2015年美国的人权纪录（中英对照）

二、政治权利无法得到应有保障

II. Political Rights Not Safeguarded

2015年，美国金钱政治和家族政治变本加厉，选民的真实意愿难以有效表达，政治生活中存在事实上的信仰歧视，公民知情权受到进一步压制。对此，美国前总统吉米·卡特发出“美国已经不再是民主国家了”的感慨。（注15）

In 2015, money politics and clan politics went from bad to worse in the nation where voters found it hard to express their real volition and there was discrimination against belief in political life. In addition, citizens’ right to information was further suppressed. Unsurprisingly, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said that “the U.S. is no longer a democracy” (www.huffingtonpost.com, August 3, 2015).

金钱政治暴露民主虚伪性。美国法律对个人向总统候选人捐款数额作了限制，但对个人和企业向超级政治行动委员会捐款没有限制。《今日美国》2015年4月10日报道，至少有11个总统候选人联盟成立了超级政治行动委员会，借以筹集无限额捐款支持竞选。（注16）总统候选人和超级政治行动委员会仅用半年时间，就筹集到3.8亿美元，其中60多笔100万美元以上的捐款占三分之一，一半捐款来自出资10万美元以上的捐款人，67位出资最多的捐款人捐款总额是50.8万名最小额捐助者的3倍还多。（注17）据美国财经博客网披露，2007至2012年，在政治方面最为活跃的200家企业共耗费58亿美元用于联邦游说和竞选捐款，而它们则从联邦政府项目和支持中获得4.4万亿美元的回报，占美国个人纳税者向联邦政府所缴税款的三分之二。这意味着，企业为影响美国政治的花费可以获取760倍的回报。（注18）美国前总统吉米·卡特就此指出，无限额的政治贿赂成为提名总统候选人或当选总统的主要影响因素，“美国的政治体系已被颠覆为向主要政治捐助者提供回报的工具”。 （注19）美国总统2016年国情咨文也承认金钱对政治的影响很大，称“少数家族和幕后利益集团利用资金影响选举”。

Money politics revealed the hypocrisy in democracy. Although the laws of the United States put a lid on the size of individual donations to presidential candidates, there is no limit for such contributions to super PACs by individuals and corporations. The USA Today reported on April 10, 2015 that the allies of at least 11 White House hopefuls had launched committees to raise unlimited money to back their campaigns (www.usatoday.com, April 10, 2015). The presidential candidates and the super PACs raised about 380 million U.S. dollars in only half a year. More than 60 donations were worth more than 1 million U.S. dollars each, accounting for about one third of the total contributions. Half of the amount came from those who donated more than 100,000 U.S. dollars and the combined fund of the top 67 donors was more than three times that of 508,000 donors with least contributions (www.aol.com, August 1; www.politico.com, August 1). According to a report of the Zerohedge, between 2007 and 2012, 200 of America’s most politically active corporations spent a combined 5.8 billion U.S. dollars on federal lobbying and campaign contributions. What they gave paled compared to what those same corporations got: 4.4 trillion U.S. dollars in federal business and support. Put that in context, the sum represented two thirds of what individual taxpayers paid into the federal treasury. For every dollar spent on influencing politics, the nation’s most politically active corporations received 760 U.S. dollars from the government (www.zerohedge.com, March 16, 2015). Jimmy Carter said that with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the nominations for president or being elected president, the U.S. political system was subverted to be a payoff to major contributors (www.huffingtonpost.com, August 3, 2015). The role money played in politics was also indicated in the U.S. President’s State of the Union Address for 2016, which said a handful of families and hidden interests were exercising influence on elections via their funds.

家族政治左右美国选举。在参加2016年美国总统选举的候选人中，有多名参选人家族政治背景明显。《纽约时报》通过大数据分析得出结论，“父辈优势”在政治领域明显。美国总统的儿子成为总统的几率比同龄人高140万倍，州长的儿子成为州长的概率比普通美国人高6000倍，参议员子承父业的机会比普通美国男性高出8500倍。（注20）据《华盛顿邮报》2015年1月16日报道，自从共和党建立以来，其8.7%的国会议员与前国会议员是近亲。该报道还指出，美国总统竞选充满贵族继承制的气息：有可能入围候选人名单的是州长和总统候选人的儿子，国会议员和总统候选人的儿子，总统的妻子和总统的兄弟，总统的儿子和参议员的孙子。（注21）

Clan politics was driving U.S. government elections. Among the candidates for the 2016 presidential election, more than one candidate was obviously related to clan politics. The New York Times concluded through big data analysis that advantages from father generation played a role in politics obviously. The chance for the son of a U.S. president to become president was 1.4 million times higher than his peers. Meanwhile the chance for a governor’s son to be elected governor was 6,000 times higher than ordinary people. In addition, the chance for the son of a senator to be a senator like his father was also 8,500 times higher than ordinary U.S. men (www.nytimes.com, March 22, 2015). The Washington Post reported on January 16, 2015 that since the beginning of the Republic, 8.7 percent of its members of Congress were closely related to someone who had served in the body. The report continued to point out that a smell of heirship could be detected in the U.S. presidential election since the possible slate of candidates would include the son of a governor and presidential candidate, the son of a congressman and presidential candidate, the wife of a president and the brother of a president, son of a president and grandson of a senator (www.washingtonpost.com, January 16, 2015).

