Romney relies on large donations

From TPM, that chart shows the campaign donations last month to Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, broken down by size.

The difference is striking, isn't it? Money is critical in modern American politics - too critical, in fact - and one large donation can easily offset many, many small donations. That's why the wealthy tend to be treated so well.

But Barack Obama still took in nearly as much money from small donations - under $200 - as from large ones. Romney's support, on the other hand, is overwhelmingly from large donations.

Luckily for Mitt Romney - thanks to the Republicans on the Supreme Court - there is no effective limit anymore to how much money the wealthy can donate. (Note that this makes up for Romney's apparent funding shortfall in the above chart.)

Fortunately for Romney, his biggest supporters will have many more options for helping him out beyond a max donation this cycle. Thanks to the post-Citizens United system, independent groups, including a Super PAC dedicated to electing him, Restore Our Future, can raise unlimited funds from wealthy donors. And they’re having plenty of success so far. The largest such group, the Karl Rove-connected American Crossroads, says it has raised $49 million over the last three months. Meanwhile, Priorities USA, a Democratic Super PAC dedicated to re-electing Obama, announced raising just $4.5 million in the same period.

And they don't even have to use their own money. Now that corporations are considered "people," corporate CEOs can donate unlimited amounts of shareholders' money, too - your money, if you own any stocks or mutual funds. And they don't even have to tell you about it.

This is the first presidential election since Citizens United, and the right-wing is going all out to take advantage of it. And that's just one of a series of 5-4 decisions in which Republican political activists on the Supreme Court are changing America to match their right-wing extremist vision of our country.

If we elect another Republican president, we could be locked into that course for generations.