The only thing surprising about the first lady’s statement is that a leading political figure said out loud something we all know. What she didn’t say is that her advice doesn’t work for everyone, to put it mildly.
For the vast majority of us, the “biggest, fattest check” we can write to a political campaign is probably in the low two digits, and many people can’t even spare a few dollars. And that just isn’t enough to influence the political process, to help your favorite candidate run a competitive campaign, or to get an issue you care about onto the agenda.
Academic research confirms this intuition. A 2013 study found that the top 0.01% of political donors — just 24,000 people — accounted for more than 40% of campaign contributions, up from about 10% in the 1980s. It is perhaps not a coincidence that the wealthiest 0.01% tripled their share of national income in the same time period.
Other research, by political scientists Martin Gilens and Andrew Bartels, has shown that the policy preferences of the very wealthy consistently prevail over the preferences of middle-class and poor voters. Because of those “big, fat checks,” economic inequality crosses over into the political sphere, where the wealthy gain advantages that lock in their gains, threatening the vibrancy and growth of our economy.
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— Encourage private-sector technology innovations to help candidates, voters and organizations use the tax credit and make small donations easier.
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