These groups are so controversial that President Barack Obama has spoken out against them.

And 2016 presidential hopeful, Bernie Sanders, has refused to accept their money. So what

are Super PACs? And what are they doing to the political process?

Well, the term PAC is an acronym that stands for Political Action Committee. PACs are a

way for businesses, labor unions, and other special interest groups to pool donations

for a specific campaign. Regular PACs, which are different from Super PACS, have been donating

to campaigns since 1944. But PACs have significant financial restrictions. Corporations aren’t

allowed to contribute, and PACs can only give up to $5,000 dollars per candidate and $15,000

dollars per national party. Additionally, individuals cannot contribute more than $5,000

dollars to a PAC per year.

But in 2010, a supreme court ruling known as Citizens United said that restricting corporate

political donations was in violation of freedom of speech. Legally, it was argued that “spending

IS speech” - even if the speaker is a corporation. This led to the creation of Super PACs. Essentially,

Super PACs are allowed to give unlimited funds - from people, corporations, and unions. The

only rule is that Super PACs must operate independently of candidates, however this

rule is often skirted. The top super PAC during the 2012 presidential campaign raised more

than $153 million dollars, and contributed indirectly to Republican campaigns. By comparison,

the top regular PAC raised a mere $3.9 million in donations.

So why are super PACs controversial? Well, the lack of restriction means that wealthy

special interest groups and individuals are able to exert significant influence over political

campaigns. Additionally, even though Super PACs are required to be independent organizations,

they are regularly operated by people close to the candidate. This practice was famously

satirized by comedian Stephen Colbert. In 2012, he ran for President in the South Carolina

primaries, and named his affiliated Super PAC, “The Definitely Not Coordinating with

Stephen Colbert Super PAC”.

Since the rise of Super PACs, many have called for significant campaign finance reform. The

2012 elections set new records in campaign spending. The upcoming 2016 elections will

undoubtedly break those records, while lessening the average citizen’s influence in their

own political future.

If you’d like to get even more frustrated with the American political process… make

sure you check out our video about gerrymandering here. Thanks as always for watching TestTube

News, please subscribe!