Interesting that much of our population in hardship & worry shrinks charitable & political contributions yet this midterm election is reaching a record $4.2 billion.
Oligarch spending dominates, and I’m not surprised the best these bullies have done is to dredge myth-kickers and sociopaths to help them. There’s the intriguing two sides of this election, the wealthy and their wacky.
‘All they ask for is an unfair advantage‘ is Michael Winship’s one-man assay of political spending, i.e. the temblor & tilt from the US Chamber of Commerce: 300,000 members, but half of its $140 million in contributions from just 45 donors.
Open any newspaper, magazine or political website and the coverage of corporate campaign largess, much of it anonymous, bedazzles the mind.
When all is said and done… outside interest groups could spend $400 million or more by Election Day. House and Senate candidates have already shattered fundraising record for a midterm election… the equivalent of about $4 million for every congressional seat.
Industry leaders with conservative provocateurs recruiting flamers & fruitcakes to help them fight for the status quo are vigorously opposed to legislation that would require identifying the money behind sponsors and campaign ads.
A recent conservative strategy & tactics session called “Understanding and Addressing Threats to American Free Enterprise and Prosperity” was not attended by media flamers, coffee shop pundits or Tea Party candidates. None of their carny shills raised up for this election were in attendance.
Claiming to be ‘dedicated to defending our free society’ but merely funding Republicans for the simpler purposes of stalling financial and consumer regulations, derivatives reform and equitable taxes et et et.
The GOP is opposed to all this: “They have already signaled to Wall Street that, starting the morning of November 3rd, 2010, the GOP will be the party that fights sensible Wall Street reform and returns us to the world of 2009, the world most favorable to Wall Street.”
For that, they’ve plucked silly candidates from their serfdom and raised a foolish electorate. “An energized minority trumps a tepid majority every time.”
These wealthy reveal an embarrassing incompetence. The bandit viciousness that pilfered our nation has launched nothing better than a political frenzy. Shame. Stunning not merely for its dominance & distortion, but for its poverty of reason & solution.