AbstractsPolitical Science

This study demonstrates that the individualistic side of American culture supports a political system in which economic elites have unequal political influence, but the communal side of American culture provides resources for promoting a constitutional amendment to ban all private money from politics. Culture permeates every facet of the human experience, including how economic and government systems function. The American cultural acceptance of capitalism, individualism, and a private market ethos is used by economic elites to justify using their private capital to secure a higher level of political access and influence than the majority of Americans. This use of private capital causes harm, because not every citizen can afford to compete in this economic environment, which impedes political equality and democracy. Individualism complements capitalism in that it justifies self-interest over the common good. However, American culture also includes communal tendencies that have led to government programs that promote the common good. The individualistic side of America???s dual culture tends to dominate, which is evident in several Supreme Court decisions that have promoted a market society, but the communal side of American culture provides resources for challenging such decisions. An imperfectly legitimate coercive response???that is, a constitutional amendment???is presented as one plausible solution to remove private capital from politics and thereby prevent economic inequality from producing political inequality. Such a response is not likely to be enacted except as a result of communally oriented, public demonstrations reminiscent of the civil rights movement and the protests during the Vietnam War. Such mass demonstrations could compel the government to terminate the use of money as a First Amendment right via a constitutional amendment.