Meet the 26 billionaires buying our democracy.

• Author: Pal, Amitabh

SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS noted on July 25 that twenty-six billionaires had donated more than $61 million to Super PACs. "These twenty-six billionaires have a combined net worth of $146 billion, which is more than the bottom 42.5 percent of American households (equal to nearly 50 million families in the United States)," Sanders said. Sanders went on to blame, in dramatic terms, the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision for this distortion of our democratic process.

"What the Supreme Court did in Citizens United is to say to these same billionaires: 'You own and control the economy, you own Wall Street, you own the coal companies, you own the oil companies. Now, for a very small percentage of your wealth, we're going to give you the opportunity to own the United States government.' That is the essence of what Citizens United is all about--and that's why it must be overturned."

Sanders then published the list of these twenty-six billionaires with dollar amounts, and we've annotated the list.

1 Sheldon Adelson, owner of the Las Vegas Sands casino, is worth nearly $25 billion, making him the fourteenth-wealthiest person in the world and the seventh richest person in America.

While median family income plummeted by nearly 40 percent from 2007 to 2010, Mr. Adelson has experienced a nearly eightfold increase in his wealth over the past three years (from $3.4 billion to $24.9 billion).

Forbes recently reported that Adelson is willing to spend a "limitless" amount of money or more than the $100 million he has pledged to help defeat President Obama in November.

While $100 million sounds like a lot, it equals the same percentage of Adelson's wealth that $300 to $400 does for the typical middle class family.

2-4 The Kochs (David, Charles, and William) are worth a combined $54 billion, according to Forbes. They reportedly plan to spend about $400 million during the 2012 election season.

5 Jim Walton, the youngest scion of the Walmart family and the ninth-richest person in the world, is worth $23.7 billion. He has donated $300,000 to Super PACs in 2012.

6 Harold Simmons is worth $9 billion. He has donated $15.2 million to Super PACs this year. Simmons has made his money as a leveraged buyout expert. He controls a number of companies, including the world's largest manufacturer of titanium.

7 Peter Thiel is worth $1.5 billion. He has donated $6.7 million to Super PACs this year. Thiel is best known as a co-founder of PayPal and an investor in Facebook. A...