Educational Media Reviews Online

Comedians have made jokes that we have the best government money can buy. But as director John Wellington Ennis shows in Pay 2 Play, the joke is on us. In order to really get the attention of a “public servant,” you have to pay up, in the form of campaign donations. This gets those who pay government appointments and the ear of politicians to consider legislation the donor wants passed. In an astonishing tidbit quoted in the documentary, political donors can expect a “return on investment” of 22,000 per cent, as calculated by the Journal of Law and Politics.

The pay to play model is the province of both major parties, and it’s not easy to break. A candidate who wants to reform things has to get elected first. To get elected, the candidate must get the word out about his or her candidacy and platform. Getting the word out takes money for political advertising. A candidate who will not take money from corporate or other special interests will have much less money for advertising than an opponent who will take happily the special interest money.

And the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission means the money flowing from these interests will keep increasing. The Citizens United decision said corporations, legally considered a person, are entitled to free speech just like any other person. And money spent on political campaigns is considered a form of free speech.

Since it’s so hard for a political outsider to crack the system, Ennis suggests taking it to the streets to voice dissatisfaction and call for change. He points to the “occupy” movements that started on Wall Street and spread around the world, and also the demonstrations against the American Legislative Exchange Council, which meets with business leaders to craft bills favorable to business but often at the expense of workers and consumers. After talking to some street artists, Ennis joins them in clandestinely installing on buildings and signs murals and other art work with political messages.

The filmmaker also offers six fixes for the current system: (1) public financing of campaigns; (2) disclosure of all political donors; (3) ending gerrymandering of districts that favor re-election of incumbents; (4)free airtime for political commercials; (5) compulsory voting; and (6) a constitutional amendment that says corporations are not people and campaign contributions are not political speech.

A cynic would say these proposals are too pie-in-the-sky and have little chance of becoming reality, particularly since the vested interests who would be adversely affected by these fixes would use all of their muscle to defeat them. But Ennis is an optimist. He ends the video by showing several speakers who say citizens can use their collective power to change things. And the movement can start with just one person’s actions.

As an antidote to the general despair over the political system, this video is recommended for public and academic libraries.