Our political system should be a space for serving the public good. However, over the last 50 years, it has become increasingly infiltrated by money and special interests, turning it into a marketplace for influence-peddling and corruption. Voters who can’t afford today’s pay-to-play politics are left on the outside looking in, which is simply immoral.

Buckley v. Valeo (1976) marked the first time the U.S. Supreme Court decided that election spending is the equivalent of free speech, completely neutering legislators’ and voters’ power to set their own limits on money in politics. Since then, election spending has skyrocketed, and the Citizens United decision in 2010 has only made matters worse.

Catastrophic decisions

January marks the anniversary of both these catastrophic decisions. In just the last 14 years, non-party independent groups poured a staggering $4.5 billion into election-related spending, dwarfing the $750 million spent in the two decades prior.

We’re feeling the effects of this corruption fiercely in the Keystone State. Dark money, special interest groups, and even foreign governments, all aiming to influence our elections, have been working tirelessly to have their way. Whether it be social media and advertising disinformation campaigns, money hidden through shell companies and straw donors, illegal donations directly to candidates, or dark money groups funded with millions of dollars from unaccountable donors, it’s impacting all of us from the shadows.

Pennsylvanians are tired of having their voice drowned out by rich super-elites. In a poll by Franklin & Marshall of Pennsylvania voters, 93% agreed the influence of money is a threat to our democracy. We must take a stand; fortunately, Pennsylvania is taking the first step.

Pennsylvania legislators from both parties and chambers are expected to introduce resolutions that call on Congress to pass the For Our Freedom Amendment — an amendment to the United States Constitution that would explicitly grant states the power to make campaign finance regulations for races within their own borders. In the poll I mentioned, 81% of Pennsylvania voters supported the amendment as a solution.

There is broad cross-partisan support for the resolution calling for the amendment in the Pennsylvania legislature and among grassroots voters. Regardless of political affiliation, Pennsylvanians want to return to a system where their voice matters. This is when we can make a real difference and enact real change by working together, regardless of what side of the aisle we sit.

Reasonable limits

The For Our Freedom Amendment will allow the states and Congress to set reasonable limits on campaign spending, create lasting reform, restore checks and balances, and end the pay-to-play political system we’ve been hindered by for 50 years. Amending the Constitution is the only path to restoring voters’ voice in elections and holding leaders accountable to their constituents.

Mitchell Hescox, the president and a Pennsylvania co-director of the Evangelical Environmental Network, is a member of the American Promise Advisory Council. His previous article was “Make the gas and oil industry pay for polluting our land and water.”

First Published: January 20, 2024, 10:30 a.m.