Radical intellectual Noam Chomsky has supported just two federal political candidates with campaign contributions over the past 18 years.<\/p>\n
Chomsky gave a total of $750 to Ralph Nader’s 2000 presidential bid. But a month before he started cutting checks for that corporate reformer, Chomsky had already given $200 to a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Vermont named Bernie Sanders.<\/span><\/p>\n At the time, Sanders was running for his fifth term as Vermont’s sole representative in the lower chamber. When Sanders ran for Senate in 2006, Chomsky added $1,000 in support, and he kicked in another $200 when Sanders sought reelection in 2012.<\/span><\/p>\n Thus far in the presidential cycle, Chomsky hasn’t given to any candidate, according to online FEC records, which date back to 1997. It’s possible Chomsky could have given to campaigns that predate the federal records.\u00a0<\/span>Chomsky did not respond to a request for comment.<\/span><\/p>\n Chomsky has long been a sharp critic of the capital class and its power to subvert democratic ideals. He called the Supreme Court’s 2010 <\/span>Citizens United<\/span> decision “The Corporate Takeover Of Democracy,” <\/span>in an article<\/span><\/a> for <\/span>In These Times<\/span>. But Chomsky also has a pragmatic streak. He assailed President Barack Obama’s international drone assassination program as a moral outrage, but encouraged swing-state voters to support his reelection in 2012, on the grounds that a Mitt Romney presidency would be worse.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n