2014年美國(guó)的人權(quán)紀(jì)錄（全文）
Full text of Human Rights Record of the United States in 2014
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| 二、關(guān)于政治權(quán)利 | II. On Political Rights |
| 有國(guó)際知名政治學(xué)者指出：“美國(guó)政治制度日漸腐朽。政黨分歧尖銳，分權(quán)體制給了利益集團(tuán)和政治活動(dòng)組織過(guò)度的話語(yǔ)權(quán)?！?35)美國(guó)前總統(tǒng)吉米·卡特也批評(píng)說(shuō)，世界見(jiàn)證了一個(gè)“失靈的民主政體”。(36)這揭示了美國(guó)公民政治權(quán)利未能得到有效保障的制度根源。 | As a renowned political scientist pointed out, the U.S. political system has decayed over time, and in an environment of sharp political polarization, this decentralized system gives excessive representation to the views of interest groups and activist organizations (Foreign Affairs, September/October 2014). Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said that the world sees "a democracy that's not working" (www.usatoday.com, October 11, 2013). It revealed the institutional root for the fact that the political rights of U.S. citizens had not been effectively protected. |
| 金錢依然操縱美國(guó)政治。2014年美國(guó)中期選舉中，眾議院和參議院選舉的總花費(fèi)接近40億美元，成為有史以來(lái)最昂貴的一次中期選舉。(37)有政治訴求的院外組織的投入占選舉總費(fèi)用的比例變得更大，來(lái)源不明的競(jìng)選贊助費(fèi)增多。普通美國(guó)人對(duì)選舉結(jié)果的影響在縮小。(38)華盛頓“K街”成為美國(guó)行政、立法和司法之外的“第四權(quán)力中心”。(39)游說(shuō)合法化的背后是金錢、資本對(duì)政治的操控。缺乏約束的企業(yè)政治捐款成為一種“合法化的行賄”。(40)據(jù)《今日美國(guó)》2014年9月10日披露，自聯(lián)邦最高法院2010年的裁決開(kāi)啟了政治捐款的閘門之后(41)，非法的“暗錢”不斷進(jìn)入選舉中，本次競(jìng)選季“暗錢”的額度更是創(chuàng)下紀(jì)錄：2010年只有1,600萬(wàn)美元，而2014年已經(jīng)超過(guò)5,300萬(wàn)美元。(42)“大錢”、特殊利益集團(tuán)、電視廣告攻擊，競(jìng)選的亂象也傳染了法官競(jìng)選。相比于2002年之前，2012年院外集團(tuán)花費(fèi)在法官推選活動(dòng)中的資金增長(zhǎng)了8倍。(43)有學(xué)者指出，有錢有勢(shì)的利益集團(tuán)能輕易地以合法方式影響國(guó)會(huì)，只需先捐款，然后坐等不確定的回饋到來(lái)，得到政策上額外照顧。民主程序業(yè)已腐化或被金錢“綁架”。精英們嘴上滿口“自由”，實(shí)際上卻滿心樂(lè)意享受特權(quán)。(44) | Money is still a deciding factor for the U.S. politics. Total spending in the 2014 midterm races was projected to top 4 billion U.S. dollars nationwide, making it the most expensive midterm election in history (www.latimes.com, October 28, 2014). Outside groups with political agendas picked up a larger share of the bill. More money than ever in the midterm came from secret sources. The influence of average Americans on the election results diminished (www.usatoday.com, November 2, 2014). "K Street" in Washington, D.C. -- located between Capitol Hill and the White House and known as a metonym for the country's lobbing industry -- became the fourth power center in the U.S. after administration, legislation and justice. Behind legalized lobbying was the political manipulation by money and capital. Unfettered corporate political donations became "legalized bribery" (www.usatoday.com, October 11, 2013). According to a USA Today report on September 10, 2014, "dark money" kept flowing into elections since a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2010 opened the floodgate on political donations. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case on January 21, 2010 that the rules to restrict election campaign expenditures by for-profit corporations was in violation of the Constitution. During the 2014 campaign season, dark money exceeded 53 million U.S. dollars, up from 16 million U.S. dollars in 2010 (www.usatoday.com, September 10, 2014). Everything wrong with campaigns for other offices - big money, special interest groups and TV attack ads - also infected judicial election. Spending by outside groups to elect judges increased eight-fold from before the 2002 elections to that leading up to 2012 (www.usatoday.com, October 28, 2014). A legal scholar points out that interest groups are able to influence members of Congress legally simply by making donations and waiting for unspecified return favors. The democratic process has been corrupted or hijacked. In the contemporary U.S., elites speak the language of liberty but are perfectly happy to settle for privilege (Foreign Affairs, September/October 2014). |
