Letter: Rigged system of campaign finance

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife received free vacations worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and valuable gifts from billionaire Harlan Crow. Thomas said he and his wife were "dearest friends" of the billionaire and his wife for over 25 years. How long would they have been dearest friends if Thomas were not a Supreme Court justice?

This is just another way the superwealthy influence government, this time the Supreme Court.

Billionaires and corporations exert the greatest influence on government thanks to the Supreme Court's 5-to-4, precedent-overturning 2010 Citizens United decision, which permitted unlimited political contributions by individuals and organizations. The five justices in the majority - including Thomas - were appointed by Republican presidents. Unions also can make unlimited contributions, but they are the aggregate of thousands of small donations from workers.

The Citizens United decision means one or a few billionaires can buy more political speech than tens of millions of ordinary people combined. This helps the ultrarich get richer while so many ordinary people struggle. This is a rigged system.

Huge contributions are so powerful that the tens of millions of dollars contributed by fossil fuel interests - mostly to Republicans - are driving that party's congressional delegation to block the transition to renewable energy even as global warming approaches tipping points endangering the habitability of our planet. Incredibly, with our dystopian campaign finance system, fossil fuel interests put profits and Republicans put large contributions that help win elections above even protecting our planet.

Public funding of election campaigns - costing about $10 yearly per person for federal elections - would equalize contributions as with voting, reduce conflict of interest and make it more likely government decisions were based on fair debate and merit.

Richard Barsanti

Western Springs