I think the No. 1 reason is that foreign money in elections was a foreseen consequence of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, and I hope I don’t have to convince you this is a bad thing.
Leftists who think Russiagate is no big deal seem to believe it’s all just political. But leave aside who the Russians were trying to help and whether or not they succeeded. The point is that the Russians are infiltrating more than the American Republican Party. They have also made inroads in leftist Green parties both here and in Europe. They are backing both left and right, against the established order and each other. Unlike in the Soviet days, I don’t think they want either side to win. They want them to keep fighting, and they’ve been damn successful at getting us to do it. Remember that incident during the 2016 campaign in which Russian cutout accounts organized and promoted conflicting rallies on the same issue at the same time and place? That was their goal in a nutshell.
Everyone saw how Jill Stein fell into Putin’s arms during the campaign, so I won’t belabor that here. As it turns out it’s not an isolated case, as this Daily Beast story about a top Green Party EU lawmaker who flip-flopped on sanctions. The Russians also support far-right nationalist parties, so they are doing the same thing on the continent.
Yes, I realize the US does this more than anyone, if a lot more clumsily. I’m not calling for anything but vigilance. But you can’t be vigilant if you think it doesn’t matter.