Rule of Law and Financial Safety are deeply intertwined through the nexus of unfettered campaign financing allowed by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United Decision. Justice Stevens dissenting opinion states the case succinctly – “the Court’s ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions across the Nation….a democracy cannot function effectively when its constituent members believe laws are being bought and sold.”
This in fact is what has happened as Wall Street executives eluded any meaningful criminal prosecutions for their the 2007-2009 Great Recession white collar crime wave. The Financial Sector have bought Do Not Go To Jail cards with political donations to both parties to not just dodge any criminal prosecutions but also to amend financial regulations in their favor. The amounts are staggering during the 2015-2016 Election Cycle : $621million by the financial alone sector which represent 30% of the top 10 donating groups and the total is $2.1billion to date. What is worse wih no jail terms the number and severity of financial crimes has continued unabated. At the same time Wall Street is hard at work dismantling the Dodd-Frank Financial Regulations.
In sum, there is public discontent with Wall Street and the Business sector not only getting bailed out but also escaping any prosecution for their wrong doings and benefiting disproportionately in the economic recovery – the Brexit distemper has strong roots in the USA.So the Democrats have to explain Hillary Clinton as their candidate – a candidate whose untrustworthy and unfavorable are at historical highs while the amount of campaign donations she has taken so far at $374 million exceeds Donald trump by a factor of 4. Will Hillary be able to restore Rule of Law and truly rein in Wall Street when she is beholden to them personally as well as electorally. Listen carefully at the Democratic Convention for how she explains her “situation”.