信仰歧视使政治生活失去公平。在美国，不信仰上帝可能成为公职竞选中的最大限制。不信仰基督教的人想赢得竞选是非常困难的，而不信仰任何宗教的人想赢得竞选则更加困难。据《华盛顿邮报》网站2015年9月22日报道，皮尤中心2014年5月的一次调查显示，无神论被视为潜在总统候选人不合格的最重要因素，超过一半的人表示他们不太可能将选票投给一个不信仰上帝的人。同年7月的另一次调查显示，在所有与宗教相关的群体中，无神论者和穆斯林被美国人予以最负面的评价。（注22）

Discrimination against beliefs led to unfairness in political life. Not believing in God could be the biggest disadvantage while running for a post in public office. It was difficult for those who were not Christians to win elections and for those who did not have a religious belief, the chance to win elections was slimmer. In a May 2014 Pew Research survey, atheism was the most disqualifying factor for a potential presidential candidate, according to a report posted on the website of The Washington Post on September 22, 2015. More than half of those surveyed said they would be less likely to vote for someone who did not believe in God. And another Pew poll in July 2014 found that of all religion-related groups, atheists and Muslims were viewed the most negatively by Americans (www.washingtonpost.com, September 22, 2015).

公民选举权受到进一步限制。据《美国新闻与世界报道》网站2015年8月4日披露，2010年以来，已经有21个州通过了新的法律来限制投票权的行使，一些州缩短了提前投票时间，其他的州则限制了证明合法选民身份的有效文件的数量。有14个州将在2016年的总统大选中首次实施限制投票权行使的新措施。公民选举权成为两党恶性竞争的牺牲品，有民主党参选人指责共和党参选人“系统和故意地”阻止数以万计的美国人投票，以达到其竞选获胜的目的。（注23）《今日美国》网站2015年3月20日报道，美国2014年中期选举的投票率为20世纪40年代以来的最低。全国的平均投票率为37%，最低为印第安纳州，只有28.8%。（注24）

Citizens’ electoral rights were further limited. According to an article on the website of the U.S. News and World Report on August 4, 2015, since 2010, a total of 21 states had adopted new laws to limit the exercise of suffrage. Some states shortened the time for early voting, while others limited the number of documents identifying one as a lawful voter. A total of 14 states will carry out fresh measures to limit the exercise of suffrage for the first time in 2016 presidential election. The voting rights were hit by the vicious competition between the two parties. One Democratic candidate accused GOP presidential candidates of having “systematically and deliberately” tried to keep millions of Americans from voting so as to win the election (www.usnews.com, August 4, 2015). A USA Today report, which was published on its website on March 20, 2015, said the nation had its lowest midterm-election voter turnout in 2014 since the early 1940s. The average turnout across the United States was 37 percent, with a low of 28.8 percent recorded in Indiana (http://www.usatoday.com, March 20, 2015).

选民真实意愿难以得到有效表达。据《基督教科学箴言报》网站2015年12月13日分析，两党制迫使美国选民两极分化，大多数选民并非真正支持所选择的政党，而是出于对另一政党的担心和恐惧作出无奈选择。（注25）美国总统在2016年国情咨文中承认，现有划分国会选区做法的结果是“政客选择选民，而不是选民选择政客”，“党派间的积怨和猜疑未见减弱，反而变得更深”。

It was difficult for voters to express their real will. The Christian Science Monitor carried a report on its website on December 13, 2015 that the two-party system forced the voters to take side. Most voters cast ballots for a party not because they supported the party but out of fear and worry over the other one (www.csmonitor.com, December 13, 2015). It was said in the U.S. President’s State of the Union Address for 2016 that the practice of drawing congressional districts led to the situation where “politicians can pick their voters, and not the other way around.” It went on to say that “the rancor and suspicion between parties has gotten worse instead of better.”

公民知情权遭受政府打压。据美联社2015年3月13日报道，美国政府正在削弱有关保障公民获得信息权利的法律，公民获取政府信息的系统遭受严重破坏，公民借助公共档案向政府官员问责愈加困难。（注26）美国有线电视新闻网2015年2月13日报道，记者和新闻监管机构一直抨击本届美国政府为最不透明的政府之一。因对弗格森案的抗议，至少有15名新闻记者被捕。（注27）

Citizens’ right to information was hampered by the government. According to a report by the Associated Press on March 13, 2015, authorities were undermining the laws that were supposed to guarantee citizens’ right to information and the systems created to give citizens information about their government. In addition, it was getting harder to use public records to hold government officials accountable (www.ap.org, March 13, 2015). An article on the website of the CNN reported on February 13, 2015 that journalists and news supervision authorities had continually slammed the current U.S. administration as one of the least transparent. At least 15 journalists were arrested in Ferguson protests (edition.cnn.com, February 13, 2015).