“(I do) not believe that that people fought and died for democracy so that billionaires can buy elections,” said Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont Progressive Party-VT).

Well, a September 4^th Senate vote shot down those chances of amending a law concerning campaign spending and reversing the effects of previously decided Supreme Court cases on this issue.

The 2010 Supreme Court ruling of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission knocked down restrictions that had forbade corporations and unions from spending money from their general treasury funds to back candidates. Ironically, the mission of Citizens United is “restoring our government to citizens’ control” even though the only citizens with the control are the wealthy elite.

On average, the cost to run for president begins at $50-$100 million. But, it can exceed that number quickly. President Barack Obama spent approximately $750 million on the 2012 election campaign.

“If candidates wore jerseys like NASCAR drivers, they would be covered in patches that said ‘Astra Zeneca’ or ‘Koch Brothers’,” said the late Robin Williams. This is because in order to maintain this monstrous cost of campaigning, politicians rely on funding from the American elite – the once percent who live luxuriously in our country.

A study by Princeton and Northwestern researchers states that “when the preferences of economic elites… are controlled for, the preferences of the average American appear to have a miniscule, near-zero statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.” Simply speaking, if you can’t afford to hire a lobbyist or raise funds for a politician, your opinion means nothing.

In more ways than one, the United States has slowly dropped the title of a democracy and adopted an oligarchy. As writer for Nation of Change Christina Starch concludes, “The United States of America is no longer a democracy. It was sold to the highest bidder years ago.”