On Voting Systems

Columbia Students, from libertarians to socialists, debate the Citizens United ruling and campaign finance more generally.

Snowden’s leaks didn’t just expose U.S. surveillance programs—they recklessly endangered our alliances, aided our adversaries, and proved that this case was no ‘Pentagon Papers.’

As it now stands, the Republican Party has convinced a segment of the population that government is antithesis to the health of this nation. It has enabled a radical collection of far-right congressmen to eschew all compromise and centralized party direction. Tea Party politicians in Congress can afford, even relish, the political ramifications of a shutdown because, after forty years of anti-government rhetoric, these congressmen only need to re-affirm to their voters that government cannot function.

It is readily evident that an honest and sound debate cannot occur in Congress when (ultimately, at least) one of the primary effects of a bill is to inject millions of new voters into the electorate.