2014年美國的人權紀錄（全文）
Full text of Human Rights Record of the United States in 2014
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| 二、關于政治權利 | II. On Political Rights |
| 有國際知名政治學者指出：“美國政治制度日漸腐朽。政黨分歧尖銳，分權體制給了利益集團和政治活動組織過度的話語權。”(35)美國前總統吉米·卡特也批評說，世界見證了一個“失靈的民主政體”。(36)這揭示了美國公民政治權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. |
| 金錢依然操縱美國政治。2014年美國中期選舉中，眾議院和參議院選舉的總花費接近40億美元，成為有史以來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用的比例變得更大，來源不明的競選贊助費增多。普通美國人對選舉結果的影響在縮小。(38)華盛頓“K街”成為美國行政、立法和司法之外的“第四權力中心”。(39)游說合法化的背后是金錢、資本對政治的操控。缺乏約束的企業政治捐款成為一種“合法化的行賄”。(40)據《今日美國》2014年9月10日披露，自聯邦最高法院2010年的裁決開啟了政治捐款的閘門之后(41)，非法的“暗錢”不斷進入選舉中，本次競選季“暗錢”的額度更是創下紀錄：2010年只有1,600萬美元，而2014年已經超過5,300萬美元。(42)“大錢”、特殊利益集團、電視廣告攻擊，競選的亂象也傳染了法官競選。相比于2002年之前，2012年院外集團花費在法官推選活動中的資金增長了8倍。(43)有學者指出，有錢有勢的利益集團能輕易地以合法方式影響國會，只需先捐款，然后坐等不確定的回饋到來，得到政策上額外照顧。民主程序業已腐化或被金錢“綁架”。精英們嘴上滿口“自由”，實際上卻滿心樂意享受特權。(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). |
少數族裔等群體的投票權受到壓制。美國的選舉權受到經濟收入、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年依舊得到聯邦最高司法機構的支持，最高法院允許德克薩斯州在11月的選舉中繼續施行有爭議的選民身份法。大約60萬選民，大多數是非洲裔或拉美裔，因為沒有合格的身份證明而無法參加投票。(46)這些摻雜社會經濟因素和種族因素的限制，受到選民權利倡導者竭力反對。(47)另外，美國多數有犯罪前科的公民也被排除、隔離在選舉程序之外。多達585萬的美國人因為犯過罪而不能投票，其中，愛荷華州、肯塔基州和佛羅里達州實行的政策最為嚴苛，剝奪任何曾被判決犯罪者的公民權。(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). |
| 美國公民對選舉政治越來越失去信心。民意調查顯示，大多數美國民眾對2014年的選舉活動感到失望和厭倦。三分之二的民眾認為國家走在錯誤的軌道上。(49)據《赫芬頓郵報》2014年12月2日報道，中期選舉的幾周前，國會的民眾支持率僅有9%。(50)與選舉花費高昂形成對照的是，本次中期選舉的投票率是第二次世界大戰以來歷次選舉最低。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》，2014年（9月/10月）。 注(36) 《今日美國》網站（www.usatoday.com），2013年10月11日。 注(37) 《洛杉磯時報》網站（www.latimes.com），2014年10月28日。 注(38) 《今日美國》網站（www.usatoday.com），2014年11月2日。 注(39) 華盛頓“K街”位于美國國會山和白宮之間，是美國著名的“游說一條街”。 注(40) 《今日美國》網站（www.usatoday.com），2013年10月11日。 注(41) 美國聯邦最高法院于2010年1月21日對“聯合公民訴聯邦選舉委員會案”（Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission）作出判決，認定限制商業機構資助聯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》網站（www.usatoday.com），2014年9月10日。 注(43) 《今日美國》網站（www.usatoday.com），2014年10月28日。 注(44) 《外交事務》，2014年（9月/10月）。 注(45) 《今日美國》網站（www.usatoday.com），2014年11月5日。 注(46) 英國《每日郵報》網站（www.dailymail.co.uk），2014年10月18日。 注(47) 美國合眾國際新聞社網站（www.upi.com），2014年11月3日。 注(48) 美國公民自由聯盟網站（www.aclu.org），2014年11月17日。 注(49) 《今日美國》網站（www.usatoday.com），2014年11月2日。 注(50) 《赫芬頓郵報》網站（www.huffingtonpost.com），2014年12月2日。 注(51)《今日美國》網站，2014年11月2日；《華盛頓郵報》網站（www.washingtonpost.com），2014年11月10日。 | |
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