That money shapes politics is a truth as old as the republic. What's new is the scale of it. A small class of ultrawealthy leftist donors now flood Washington with cash, routed through shell companies and opaque nonprofits engineered to obscure its source. The dollars arrive quietly. The strings, inevitably, do not.
As CBS News noted recently, dark money has become an "unrivaled force" in American politics.
This shadowy pay-for-play game manipulates the policy that ordinary Americans must live with. The vast majority of Americans work hard and pay their taxes, expecting their elected officials to represent them, not the highest bidder. It affects political leaders, attracting the worst and tempting the best. And it's becoming even more deceptive.
Our crippling national debt and the corruption in federal government is a direct function of leaders in Washington getting too comfortable in the moneyed halls of power. Most first-time candidates promise to go to D.C. and drain the swamp. After a few years surrounded by the spoils of power, these elected officials start to feel like the swamp is actually a hot tub, and they become comfortable with the system that they promised to change.
These days, the pipelines funneling money into our nation's capital are well disguised. The puppet masters have gotten smart. They use tax-exempt nonprofits, immune from federal disclosure rules, and well-designed corporate structures to mask their giving, keeping their fingerprints off dealings that could point back to them.
The left perfected this "art of the steal." It's how they foist their socialist pipedreams on the public. Now, they are adding a new page to their playbook: If you can't beat 'em, buy 'em.
Arnold Ventures is the policy-pushing ATM of John Arnold, a former Enron trader who collected an $8 million bonus just days before the company filed for bankruptcy. Arnold Ventures may not have invented this "rent-a-representative" strategy, but it sure dialed it in.
The allegedly altruistic Arnold Ventures has been the money behind many of the left's most egregious brainchildren -- gun control, citizen surveillance, health care subsidies, criminal justice reform. A close reading of the organization's positions would suggest it wrote Joe Biden's platform.
Arnold Ventures has spent millions of dollars to loosen bail requirements that keep violent criminals in jail before their hearing. It developed an algorithm that could supposedly tell whether an offender would commit another crime. That technology helped two thugs, Decarlos Brown and Jules Black, walk out of the courtroom -- both later committed violent murders.
The organization, which restructured as an LLC in 2019 to further camouflage its "enormous appetite for change" -- spent nearly $14 million to combat "disinformation," code speak for promoting political censorship.
How does such a purveyor of the left's failed liberal agenda enjoy the badge of bipartisan thought leader? By putting conservatives on its payroll. As one watchdog explained it, "John Arnold has enlisted Republicans with a dump truck full of cash."
In a letter to Senate leaders, the same group blew the whistle that Arnold Ventures -- which wanted certain education regulations gutted -- paid for a staff member's law school tuition. That staffer allegedly saw to it that the reforms were watered down.
Arnold Ventures' checkbook policymaking isn't ethical. Operations like it may not even be legal. And they certainly aren't in the public's best interest. Lawmakers are elected to represent their constituents, not amass a fortune for themselves.
Some Republicans have taken to warning fellow conservatives about this wolf in sheep's clothing. Others seem content to take the kickback and go with the flow, even if it means getting in bed with the left.
Making money isn't a crime, it's the American dream. However, money should not buy policy.
Sadly, Washington is living up to its reputation for deals brokered in smokey back rooms, and it's not lost on honest Americans. About three-quarters of voters believe special interests have too much power, and over six in 10 think the reason most politicians seek office is to make money.
The Founders feared what Big Money could do to a republic. They built a system designed to keep power dispersed, far from the temptations of the capital. That vision is under siege. It's time to drain the swamp and dam the flood of dark money pushing the left's march toward socialism.
Ken Buck received his law degree from the University of Wyoming and served in the United States House of Representatives from 2015-2024 representing Colorado's 4th congressional district.
