Republicans Should Suffer For Their Smears
There should be consequences, from civil liability to expulsion from Congress, for lying about citizens for propaganda or fundraising purposes.
The vast sums of money sloshing around on the right makes political investment a rounding error on right-wing fortunes.
We tend to think of the problems this gives rise to in terms of political-economy. It’s what “Fight Oligarchy” is all about. We need to tax the money, so that there’s less of it, erect legal barriers to spending it on electioneering, and increase transparency, so people and organizations are identified with their political causes. Otherwise, individual donors can trade a few hundred million in dark money donations for billions in tax cuts almost like clockwork. Even if they lose a few elections along the way, huge windfalls are always in the middle distance. And over time, democracy erodes further.
But policy is only adjacent to one of the big moral hazards of all this money, which is the incentive it creates to operate in bad faith.
Ultimately the solution here is political: Lying must come at an electoral cost. Democrats must unlearn the reflex to yoke all politics to kitchen-table issues and remember that politics is also a morality play. Everyone who cares about truth needs to do a better job conveying that politicians and parties aren’t all equally dishonest; that the modern incarnation of the Republican Party is different in kind in its indifference to truth, its hostility to expertise, its tolerance for in-house corruption.
But structural reforms may help us along. Laws and rules can deter bad-faith acting that doesn’t reach the level of criminality. Consider this case study.