Money in Politics, One Month Later
Big idea: Breaking up the duopoly
The Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter argues in “The Politics Industry,” with his co-author Katherine Gehl, that America’s political parties are “a textbook duopoly.” Their business, so to speak, is thriving financially while failing to satisfy consumers. There are no start-ups presenting a serious competitive threat. From an antitrust perspective, new rules are needed.
“The events of the last weeks and months have been a wake-up call,” Mr. Porter told DealBook. Businesses realize that “whatever they’ve been doing in government is no good,” he said, and they can evolve into “a special interest for the public interest.” By supporting specific causes — like ranked-choice voting to loosen the party grip on primaries — companies could help foster political competition and spur innovation, making government better.
That still leaves the issue of funding. Corporate funds buy influence, and relying on business to embrace a shared civic cause may not suffice. Mr. Porter countered that for the companies that don’t recognize the value in creating a more functional society, the price of getting called out for hypocrisy now is too severe. But exposing hypocrisy also requires being able to follow the money.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/06/business/dealbook/corporate-donations-politics.html
