Back when things were only moderately screwed, I had a standard three-part answer for what the U.S. needed to accomplish to un-moderately-screw its politics:

• Independent redistricting panels to eliminate gerrymandering. This has taken a nosedive in 2026 for the usual reason. The last informal bipartisan detente has become a partisan legislative free-for-all, and it might stay that way for a while.
• Eliminate the Electoral College. While Virginia just took it on the chin regarding its Trumpmandering countermeasures, it did score the latest win in the national effort to let the popular vote determine the presidency.
• Campaign finance laws to cap individual contributions and eliminate corporate contributions. Of all the tributes to the right’s hate of Hillary Clinton, serving up the chance for SCOTUS to dismantle McCain/Feingold via Citizens United might be the most impressive and far-reaching.

In case you missed it, some good news has surfaced on this last front.

A Fitting First Punch
Earlier this month, Hawaii’s Democratic governor signed the first state law requiring its corporations to refrain from campaign-related expenditures. And no truly means no: the law applies to local, state, and federal politics.

How does it do that in light of Citizen United’s green light for corporate and dark money? It leans on a rationale that proponents say was hiding in plain sight for a long while: corporations get their powers from the state where they are registered. Any state can specify (and adjust) what those rights are and what they aren’t.

Moreover, a state’s restrictions on its own corporations also apply to what out-of-state corporations can do in that state. So while Texas-based corporations can still donate to a PAC in Texas, under this law they cannot in Hawaii.

With any luck (OK, a lot of luck), irony is about to build a comeback at the expense of our “states’ rights!” friends.

You might be surprised to learn that around a quarter of states have already seen some legislative action along these lines. All had failed, until now.

Multiple factors play into why this got done in Hawaii first, but one collective memory was certainly in the mix: Interference from mainland-based U.S. corporations was critical in the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom that preceded its statehood. You’re shocked, I know. Here’s a piece on the companies behind those shenanigans.

Back To The Present
Hawaii’s own Democratic Attorney General has serious reservations. The expense to defend it will be substantial. But according to The National Law Review, she is also concerned about the law’s viability from a constitutional standpoint. The National Law Review agrees with her.

On the other hand, the Center For American Progress voices confidence that the law will stand up because it kneecaps corporate political activity at a fundamental level, using longheld state prerogative, before the questions of Citizens United come into play.

Who knows how that will ultimately play out. The law’s fate will either shut the door on this strategy for more campaign sanity, or it will provide a new wave of momentum for other state legislatures to ride.

For the moment, let’s take the win of people organizing and trying to do the right thing, landing a blow in the name of a democratic process that better reflects the people it serves.