Nexus: Chapman's Journal of Law and Public Policy

Whew. What a relief! It’s November 3, 2010, that election is over, and the world didn’t end. Color me pleased.

The elections that were made throughout the country may help us to see what effect, if any, the Citizens United decision has had so far. It appears, though, that it will take some time to tease out any useful data.

A consensus has been building that, in the end, Citizens United didn’t really accomplish much. Truthfully, it is too early to make a final pronouncement, but it certainly seems as though election business marches on in much the same manner that it did before. This time around the drummer’s tune of choice was “Gather ye frustrated voters, unseat the incumbent.” Clearly, a favorite across great swaths of the land, this ditty has been used before and will be used again, regardless of corporate funding.

So, why didn’t corporations, unions, and other groups throw their newly protected freedom of speech and enormous dollars around to greater consequence? As a very recently reformed doomsayer, I have only a few possible explanations, and a couple of notes, which I shall follow up with a simple suggestion to improve election season in the post- Citizens United world.

The explanations

1. Corporations, similar to other people, like money and do not seek new opportunities to throw it away at risky ventures without a reasonable amount of cautious study. The Citizens United decision was recent and hasn’t established itself as particularly beneficial to corporations in practice, only theoretically.
2. Citizens United simply did not make changes that would be the most beneficial to any serious corporation looking to hijack an election and exploit the frailties of flesh-and-blood people. The best, most effective types of commercials were already relatively unlimited in the ante-Citizens United political world. Basically, we were already seeing sophisticated message- commercials and that has simply continued.

The Notes

1. It may be difficult to tell what it means for a while, but it does appear that there has been an increase in spending for this election.

2. Part of the difficulty in divining the motives behind that spending spike is that voters have been cast as unusually angry this time around and it could be that mood rather than Citizens United that moved the big spenders to think that their money could be effective in determining the outcome of these elections.

How to improve politics by adding huge amounts of money The Citizens United decision showed up early this year and I think we’re all wondering, “When is CU going to do something for me?” Mostly CU has just been giving us anxiety, but that doesn’t mean it can’t find some sort of niche out there in the world of advertising.

With the exception of the current political-form, I like advertisements. Advertisements are my favorite part of big, televised sporting events. I’m also the obnoxious type of person that tries most new novelty foods (“What? They replaced a hamburger bun with two grilled cheese sandwiches? That sounds magical!”), so I understand that I’m not the average, but I expect that at least some people might appreciate the beauty of this hypothetical new world. Maybe Citizens United should be taken as license to really change the business of political advertising. Sure, political ad geniuses have got the “manipulate the angry voter” trick down cold, but what does that offer me? I feel for the fictional working-mom who was wronged by something or other, but I can very clearly see the hand holding the puppet strings.

My vote regularly aligns with most of my state (not always, however, but when the exceptional disagreement arises I usually don’t even get to be an angry voter since the next contest doesn’t tend to offer a proper outlet for such feelings) so I don’t usually feel disenfranchised. I am what you might call a contented, altruistic voter. Someday, when I sprout my wings, I may grow to be a beautiful, grumpy- nostalgic- voter who “was promised flying cars!” but that day hasn’t come yet.

I vote because I believe it’s my duty to vote. I am the judgmental older sister who “tsks” when she hears that you just “didn’t have time,” or “forgot to register,” or “believe that your vote doesn’t count anyway and the choice between two evils isn’t really worth making in the first place.” You may thank me for not forwarding you historic accounts of people who risked life and limb to earn the right to vote, but I get all frowny even writing your hypothetical excuses, young anonymous non-voters! As someone who always votes, I sort of get taken for granted and I never get to enjoy the months leading up to ballot day. It’s time for that to change.

What I want out of campaign commercials is a wintertime coffeehouse. I want viewing political advertisements to make me feel as though I’ve just walked into a toasty room from a bitterly cold, dark, outside environment. I want that commercial to subconsciously make me feel as though Candidate X has offered me a dainty pastry (His or her nana’s secret recipe!) to go with my fancy, warm, foamy beverage. I want classy color schemes. I want to see a slow- motion, head-tilt with genuine laugh, in sepia tone, set to subdued jazz standards, by golly, and thanks to Citizens United, if the ad should incidentally say “VOTE FOR X” then that’s okay!

Is candidate X more of an action type? I think the obvious choice is to manipulate me into thinking that X could be Batman. X has a plan, some amazing driving skills, and maybe a jaunty theme song, and I could not be more excited to see his or her next mini-adventure via a thirty- second advertisement! Such a commercial probably will not change who I vote for, but if corporations were going to be spending all that ad money anyway, giving me something to smile about might well be value-added. “The adventures of Candidate X brought to you by Retailer B!” Suddenly, Retailer B, you have my good will, and assuming some clever product-placement, you may even have my consumerism piqued.

Give me some of that old-time hegemony. It’s time that I got to enjoy having my feelings and thought- process manipulated. Others seem to have enjoyed the thrill once or twice and I think that voters like me should get to experience the fake-snow in Southern California- during- July magic of it once or twice. If unlimited money cannot make that happen, I will be quite disappointed. http://electls.blogs.wm.edu/2010/10/18/early-indications-show-citizens-united-having-little-impact-on-virginias-2nd-congressional-district-race/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/27/midterm-elections-2010-an_n_774585.html