Opinion/Kislak: Excess concentration of wealth threatens US democracy

Rep. Rebecca Kislak is a Democrat representing District 4 in Providence.

The growing concentration of wealth among a small number of ultra-rich billionaires in our country poses real threats to our democracy. Not only is the gap between the wealthy and the rest of us growing, but the super-rich are investing an ever growing share of their accumulated wealth in keeping the system rigged to protect their wealth while helping to elect politicians who support taking away our basic rights. 

We’ve had a stark example this year when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, stripping millions of people of the freedom to make the most personal of decisions – when and if to start a family. As a lawyer, I had always considered the Supreme Court an esteemed institution in our country: the arbiter of justice and the upholder of rights. As a law student in Washington, D.C., I would sometimes go listen to oral arguments. Like most Americans, I respected the integrity of the Court, even when I disagreed with the decisions.

But that’s less true today as decisions like Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization reverse 50 years of precedent and key justices make clear that their intent is to unravel basic foundations of our nation like the separation of church and state. The job of Supreme Court justices is to uphold the law, not manipulate it to advance their own beliefs at the expense of individual freedoms. 

Ending the Constitutional right to abortion creates dire health and legal consequences for pregnant people and their health-care providers. Research shows that denying or delaying abortion increases risk to health and to economic security. 

Since Rhode Island codified Roe v. Wade in 2019, abortion rights are protected in this state, and we will keep working to ensure equitable access for all seeking this care. But no matter where someone lives, the right to make private decisions about abortion, marriage, or anything else should not be based on geography. Everyone should have equal and fair protections under the Constitution and the Supreme Court should uphold these rights, not take them away. 

Supreme Court justices are supposed to be above politics and insulated from the corrupting influence of money. Thanks to the work of our own Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, we are learning more and more about how “dark money” has been shaping the current makeup of our Supreme Court. A Congressional report issued in April made clear the connection between money from wealthy donors and Supreme Court appointments. 

The current Supreme Court’s extremist makeover didn’t happen on its own. There was a deliberate and well-funded decades long-effort funded by corporations and by billionaires’ money to take over the courts and put extreme conservatives in key positions of power. Not only did that strategy work, but it’s likely to expand if we don’t take action to limit the influence of wealthy people’s money in our politics.  A billionaire donor just made a historically large donation of $1.6 billion to the political operatives credited for the transformation of the Supreme Court.  As a bonus, he got a $400-million tax break for that donation thanks to loopholes that enable the ultra-rich to avoid taxes while the rest of us pay our fair share. 

Around 700 billionaires now control as much wealth as the whole bottom half of the country – about 65 million households. By increasingly leveraging their massive fortunes to buy candidates and elections, they also have more control over our government, lawmakers, and even institutions that are supposed to be impervious to political influence. 

There are ways to check the ultra-rich and limit the concentration of wealth. Congress could require billionaires and millionaires to adhere to the same rules as the rest of us by paying their fair share of taxes rather than continuing to reward tax dodging and wealth hoarding. Passing a Billionaires Income Tax that requires the ultra-rich to pay taxes on their increased wealth, the same way workers pay on wages, would fix the two-tiered tax system and redirect some of the wealth billionaires are using to fuel political donations into revenue that supports a fairer economy.

In a healthy and functioning democracy, no one – no matter how rich they are – should be above the rules or have unchecked power to advance their agenda at the expense of everyone else’s freedom.