http://www.theatlant...-of-money/360740/
In other words: Political money and hence influence at the top levels is disproportionately white, male, and with almost no social context that includes significant numbers of African Americans and other people of color.
This is why money isn't speech. Freedom of speech as a functional element in democratic life assumes that such freedom can be meaningfully deployed. But the unleashing of yet more money into politics allows a very limited class of people to drown out the money "speech" of everyone else  but especially those with a deep, overwhelmingly well documented history of being denied voice and presence in American political life.
Now take the work of the Roberts Court in ensuring that rule of cash, the engine of political power for an overwhelmingly white upper-upper crust, with combine those decisions with the conclusions of the court on voting rights, and you get a clear view of what the five-justice right-wing majority has done. Controlling access to the ballot has been a classic tool of white supremacy since the end of Reconstruction. It is so once again, as states seizing on the Roberts Court's Voting Rights Act decision take aim at exactly those tools with which African Americans increased turnout and the proportion of minority voters within the electorate. There's not even much of an attempt to disguise what's going on.
Read the whole thing.
It's good to see Obama forcefully speaking out against attacks on voting recently.
If you haven't seen his Johnson Library speech and the NAN speech, they're worth a look.
April 10 (30 min):
http://www.whitehous...eaks-civil-rights
April 11 (26 min):
http://www.whitehous...etwork-convention
These are very important times. We can't afford to let the reactionaries win on the right to vote, and extend their ability to buy exclusive representation in our government.
Cheers,
Scott.