As election season heats up, we hear how “earth-shattering” its outcome will be. Nonsense. The presidential election has become, like the Super Bowl, a well-funded media event. The actual hopes of independents are subdued. If Romney wins, we hope he does none of the outrageous things that he promised in order to be nominated, like gutting Medicaid. If Obama wins, we hope he stops doing outrageous things he promised he would never do, such as soliciting lobbyists or eliminating our right to legal representation.

Because secretive money now dominates elections, there is only one way to regain the popular will. The “Citizens United” decision must be nullified. Otherwise, regardless of election outcome, our nation’s fate will be as proclaimed by Frederick Martin, one of New York’s elite, during our Gilded Age: “We are the rich. We own America. We got it, God knows how, but we intend to keep it!”