The .0000063% Election 
How the Politics of the Super Rich Became American Politics
By Ari Berman
"At a time when it’s become a cliché to say that Occupy Wall Street has changed the nation’s political conversation -- drawing long overdue attention to the struggles of the 99% -- electoral politics and the 2012 presidential election have become almost exclusively defined by the 1%. Or, to be more precise, the .0000063%. Those are the 196 individual donors who have provided nearly 80% of the money raised by super PACs in 2011 by giving $100,000 or more each.
'This really is the selling of America,' claims former presidential candidate and Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean. 'We’ve been sold out by five justices thanks to the Citizens United decision.' In truth, our democracy was sold to the highest bidder long ago, but in the 2012 election the explosion of super PACs has shifted the public’s focus to the staggering inequality in our political system, just as the Occupy movement shined a light on the gross inequity of the economy. The two, of course, go hand in hand."
http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175504/tomgram%3A_ari_berman%2C_the_politics_of_the_super_rich
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