Stephen Colbert, much like his network neighbor Jon Stewart, has his own satirical half hour show on Comedy Central. Also like Stewart, Colbert makes much of his material on poking fun at the political machines that seem to contradict themselves on a daily basis. However, Colbert is more the radical prankster little brother to Stewart's big brotherly witty humor. This was seen in the last presidential election where Colbert actually tried to run for President, but was denied a spot on the ballot. Undeterred by this, Colbert has again pushed the envelope and has now created his own Super PAC, a fundraising group often associated with a certain presidential candidate. Colbert's Super PAC, American's for a better tomorrow, tomorrow, has no affiliation with a specific candidate, instead the goal is to try to not only poke fun at the absurdity of the current political fund raising system, but also educate people on why this system is bad for American's in general.
The political fund raising system was turned on its head last year by a supreme court ruling in the case of Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission. The decision went something like this:
"If an individual has a constitutional right to make an independent expenditure" — meaning one not directly associated with a particular candidate or campaign — "then a group of individuals has the same right acting as a group."
This gave the Super PACs the ability to spend as much money as they want, and generally without having to disclose where they got the money from. Colbert found the absurdity in this and as of June created his own Super PAC, American's for a better tomorrow, tomorrow. Colbert is using this SuperPAC to expose the ways that this can and is being used unfairly and often times against the wills of the average American.
His first action with the Super PAC was in Iowa before the straw poll in August where he ran ads criticizing the spending of Rick Perry who had 6 Super Pacs raising money on his behalf. Colbert's ads attacked this and told people to vote for Richard Parry, saying the a "Stands for America, and for IowA"
All the while this is happening, Colbert is updating the followers of his television show about the progress of the SuperPac (which is funded mostly from his audience base) and explaining how it works, how he is using it to both mock politicians and mock the system itself.
The main issue at the heart of this is the ruling that corporations and unions can now donate unlimited amounts of money to these Super Pacs and often times the SuperPacs don't even have to disclose where the money comes from. This is a key issue with the occupy wall street movements happening across the country. Colbert is using both his television show platform to try and inform and change society, but he is also using his referent and expert power that he has over his viewers to both donate to the change and to follow it. With over 165,000 people have signed up as supporters of the SuperPac, it is not just a tiny following either.
Colbert is also so enthusiastic about his endeavors, he leads his follows using authentic leadership. He may not connect with them and build strong relationships, but he has conviction in his words and actions, and he does have goals to try and change the current political fundraising system. His followers are almost cult like, seemingly he can do nothing wrong, and they are willing to help him educate the country about this problem, and maybe get a few laughs out of it as well.
Sources - Stephen Colbert pac more than a gag
Superpac explained by Colbert lawyer
- Randall Smith
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