海角大神

The real threat to American sovereignty

For Donald Trump, the biggest threats to American sovereignty are three-dimensional items that cross our borders, such as unwanted imports and undocumented immigrants. He鈥檚 wrong, says Reich. 

鈥淲ithout a border, we just don鈥檛 have a country,鈥� Donald Trump says repeatedly. For him, the biggest threats to American sovereignty are three-dimensional items that cross our borders, such as unwanted imports and undocumented immigrants.听

He鈥檚 wrong. The biggest threats to American sovereignty are invisible digital dollars wired into U.S. election campaigns from abroad.听

Yet Trump seems to welcome foreign influence over our democracy.听

Sovereignty is mainly about a government鈥檚 capacity to govern. A government not fully accountable to its citizens won鈥檛 pass laws that benefit and protect those citizens 鈥� not just laws about trade and immigration but about national security, the environment, labor standards, the economy, and all else.

To state it another way: Without a functioning democracy, we just don鈥檛 have a country.

Trump鈥檚 recent public request that hackers connected to the Russian government sabotage his opponent Hillary Clinton is the tip of a Trumpian iceberg of foreign influence.

He鈥檚 also been actively听听campaign funds from officials of foreign governments 鈥� in the United Kingdom, Iceland, Australia, and elsewhere.

Terri Butler, a member of the Australian parliament member was surprised to听from Trump at her official government email address, asking her to make a 鈥済enerous contribution鈥� to the Trump campaign.

Bob Blackman, a member of Britain鈥檚 House of Commons, who has also听听requests from the Trump campaign, says "I did not sign up, these are sent unsolicited.鈥�

Another member of the U.K. parliament, Peter Bottomley, has received听. "Neither [Trump鈥檚] sons nor anyone else has answered my questions about how they acquired my email nor why they were asking for financial support that I suppose to be illegal for [Trump] to accept,鈥� he says,听

In Iceland, Katrin Jakobsdottir, chair of the Left-Green Movement, a democratic socialist party, has 鈥溙齢ow she got on Trump鈥檚 fundraising list.

Someone should let Trump know it鈥檚听for candidates for federal office to solicit foreign money, regardless of whether the donations ever materialize. In addition, foreign individuals, corporations and governments are barred from either giving money directly to U.S. candidates or spending on advertising to influence U.S. elections.听

Why hasn鈥檛 Trump been held accountable? Because the Federal Election Commission, charged with enforcing the law, is gridlocked by its Republican appointees.听听

So we鈥檙e left with a presidential candidate screaming about threats to American sovereignty from trade and immigration, who鈥檚 simultaneously urging officials of foreign governments to compromise American sovereignty.

The hypocrisy doesn鈥檛 end there. Leading Trump supporters like Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, a senior member of the Senate Judiciary committee, is quick to blame global American corporations for disregarding American borders.听

鈥淭here just seems to be this view, particularly in much of our business community 鈥� they鈥檝e already transitioned to a trans-national status,鈥� Sessions听. 鈥淭hey just see the world differently.听 Borders are just impediments to them.鈥�

Yes, but the only way Americans have a fighting chance of getting trade deals that are in our interest 鈥� or, for that matter, any other kind of legislation that helps the vast majority 鈥� is by restricting the flow of global corporate money into American politics.

Yet Sessions is one of the staunchest defenders of the Supreme Court鈥檚 鈥�Citizens United鈥� ruling, which held that corporations are people under the First Amendment and can therefore contribute to election campaigns. (He鈥檚 even favorably听听鈥�Citizens United鈥� to 鈥�Brown v. Board of Education.鈥�)

Not incidentally, 鈥�Citizens United鈥� opened a back door for global corporations to influence American elections.

Just last week 鈥�The Intercept鈥�听听on two Chinese citizens living in Singapore who own a U.S.-based firm called American Pacific International Capital, on whose board Neil Bush (Jeb鈥檚 brother) serves. Last year, the corporation donated $1.3 million to the Jeb Bush super PAC.

There鈥檚 reason to believe a lot more foreign money is being funneled into American election campaigns, either through听tax鈥揺xempt entities that don鈥檛 have to reveal the identities of their donors, or via super PACs.听So far in the 2016 election there鈥檚 been a surge of contributions to super PACs by so-called 鈥済host corporations鈥� whose ownership remains unknown.

The underlying problem is even larger, because almost all large publicly-traded American companies have some foreign ownership. The听estimates听that about a quarter of the total market value of public U.S. corporations is owned by foreign nationals.

So听whenever these corporations make campaign donations they in effect funnel some of their foreign shareholders鈥� assets into American politics.

That wouldn鈥檛 matter so much if these global corporations cared about America. But they don鈥檛. They care only about their global bottom lines. As an Apple executiveThe New York Times, 鈥淲e don鈥檛 have an obligation to solve America鈥檚 problems.鈥�

Donald Trump is right to worry about American sovereignty. But the real threat to our sovereignty isn鈥檛 imports or immigrants. It鈥檚 global money influencing our politics. 听

Protecting our democracy requires two steps that Trump and his leading supporters oppose: First, enforce our laws against soliciting or receiving foreign money in our election campaigns.

Second, reverse 鈥�Citizens United.鈥�

This story originally appeared on .