This is disturbing. It was produced by a group called People United for Privacy, who are funded by the State Policy Network (SPN). The SPN is a 501(c)(3) non-profit funded by conservative billionaires and millionaires who work to keep the electorate in the dark about their political influence.
Of course, having information about who is influencing policy decisions and political campaigns is essential to the democratic process. Regardless of how much they donate. But New Mexico SB 96, which this targets, doesn’t demand disclosure unless you spend more than $1000. In 2016, only 0.52% of donors gave more than $200 dollars to a political campaign.
This video is a naked attempt to scare average citizens into remaining in the dark about which organizations and individuals are spending huge sums of money to influence U.S. politics. The very fact that they don’t want you to know what they are up to is telling.
There is debate about the constitutionality of unlimited political spending. The First Amendment is actually fairly ambiguous on this point.
But the fact that Republicans and the conservative/libertarians who fund their political efforts want voters to remain blind to the forces shaping electoral outcomes and policy decisions is a clear violation of the intentions of the men who framed the U.S. Constitution. They wanted a government shaped by an informed electorate.
The modern Republican Party and the organizations that support them are against that. In word and deed, they work to keep the electorate ignorant. By defunding public schools, engaging in blatant historical revisionism, and, in this instance, working to disguise the influence of right-wing oligarchs, the modern GOP works against the principles of democratic self-governance.
Regardless of your ideological leanings, that should give you a pretty clear indication that the GOP is basically an anti-democratic front group for a political philosophy that boils down to “rule by the rich, for the rich.”
High Plains Skeptic 