少數(shù)族裔等群體的投票權(quán)受到壓制。美國(guó)的選舉權(quán)受到經(jīng)濟(jì)收入、種族等因素的限制，很多公民被排除在外。相比于2012年的總統(tǒng)選舉，2014年的中期選舉非洲裔參選率從13%下降到12%，拉美裔參選率從10%下降到8%，亞裔參選率從3%下降到2%。(45)選民身份立法在2014年依舊得到聯(lián)邦最高司法機(jī)構(gòu)的支持，最高法院允許德克薩斯州在11月的選舉中繼續(xù)施行有爭(zhēng)議的選民身份法。大約60萬(wàn)選民，大多數(shù)是非洲裔或拉美裔，因?yàn)闆](méi)有合格的身份證明而無(wú)法參加投票。(46)這些摻雜社會(huì)經(jīng)濟(jì)因素和種族因素的限制，受到選民權(quán)利倡導(dǎo)者竭力反對(duì)。(47)另外，美國(guó)多數(shù)有犯罪前科的公民也被排除、隔離在選舉程序之外。多達(dá)585萬(wàn)的美國(guó)人因?yàn)榉高^(guò)罪而不能投票，其中，愛(ài)荷華州、肯塔基州和佛羅里達(dá)州實(shí)行的政策最為嚴(yán)苛，剝奪任何曾被判決犯罪者的公民權(quán)。(48) | The voting rights of racial minorities and other groups are under suppression. The voting rights in the U.S. are restricted by economic income, race and other factors, and many citizens were prevented from voting. Preliminary exit polls showed that voters of African origins accounted for 12 percent in the 2014 midterm election, down from 13 percent in the 2012 presidential election. Hispanic voters dropped from 10 percent in 2012 to 8 percent and the proportion of Asian voters also reduced to two percent from three percent (www.usatoday.com, November 5, 2014). In 2014, the Supreme Court said that Texas could use its controversial new voter identification law for the November election. Roughly 600,000 voters, many of them black or Latino, could be turned away at the polls because they lacked acceptable identification (www.dailymail.co.uk, October 18, 2014). Voting rights advocates were up in arms over the socioeconomic and racial factors of these new restrictions (www.upi.com, November 3, 2014). In addition, criminal disenfranchisement removed massive swaths of society from the democratic process as a collateral consequence of conviction. A striking 5.85 million Americans could not vote because of a criminal conviction before. Many disenfranchised citizens lived in Iowa, Kentucky, or Florida -- the three states with extreme policies of disenfranchising anyone with a felony conviction for life (www.aclu.org, November 17, 2014). |
| 美國(guó)公民對(duì)選舉政治越來(lái)越失去信心。民意調(diào)查顯示，大多數(shù)美國(guó)民眾對(duì)2014年的選舉活動(dòng)感到失望和厭倦。三分之二的民眾認(rèn)為國(guó)家走在錯(cuò)誤的軌道上。(49)據(jù)《赫芬頓郵報(bào)》2014年12月2日?qǐng)?bào)道，中期選舉的幾周前，國(guó)會(huì)的民眾支持率僅有9%。(50)與選舉花費(fèi)高昂形成對(duì)照的是，本次中期選舉的投票率是第二次世界大戰(zhàn)以來(lái)歷次選舉最低。截至2014年11月3日，僅有36.4%的選民參與投票。印第安納州僅有28%，為全國(guó)最低。(51) | The American citizens have increasingly lost confidence in electoral politics. According to most polls, Americans approached the 2014 elections in a sour mood. Two-thirds said the nation had gotten off on the wrong track (www.usatoday.com, November 2, 2014). According to a report by the Huffington Post on December 2, 2014, only nine percent of Americans approved of Congress in the weeks leading up to the midterms elections (www.huffingtonpost.com, December 2, 2014). In contrast to the high costs, general election voter turnout for the 2014 midterms was the lowest in any election cycle since the World War II. As of November 3, 2014, only 36.4 percent of the voting-eligible population cast ballots. Indiana had the lowest turnout rate, with just 28 percent of eligible voters participating (www.washingtonpost.com, November 10, 2014). |
注(35) 《外交事務(wù)》，2014年（9月/10月）。 注(36) 《今日美國(guó)》網(wǎng)站（www.usatoday.com），2013年10月11日。 注(37) 《洛杉磯時(shí)報(bào)》網(wǎng)站（www.latimes.com），2014年10月28日。 注(38) 《今日美國(guó)》網(wǎng)站（www.usatoday.com），2014年11月2日。 注(39) 華盛頓“K街”位于美國(guó)國(guó)會(huì)山和白宮之間，是美國(guó)著名的“游說(shuō)一條街”。 注(40) 《今日美國(guó)》網(wǎng)站（www.usatoday.com），2013年10月11日。 注(41) 美國(guó)聯(lián)邦最高法院于2010年1月21日對(duì)“聯(lián)合公民訴聯(lián)邦選舉委員會(huì)案”（Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission）作出判決，認(rèn)定限制商業(yè)機(jī)構(gòu)資助聯(lián)邦選舉候選人的兩黨選舉改革法案的條款違憲。 注(42) 《今日美國(guó)》網(wǎng)站（www.usatoday.com），2014年9月10日。 注(43) 《今日美國(guó)》網(wǎng)站（www.usatoday.com），2014年10月28日。 注(44) 《外交事務(wù)》，2014年（9月/10月）。 注(45) 《今日美國(guó)》網(wǎng)站（www.usatoday.com），2014年11月5日。 注(46) 英國(guó)《每日郵報(bào)》網(wǎng)站（www.dailymail.co.uk），2014年10月18日。 注(47) 美國(guó)合眾國(guó)際新聞社網(wǎng)站（www.upi.com），2014年11月3日。 注(48) 美國(guó)公民自由聯(lián)盟網(wǎng)站（www.aclu.org），2014年11月17日。 注(49) 《今日美國(guó)》網(wǎng)站（www.usatoday.com），2014年11月2日。 注(50) 《赫芬頓郵報(bào)》網(wǎng)站（www.huffingtonpost.com），2014年12月2日。 注(51)《今日美國(guó)》網(wǎng)站，2014年11月2日；《華盛頓郵報(bào)》網(wǎng)站（www.washingtonpost.com），2014年11月10日。 | |
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