The movement to get money out of politics will take a very long time. I know people don’t want to hear that. My guess is, in the best case scenario, we’re looking at 20 years. Best case. If it makes you feel any better, the movement to get money into politics took 181 years so by that measure, two decades to unravel what took 181 to build isn’t all that bad. Either we’re committed to playing the long game or not. The assholes that got us here were.

Chapters

Intro: 00:00:33

Chapter One: Non-Negotiable #4. 00:01:11

Chapter Two: The Long and Winding Road to Citizens United. 00:07:05

Chapter Three: Media Complicity. The Revolution Was Already Televised. 00:16:46

Chapter Four: Defying Its Creator. The Tale of Mitch McGolem. 00:20:43

Bring it Home, Max: 00:28:47

Post Show Musings: 00:37:13

Outro: 01:11:09

Resources

OpenSecrets: Money-in-Politics Timeline

Brennan Center for Justice: Since Citizens United, a Decade of Super PACs

Cambridge University: Dark Parties: Unveiling Nonparty Communities in American Political Campaigns

De Gruyter: Television Advertising in the 2022 Midterms

De Gruyter: Digital Advertising in the 2022 Midterms

Bowdoin College: Government Scholar Michael Franz on Impact of Ads during the 2024 Election Cycle

Brennan Center for Justice: Life Tenure for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Is a Global Oddity with Clear Costs

Ballotpedia News: Looking ahead at 2025 ranked-choice voting legislation

Justia: Citizens United v. FEC | 558 U.S. 310 (2010)

Senate: Saving American Democracy Amendment 

Constitution Center: Interpretation: The Twenty-Seventh Amendment

American Promise

CampaignFinanceReform.org

Book Love

Adam Jentleson: Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy

Kermit L. Hall: The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States

UNFTR Episode Resources

Housing First.

Building a Civilian Labor Corps: Bracing for the AI Job Apocalypse.

Medicare for All.

Project 2025.

What’s the Deal with Peter Thiel?

“Russputin” and the Tsar.

Convention of States.

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