Commentary Dark money. The words evoke sinister plots, secret organizations, and conspiracies fit for a James Bond villain. We hear about dark money in politics, dark money in the elections, and dark money supporting a web of organizations dedicated to undermining the American experiment. Dark money seems to be everywhere—and it is. Dark money has become the most important fuel driving the debate on every single public issue. In fact, dark money is being deployed in new and revolutionary ways to affect our elections. Seemingly unlimited streams of philanthropy are pouring into organizations and mechanisms that just three years ago seemed fanciful and beyond the wildest imagination of activist strategies. But what exactly is dark money, and how does it hurt or help? Is dark money good or bad? Let’s start with some definitions. Dark money refers to money injected into the process from anonymous sources. Somebody somewhere knows where …