Viewpoint: When politics becomes a business, we pay the price

Russell Cleveland

I’ve spent much of my life believing that if you work hard, keep your word and treat people fairly, you can build something worthwhile.

As a small-business owner, I learned pretty quickly that money matters. You have to earn it. You have to budget it. You have to make decisions about where every dollar goes because there is never an unlimited supply.

Politics seems to have forgotten that lesson.

Today, political campaigns and the various dark money organizations surrounding them spend extraordinary amounts of money to influence voters. Millions of dollars flow into our state originating from corporate treasuries and anonymous donors, saturating our television screens, social media feeds, and mailboxes.

Much of that money doesn't come from the people who actually live here.

As a Montanan, I find that troubling. As a veteran, it enrages me.

I served this country because I believed our constitutional republic was worth protecting. That a representative democracy is supposed to belong to the people, not to the highest bidder, corporations buying profit through political influence, or to political operatives who use division as a business model.

As a successful small-business owner, I know what happens when money becomes the deciding factor in a marketplace. The biggest spenders gain a political advantage, and smaller voices, like most of the businesses based in Montana, struggle to compete. In turn, that system eventually starts rewarding whoever has the biggest political spending budget rather than the best products or ideas. That is where we are now, and that beast is finally rearing its ugly head.

Our political system was never intended to work this way. Dark money doesn't just affect elections, it affects how people see one another. It affects opportunities for local businesses to grow, for our kids to learn, and for Montana families to prosper.

Rage is the product being sold, and we the people are the customer. Division is the outcome, and that division has consequences. It drives prejudice and hatred. It makes reasonable people afraid to disagree. It encourages politicians to focus on fundraising and endorsements instead of solving problems.

Ordinary Montanans are left wondering why Washington and Helena seem increasingly disconnected from the people they represent, but the answer is not found in raising and spending even more money. The solution instead is to change the rules and destroy the beast altogether.

We need meaningful campaign finance reform that increases transparency, strengthens accountability and makes it harder for undisclosed or excessive political spending to drown out the voices of ordinary citizens. This shouldn't be a Republican issue or a Democratic issue. It shouldn't belong to one faction or another.

It should belong to all of us, the people of Montana, the voters. Not the artificial persons granted excessive power through the Citizens United ruling nearly two decades ago. Because no matter if you own a business in Billings, work a ranch outside Miles City, run a shop in Missoula, or are raising a family anywhere in between, you have something that no political action committee should be able to purchase: A voice.

This November is your chance to use it. Montana has always had a strong tradition of independence. We don't need outside money, political machines or endless spending campaigns deciding what we think or who we trust.

We can do better. That is why I support The Montana Plan, ballot initiative I-194, and will proudly vote YES on it this election. I believe it to be one of the most important issues of my lifetime, and a base hit in broader campaign finance reform.

This initiative won't solve every problem in our politics, but restoring transparency, accountability and a reasonable balance of power between ordinary citizens and wealthy political interests is a critical first step toward restoring something we desperately need: Trust.

I hope you’ll join me in Voting YES on I-194.

Russell Cleveland is a small business ambassador and executive director of The Montana Plan.