It all started as a joke. Power lunch is conducive to this kind of joke, four of us sitting there, nothing to do but talk about stupid ideas. The day before, we had watched a video in AP U.S. Government about Super PACs, and the absurdly loose restrictions placed on them by the Federal Election Commission (FEC), and we found it hilariously disturbing. Now, you may be asking yourself, “what is a Super PAC?” A Super PAC is technically an independent-expenditure-only political action committee. This bundle of irritatingly vague terminology basically means that an organization files some paperwork and writes a letter to the FEC promising that they won’t give any money directly to a political candidate, and, in return, the FEC says “Okay, do whatever you want then!” If this doesn’t feel absurd enough already, a Super PAC can accept unlimited donations, doesn’t have to tell anyone who gave them those donations, and can spend the money however they want. And, most importantly to us, literally anyone can start one.

“What if we started our own Super PAC?” I chimed into our discussion. “I bet Mrs. Sigvaldson would give us extra credit then.” I think it was the mention of extra credit that made everyone’s eyes light up. Some quick googling showed us the paperwork. At this point, we were still laughing, no one really believing that this was actually going to happen. However, the more we looked, the more incredulous we became. There was less paperwork to start a nonprofit organization than to apply to a college. “We could actually do this,” I said. We weren’t even old enough to vote, but we could start our own Super PAC. So we did. We filled out the forms, sent them off, and on November 21st received an email from the FEC reading “Welcome: This Shouldn’t Be This Easy Political Action Committee.” That’s the name of our Super PAC, by the way, because it really shouldn’t have been that easy.

This all started as a joke, and it is funny, but it’s also terrifying. In the 2016 election cycle, Super PACS spent $1.8 billion dollars, which was more than a fifth of all campaign spending – and we have no idea where that money came from. The only things you need to start a Super PAC is an email, a name, and a mailing address. Any person could start one in as little as an hour, whether you are a politically active teenager or the leader of a foreign country, trying to influence the election. While this is technically illegal, there is no system for checking if the filer is who they say they are. The 2010 Supreme Court case Citizens United v. FEC ruled that no donation limits could be set for Super PACs because they technically are covered under the first amendment right of freedom of expression. While this may be true, Super PACs should be made to disclose their donors and how their money is spent, to help prevent dark money from influencing U.S. elections.

In the next month, we will be filing the paperwork to officially shut down our Super PAC. Our intention was never to make any money, or do anything to influence future elections. If our Super PAC does serve a purpose, however, I hope that it will educate others as it did us. I don’t know that I recommend everyone go out and start their own Super PAC, but I do think that we should all seek to understand the truth behind the things we learn in class.

In loving memory of the “This Shouldn’t Be This Easy Political Action Committee”

Created by Ella Mozier, Tristian Paxton, Joss Bathke, and Jacob Bailey

November 21st, 2018 – December 10th, 2018