent, but the true reward may not be realized until November.  Cecil established a precedent of painting AFP, the Koch brothers and the GOP as variations of the super wealthy looking to exert their power over the masses. Come November, voters could turn out in huge numbers to defend their own voices.

One of the main reasons the democratic process works is because many voices are heard.  In this day and age however, money speaks louder than any voice can manage.  Rather than attempting to fix this broken reality, Republicans are trying to take advantage of it.

That’s not to say Democrats don’t have their wealthy donors.  Every political party does and every political party will, at least for the foreseeable future.  The Koch brothers, however, take it to an entirely different level.

The magnitude of the current situation is unprecedented; the Kochs are spending in a way that gives GOP Senate candidates an undeniable advantage in the elections of 2014.

It may not, however, be as big an advantage as it originally appears.  Democratic strategists have mentioned how historically, money is not the only object at play here.  More important for the Democrats is the quality of their character.  The best man for the job will be the one put forward.

Republicans seem all too ready to abandon this ideal and sacrifice the integrity of the U.S. political system just so they can have some things go their way in terms of policy.

If the GOP successfully buys their way to a Senate majority through the Koch brothers and AFP, the resulting gridlock would bring the country to a standstill politically.  Hopefully voters will turn out in November in support of the best candidate and not the one whose name was on TV the most.

Chris Piemonte is a senior political philosophy major. He can be reached at [email protected].

 

Published on February 24, 2014 at 9:58 pm