“Unprecedented income inequality combined with unlimited campaign contributions means that now, more than ever, the democratic process is under the influence of a small number of very wealthy people. Here’s how to stop it.”

By Robert Reich. Robert is chancellor’s professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Clinton.

“Who’s buying our democracy? Wall Street financiers, the Koch brothers, and casino magnates Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn.

“And they’re doing much of it in secret.

“It’s a perfect storm:

“The greatest concentration of wealth in more than a century — courtesy “trickle-down” economics, Reagan and Bush tax cuts, and the demise of organized labor.

“Combined with…

“Unlimited political contributions — courtesy of Republican-appointed Justices Roberts, Scalia, Alito, Thomas, and Kennedy, in one of the dumbest decisions in Supreme Court history, ‘Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission,’ along with lower-court rulings that have expanded it.

“Combined with…

“Complete secrecy about who’s contributing how much to whom — courtesy of a loophole in the tax laws that allows so-called non-profit ‘social welfare’ organizations to accept the unlimited contributions for hard-hitting political ads.

“Put them all together and our democracy is being sold down the drain.

“With a more equitable and traditional distribution of wealth, far more Americans would have a fair chance of influencing politics. As the great jurist Louis Brandeis once said, ‘we can have a democracy or we can have great wealth in the hands of a comparative few, but we cannot have both.’”

To continue reading this opinion column at The Christian Science Monitor, click here.