We complain about the state of American politics; about a mentally ill billionaire in the White House and a Republican Party crawling with hustlers and conmen, and a few in the Democratic Party as well. The complaints are legitimate, but most people don't realize why the situation is as bad as it is. That tracks back, virtually 100%, to several supreme court decisions starting in 1976 that deregulated money in politics, claiming that political spending was simply First Amendment-protected "free speech." The Supreme Court first ruled that in 1976, setting up the flood of money that poured into Washington DC and brought us Ronald Reagan in 1980. They doubled down with Citizens United in 2010, paving the way for foreign oligarchs to help elect Donald Trump and a completely corrupted Republican-controlled Senate.

-Thom