On this episode of Democracy Is, we take a look at Money in Politics and how it affects our democracy. We discuss the realities of how campaigns use and need money. We look at how the current system interacts with the racial wealth gap and how that affects not only the diversity of donors but also the diversity of our electorate.
We speak with Noah Cole, a policy analyst who is authoring a report on public financing, and Colleen Echohawk, a Seattle mayoral candidate who ran her campaign using public financing systems. With a historic ballot measure appearing this November in Oakland, the time to talk about Money in Politics is now!
Sources used for this episode:
- Stacked Deck: How the Racial Bias of Our Big Money Political System Undermines Our Democracy and Our Economy,” Demos, December 14, 2014.
- Reyes, Yacob. “Despite Growth, Latinos Still Make up Less than 2% of Elected Officials Nationwide.” Axios, 3 Feb. 2022, https://www.axios.com/2022/02/03/latinos-in-office-election-democrats.
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