As we all know, the Supreme Court decided Citizens United in 2010, basically opening the floodgates for incredibly wealthy people to invest in politicians. It has turned out to be one of the most unpopular pieces of legislation ever passed and signed into law by the Supreme Court, garnering a whopping 80% disapproval rating among the polity. Even those from the oligarch party (GOP) hate it--probably because it means a bunch of annoying, loathsome, and dishonest political ads are being jammed down their eye sockets when they are trying to obtain psycho-sexual gratification from watching Donald Trump fire people not like them while they puff on their Chesterfields and think about all the "hard work" they've done.
Nevertheless, all is not lost. Initial reports, grim though they may sound, put the 2014 election price tag at $3.7 billion. I couldn't afford to spend a dime on the 2014 elections, but thanks to the Scalia wing of the Court, I had the "freedom" to speak with money I don't currently have (which is totally consistent with the democratic principle of one person, one vote).
But, I digress, on to the bright side...
The bright side of all this is that the Surpreme Court has, in passing Citizens United, passed its very own economic stimulus package. That $3.7 billion was a massive wealth transfer from the top 0.1% to a jobs program. That money paid for canvassers, pollsters, graphic designers, telephone operators, media relations, and jobs in printing, writing, and strategizing. It's a massive competition cost that tolls the wealthy en rout to ruling us underling democrats--and in that sense it creates jobs with capital that would otherwise be stashed away in the Bahamas or whatever other hidey-hole Mitt Romney's fortune is buried in these days.
In fact, in an observation that may blow your mind, the $6.2 billion the oligarch class spent on 2012 (while small on a general nationwide economic scale, this was inordinately directed at swing state economies months before the election) may just have created enough of an economic stimulus to make Obama look good enough on the economy to get re-elected that year!
I know what you're thinking: "Yes, but after the election, the jobs go away for another two years, and those same bought off politicians will spend those two years giving tax breaks to corporations that ship even more jobs overseas, bankrupt the government through tax breaks, and eviscerate worker leverage in the economy."
But my response to that is that "one step forward, two steps back" is a lot better than "no steps forward, two steps back."
So, alas, I have Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Citizens United. It's one of the few policies in our country these days that encourages the oligarch class to invest in American work, and not in whatever country lets you shirk taxes and exploit slave labor.